6/29/2015
Cole Wood
MWR/Bryan Clauson – Dog Days of Racing!
MWR/Bryan Clauson – Dog Days of Racing!
(Bill W) June 29, 2015 – Bryan Clauson and the Elk Grove Ford Matt Wood Racing #17w are in the midst of a busy racing schedule that saw them in Ohio and Knoxville, Iowa last weekend. It will be another busy week, as the team will compete with the World of Outlaws at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas Wednesday before a big $5,000 to win event at the Huset’s Speedway with the FVP National Sprint League on Friday. The NSL will also be back at the Knoxville Raceway Saturday.
A week ago, the team competed during Ohio Speedweek with the All Stars at Wayne County Speedway near Orrville. “We went out fairly early and that helped,” says Bryan of his qualifying effort (19th overall). “It wasn’t horrible, but we didn’t catch the invert in our group. It was another place we hadn’t seen, and we only had one lap of qualifying. That left us some work.”
Starting sixth in his heat, he wasn’t able to make the fifth and final transfer. “We were three-wide coming to the line for the transfer in the heat…we just didn’t get it done,” says Bryan. “In the B, we were able to run up into a transfer spot and had a flat. We weren’t spectacular, but we were going to be good enough to get in the show. That made it frustrating.”
The Noblesville, Indiana driver fared better on Tuesday night at Sharon Speedway near Hartford.
“I think we qualified second in our group,” says Bryan. “We were fourth overall in hot laps. We had a good car from the start. Heats were a little one-lane, and we ended up where we started in third.”
That would set Bryan up outside of row eight for the feature. “We were able to get a couple on the start,” he says. “We picked cars off throughout the race, and I think we ended up the hard-charger. We were able to get to eighth there by the end. It was a good finish for us, and a great rebound from Wayne County.”
On Wednesday the All Stars moved down to Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe. “We didn’t qualify the greatest,” says Bryan. “We went out late, but at the same time, we were fifth in our group. We just kind of missed it in the heat too. I didn’t get a good start, and the car wasn’t quite where it needed to be.”
Things started clicking in the B before Bryan ran out of laps. “We kind of got it turned around in the B,” he says. “We figured out what we needed to do there. We were able to work up to fifth, and just ran out of time actually. We were buried a little too deep and needed another lap. We threw a ‘Hail Mary’ at the checkered but it wasn’t enough.”
It was good to get back racing with the NSL at Knoxville on Saturday night, and it showed in qualifying with the fourth quickest time of the night. “It honestly felt like one of our better nights at Knoxville,” says Bryan. “We haven’t been the best on the slicker tracks at Knoxville with our qualifying. I was really proud that we laid down a good lap with the track as slow as it was running high 15’s. It was a good effort for us. The car was good in the heat as well, and we were able to make it through there.”
Unfortunately, track conditions weren’t ideal in the main event. Bryan made the redraw and started outside row three. “We had a little bit of trouble on take-off in the feature,” he says. “We stumbled a little and got swarmed on the start. The track rubbered up on lap two, and we weren’t able to recover (finishing 12th). It was a bummer, obviously. We were hoping to finish the night the way we started it.”
Bryan and crew chief Shane Bowers are learning on the go with their new team. “As we’re growing and trying to get better, we’re trying a lot of different things,” says Bryan. “We found some different things on the engine side that are good in some areas, but not necessarily on take-offs. We’re going back to the drawing board a little bit with that this week.”
Matt Wood Racing would like to thank: Elk Grove Ford, Quick Lane, Fuel Safe, Schoenfeld and Vortex Wings!
To follow the Matt Wood Racing’s progress online, visit www.ColeWoodRacing.com!
Follow Bryan Clauson online at www.BryanClauson.com!
Photo: Bryan races with Lynton Jeffrey at Knoxville (Doug Johnson Photo)
Bill W Media
sprntcar@hotmail.com
Twitter: @BillWMedia
Monroe, IA USA
