3/20/2012
Chris Coker
POWRi/CCR Opener
(Mar. 19 - New Braunfels, TX) The season has started for the POWRi Midgets and the Chris Coker Racing team. CCR made their 2012 debut this weekend with the Lucas Oil POWRi National Tour. Open wheel stars from around the country took Ft. Worth by storm, with and amazing 68 cars taking the track over two nights of action.
For Chris, it would be his first action since August of 2011. Although he was quickly one of the fastest cars on the track, motor problems plagued the team throughout their early test sessions and into the first day of racing. With the help of Fontana Automotive the team corrected their woes and returned to form in the heat Friday night. Chris started 8th and began to make up ground on the leaders, but was stymied by a large pile up in turn 4, bending the front axle and relegating him to 7th. Starting the B main in 14th, Chris quickly went to work moving into the top 10, but ran out of time and ended his night short of the feature.
Saturday would provide a challenge of different sorts as Chris found himself racing a tough field of heat race competitors and battled his way to a 4th place finish. After starting 8th in the first B, Chris fought his way into 5th only to be called back for a caution, and then to 6th, to be called back again. When the dust settled, the Driver Websites, Oil Medics, Young Racing #45 would only advance 1 spot into 7th, after making half a dozen passes prior to the races handful of cautions.
At the end of the night Chris summarized his feelings on the weekend. "Once we got the car going, we were extremely fast. These USAC guys don't play around and they've raced more times in the last year than I have ever, so experience is definitely on their side. Regardless, if we would have got some real testing in we would have gave them a hell of run. As it happened we ran em hard, and came up short in a terrible B main where cautions ruined any chance of a decent run for the Oil Medics #45. I'm happy with the way I drove, but I need more experience. I can run with these guys after 8-9 months off and no practice, so I know I could kick some ass if I could race every weekend."
The 2012 schedule for the CCR team is up in the air as Chris continues to work towards starting a new business and plans on returning to the DFW area in the next few weeks. Return here for more updates as the season progresses!
Submitted By: Chris Coker