Thompson Shows Improvement at Lucas Event
Las Vegas - After a fairly expensive outing and learning experience at the national event the weekend prior, Clint Thompson chose to stick around for the Lucas Oil Series event and roll the dice once more. "We were working with some new parts at the national event that caused the tune up to change. We chased that last weekend and as a result not only did not run as well as we should have but experienced a fair amount of engine damage on two runs, causing us to have to swap motors between the final qualifier and the first round against Jay Payne. We did improve on each run including that round one match up but not quite enough as our 5.73 was not good enough to win" Thompson said.
Thomspon started off where he left off and came out of the trailer with a 5.71 which was ultimately good enough to qualify in the number 4 spot out of the twenty cars trying to make the tough eight car field. On the second attempt on Friday night in the coolest and best conditions of the weekend, a minor issue forced Thompson to shut the car off as a cylinder was not firing. Knowing that the car would not run well enough to improve with this problem, Thompson wisely chose to not make the run.
The final qualifying shot on Saturday afternoon presented the warmest conditions of the weekend thus far. On that run, Thompson had the second quickest pass of the round with a 5.75 pass after he had to short shift into low gear due to tire shake. The field was then set and the Cascade Chevrolet team qualified in the number four spot and would face Roger Bateman in the opening round.
Conditions for the first round changed rapidly as eliminations didn't get underway until almost 6 PM. About that time, the sun was starting to set which caused the track surface to cool and become very good. Las Vegas is known for it's traction and this time the track was a little too good causing the Cascade Chevrolet Monte Carlo to shake violently at about the hundred foot mark which enabled Bateman to take the win. "I quick shifted and pedaled it, and squared the car up, and set after Bateman but to no avail as we came up short at the finish line" Thompson recalled.
While a first round exit is never what a racer wants, Thompson believes he's leaving Vegas in much better shape then when he arrived two weeks ago. "The new parts are working well and the tune up is coming together. Look for some big numbers out of our car at the better tracks this summer as a result" Thompson said.
Thompson's next outing is the Woodburn Season Opener on May 19th. He will use the weekend to further refine the fuel system and test for the upcoming Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series race there in July.
