Cornett-Ching has Dominating Run Dashed

The second day of the Hot August Nights mini series at Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, BC started well for the #99 of Sarah Cornett-Ching posting the fastest speed in first practice and qualifying 4th. The team worked hard all day dialing in the car with a few struggles in the heat race the but car came to life in the main event.

Sarah worked through traffic quickly and was leading by lap 4, from there the #99 Snap-On Tools car stretched it's lead over the field until the mandatory pit stop on lap 25. With one of the quickest stops Sarah regained the lead after the field cycled through.

Cornett-Ching was leading by half a lap and feeling good about the car when it started smoking which would eventually lead to a mechanical black flag on lap 45. Sarah had to relinquish her lead and head behind the wall for repairs.

Emerging from pit road after replacing the tail shaft seal on the transmission 10 laps down didn't slow down the talented young driver as she worked her way back through the field to the 2nd spot. With a restart within 10 laps to the end she was put behind the lead lap cars although she felt she had a car to beat the eventual winner to the checkers.

With such a strong car going into the final Arca race of the year the #99 team is confident and ready to put the #99 Snap-On Tools Aarons car on the podium.

Check out everything the team is up to at www.SCCracing.com or on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/sccracing

Leading the race with some fans cheering us on

Cornett-Ching wins with last lap pass;

Penticton racer scores impressive career-first at Motoplex Speedway

17^th, 2011, PENTICTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA - Sarah Cornett-Ching earned her first career late model victory in dramatic fashion on Saturday at Motoplex Speedway near Vernon, British Columbia. The 20-year-old Penticton racer edged her #99 Snap-On Tools-sponsored car past race leader Mark Berrieau on the final turn of the final lap to steal the win.

“I don’t think I could have imagined a finish much more exciting than that,” said an exuberant Cornett-Ching after the race. “The crew worked hard all day long to get the car faster, and it felt great for the feature. This is awesome.”

Cornett-Ching was among the fastest throughout the day’s practice and qualifying, but the team spent plenty of time chasing mechanical issues. The Snap-on Tools crew fixed a vibration in the car and also addressed vapour locking in the fuel system caused by extreme heat during qualifying. Added to her mechanical issues was a neck injury suffered at work during the week. Despite the issues she still qualified fourth fastest.

“With the neck injury and our challenges through the day I hardly had victory lane in my sights,” said Cornett-Ching. “I actually had my dad bring his driving suit in case I didn’t feel well enough to race. I’m glad I stayed in the car

With the 100 lap Hot August Nights feature race underway each car was required to make a pit stop for a right rear tire. Sarah entered the pits for service in fourth place on lap 27 and rejoined the race as the leader with a 13 second lead. Her lead evaporated when the caution flew and the field bunched up for the restart.

“My crew on pit road was outstanding,” she recalled. “They made no mistakes and we gained valuable track position. The caution came out taking away our 13 second lead, but we made the right changes on pit road and were able to keep my car in the top 3 all night.”

A late-race caution set the stage for an exciting finish. With five laps left on the restart Cornett-Ching lined up on the outside of race leader Berrieau. When the green flag flew she battled door to door with the veteran for the top spot. On the final lap she seized opportunity.

“I could see that Mark was sliding up the track,” said Cornett Ching. “I rolled out of the throttle a little early heading into turn three, and I was able to drive under Mark and beat him to the finish.

“It was an amazing feeling to race with one of the best drivers in the province to the checkered flag, and to beat him at the line was icing on the cake. This win is important to give my crew and myself the extra confidence we need going into the second Hot August Nights race on August 27^th.”

Cornett-Ching sits second in points just 12 points behind points leader Berrieau. The race on the 27th will decide who takes home the Hot August Nights title. For more information on Sarah Cornett-Ching and her racing team, visit www.SCCRacing.com.

Agassiz Speedway Results and Upcoming Race @ Motoplex

I definitely impressed myself when we raced at Agassiz last weekend, it was another new track that I would have to learn in two 30 minute practice sessions. I spent the last scuff session just watching some of the faster cars lines and then walked the track again to get a feel for some marks. I would be the first car to qualify because I chose to skip the scuff session. I spent the 25 minutes before qualifying just sitting in the race car and visualizing the line I needed to run.
My qualifying lap time was half a second quicker than my practice times which landed us 7th within 2 tenths of the track record. I started at the back of the main event which turned out to be a detriment to our run, being a small race track and getting caught behind a few rows of slower traffic I ended up getting lapped early. Fortunately I was able to follow the leaders through and make my way up to 7th in the main event.
It was all in all a great run considering the other issues we battled throughout the race, I lost the clutch on lap 25 so keeping the car running under cautions was extremely difficult. Also a late race contact knocked the toe out but we pushed through and brought the car home in one piece in 7th.
This coming weekend we will also face some diversity as I am recovering from a neck injury I obtained at work. Hopefully I will be able to compete to my fullest this weekend as I feel we have a great shot at the win.

See you this weekend at Motoplex Speedway, Vernon, BC

Racing and Charities

Last Friday we had our two charity cars set up at Walmart to raise awareness and take donations for the BC Children's Hospital and the MS Society through A&W's Cruisin' for a Cause day on Aug 25th. We made it an interactive fundraiser by letting everyone who made a donation sign the hood of our race car. It turned out to be a success as the hood filled up with signatures so did our donation box. 

Saturday was race day with the ASA Late Model Tour at Penticton Speedway, we used the weekend to tweak and tune on the setup in the race car because we weren't competing for points in that series. With nothing to lose we put an unknown setup in the car, unfortunately we were unable to get the car working how we wanted but stayed out of trouble and learned to race on the smallest track in our circuit. Finishing 12th wasn't a travesty but it certainly wasn't the run we had hoped for. 

Sunday we completely changed the setup in the race car and with minimal practice time we weren't able to adjust the setup like we wanted to. The car was turning the center of the corner awesome but would be continually loose on exit. After the heat race a misfire developed which turned out to be a puncture in the fuel regulator diaphragm. No one had a replacement so we had to come up with a solution with what we had available to us.

We ended up using a Nitrile glove inside the regulator to work with the torn diaphragm, it held up for all 100 laps and we brought the car home 9th with no damage to report.
We will be points racing next weekend with the Arca Series at Agassiz Speedway, the track is similar to Penticton Speedway so our setup should be close.

We ended up 10th overall for the weekend and didn't take any damage.