» Saturday night young Blake Carrick made his first career start at Placerville Speedway. Turning in some impressive laps in his debut, Carrick would fight through the ‘B’ Main and finish 12th in the 25-lap feature event.
“It was a good night at Placerville Speedway,” Blake Carrick said. “It is a tough place, but Clark Riolo gave me a great car and was a lot of help.”
With 24 cars on hand Saturday night for a weekly point race at the famed ¼ mile speedway, the Lincoln, CA driver would go out late in time trials though still managed to time the CVC/Cemex/Interstate Oil machine in 19th quick in time trials.
Lining up in the third row of his heat race, Carrick looked to be up for the challenge as he quickly jumped into the fourth and final transfer position. While running fourth, Carrick would slip up and spin his machine to a stop and be forced to the back of the pack.
Able to get back to fifth, Carrick would be on the outside of the feature and looking in as he was forced into the night’s ‘B’ Main event. Gridding the field from the second row in the 12-lap semi, Carrick would quickly jump into the race lead as he grew more confident on the slick surface offered up on this night.
A slight bobble on the cushion late in the semi would cause Carrick to cough up the top spot, but still able to finish second he would successfully keep his night alive as he moved into the 25-lap feature event.
Taking the green flag from the 17th starting position, Carrick was very patient and cautious while he was in dense traffic all race long. Making some bold moves on the ¼ mille Carrick would able to work his way forward steadily through the race. Getting up to 11th just past the race’s half way point Carrick would have his eyes on his first career Top-10 finish in a sprint car.
Falling back to 12th on a late restart, Carrick would battle hard for the 11th position, but as the field strung out in the race’s final green flag run he would bring his machine home with a 12th place finish.
“It was good to get a lot of laps at a tricky track,” Carrick added. “It was fun and hopefully we can get back up there soon.”
Blake Carrick would like to thank CVC, Cemex, Interstate Oil, Conti, Harris and Sloan, Emerald, Timberworks Construction for their continued support
ON TAP: Blake will now take part in POWRi Micro Speedweek kicking off tomorrow in Belleville, IL, before stops in Brownstown, IL, Jacksonville, IL, Macon, IL, and Lincoln, IL.
2018 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-3, Wins-0, Top 5’s-0, Top 10’s-0
STAY CONNECTED: Stay up to speed with Blake Carrick by following him on Twitter @Blake_Carrick21 or @CarrickMotorsp1.