9/16/2014
Key Conquers Sweet Springs Nonwing Field
(Photo by Hale Photography)
SWEET SPRINGS, Mo. – “Impressive” is too mild a word to describe the show that Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex spectators saw on Saturday night. Kameron Key put on two superb displays of his talent in both the nonwing and outlaw divisions.
Before that took place, Key was in action on Friday night at Grain Valley, MO’s Valley Speedway in the #93 JEI/Walton nonwing 360, owned and wrenched by Terry Walton, with the regional WAR sprint series. The series combines hot laps and qualifying, which worked against him, with only two sprint car starts in his career. Key’s first time seeing the 1/3 mile oval was to time in for the night’s events, where he qualified 22nd of 32 cars. That, combined with a fourth place finish in his heat race, placed him in the sixth starting spot of the B-main event. Key finished seventh, falling just short of a top-six transfer spot, ending his night.
Getting back to what he knows best on Saturday, strong heat race finishes, which have become the norm for Key at Sweet Springs, continued, with a win in the second of three nonwing heat races, where he started seventh, and a runner-up showing from the third grid spot in outlaw heat race two of four.
In the nonwing class main event, Key would have a large challenge ahead of him, as he’d have to drive from grid spot eighteen if he wanted to score his eighth feature win of 2014. Per usual, the going was slow for the first couple laps for the Warrensburg, MO shoe, but he quickly found his form on the low side of the track, getting to the twelfth spot when the pace slowed for a spun car on lap five. A red on the restart sent three front-running cars to the rear, moving Key up another three spots to ninth. Over the next ten laps, he meticulously picked off three cars, getting to sixth place on the fifteenth circuit, with the leader finally in his sight. He had moved to the high line, and two more cars fell to the #21 Stallard/Yamaha on the next lap, then another on the lap after that. Three more laps passed, and he was nose-to-tail with the top two. Key appeared to pass both cars with ease over the next lap and a half, completing his drive to the lead in 21 short laps. However there was still plenty of action left, and when a late yellow flag bunched the field back up, there were three short laps to go. On the restart, he returned to the top side, a move that lost him the lead on lap 28. Key roared back by to take the white flag, and dropped to the bottom for the final corner, protecting his lead and securing the win.
One race remained for the night: the 30-lap outlaw feature, where Key’s point average lined him up inside of the fifth row. A yellow on the start would net him two positions, but now starting seventh would not help the #7jr move forward early on. The car appeared to be extremely loose, falling back rapidly. When the yellow flew after the completion of five laps, he had slipped all the way to the fifteenth spot. A restart came and went, and no progress was made. Just before a lap nine caution, he was still in 15th, but two cars spinning in front of him allowed him to move two spots up. Under the yellow flag conditions, Key began using his in-car adjustments to tune in his Stallard/NPS Suzuki. The changes were instantly visible when the green flag dropped, screaming past seven cars in only six laps, running in the sixth position when the crossed flags were displayed. A large gap existed between him and fifth, but that quickly shrunk, as Key’s ride looked as if it was on rails around the 1/6 mile. Just as he was about to make his move into the top five, the third- and fourth-place cars tangled, with one of them spinning and the flagman displayed the yellow with 11 laps remaining, giving Key a top five position by default. It took two or three laps to get around the car he had nearly passed pre-caution, but that gave the top three time to build a good cushion behind them. Smooth, consistent laps rounded out the race for Key, who crossed the stripe in fourth place.
Key would like to thank Bybee Lawn Care for their continued support with his family’s #21 car.
Key is next scheduled to compete on September 20 at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex in Sweet Springs, MO in the #21 600cc nonwing micro sprint and in the #7jr Waters Motorsports 600cc outlaw micro sprint.
Quick Results
September 12 – Grain Valley, MO – 360ci Nonwing – Qualifying: 22; Heat: 4 (3); B-Main: 7 (6)
September 13 – Sweet Springs, MO – 600cc Nonwing – Heat: 1 (7); Feature: 1 (18)
September 13 – Sweet Springs, MO – 600cc Outlaw – Heat: 2 (3); Feature: 4 (9)
Season Stats
33 races, 8 wins, 17 top fives, 20 top tens, 10 DNFs
Social Media
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kameronkey_21
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kameron.key.9
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kameronkey_21
Article Credit: Redbeard Promotions
