CONCORD LEGENDS - 6/8/07
By Matt Kentfield
Hackenbracht Wins Light Semi-Pro Feature
Friday night, Concord Motorsport Park felt quite a bit emptier than usual. With the entire Legends Car and Bandolero world’s focus switching from local track action to the gigantic Summer Shootout series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway starting on Tuesday, June 12th, there were many notable absences from the pit area at Concord.
Some teams were saving their equipment for the Shootout, the granddaddy of all things Legends and Bandoleros. Other Legends Car teams skipped Concord in favor of a big race at Caraway Speedway about an hour and a half up Interstate 85 from CMP. Still others may have stayed home because of the threat of thunderstorms that caused two separate rain delays at the track Friday night.
Still, the races went off even after the two delays without some of the biggest names in attendance Friday night. The lower car counts allowed for some drivers who have been close, but never close enough, to finally make their way to victory lane Friday night.
With the Legends Semi-Pro points leaders Steven Ross, John Stancill, Daniel Hemric and Matt Stover all not making the trip to Concord, there was going to be a new name in victory lane.
Chad Hackenbracht may only be in his first year of Legends Car racing, but inexperience was not a problem for the young driver Friday night. Hackenbracht took the lead at the drop of the green flag in the 25-lap feature and checked out to victory over Christian Pahud and Gene Kirila for his first-ever Legends Car victory.
Winning race number-one of his career was a thrill of its own, but his Dan Snyder Racing teammates were not going to let the driver get too
full of himself now that he’s got that elusive first win. The entire team doused Hackenbracht with water as the winner climbed from his car.
“It feels great to win,” said Hackenbracht. “We really didn’t know we would have that good of a car tonight. We were fighting the car the whole time. I wasn’t sure if this car was going to be good enough to win. It’s not our regular car, but we sure pulled it off.”
Even though the Semi-Pro “big guns” were elsewhere, Hackenbracht still believes he would’ve had just as good of a chance to get the win regardless of who he was up against.
“I think I would’ve had a good shot at winning no matter what. It would’ve been a lot more challenging and I don’t think I would’ve walked away from them like we did, but we would’ve had a good car no matter what.”
And about the shower that he got in the winner’s circle? Hackenbracht just can’t wait until one of his DSR teammates get into victory lane for themselves.
“This is my first year in Legends and my first Legends win, so I guess that was just a spur of the moment thing. Next time they win, I’ll have to get them back for sure.”
Pierce Powers to Another Chargers Win
Tilley Harley-Davidson may not be a sponsor on the victory lane billboards at Concord Motorsport Park, but with the way that Kyle Pierce has been running this year, his car has been in victory lane about as often as those billboards have been. Pierce took yet another Legends Semi-Pro Charger feature victory Friday night, continuing his dominance over the rest of the Chargers.
Hachenbracht got a victory shower from his teammates.... (LN Photo)
The win came after a bit of showboating off the final corner, too. Pierce had such a lengthy lead over second-place Bret Hartley that he purposely broke the car loose off the final corner, sliding across the start-finish line sideways.
“I was just playing around,” said Pierce of his last-lap show for the fans. “It feels good to have this good of a car. Once you have a setup, it’s really hard to get it out unless you really wreck it and mess the car up. My crew chief works really hard to get the car going like this and we’ve had a good car all year long.”
While the two rain delays made for a longer night at the track for Pierce and the rest of the teams in the CMP pit area, the weather issues helped Pierce’s racecar.
With the top-five in points in the Legends Semi-Pro Division not at Concord Friday night, the positions did not shuffle too much. Jamie Smith bounced up to fourth in points as a result of her fourth-place finish Friday night, but the top-three stayed the same. Steven Ross still holds a commanding point lead over John Stancill, 1014 to 867. Daniel Hemrick is third in points with 806 markers.
Legends Pro Results
1 # Ken Harris
Legends Masters Results
1 #28 Charles Kiser
2 #8 Larry Friddle
3 #69 James Stanton
4 #12 Todd Spears
5 #9 Carlos "Mercury" Moore
Legends Semi-Pro Chargers
1 #28 Kyle Pierce
2 #36 Bret Hartley
3 #72 Donnie Loflin
4 #25 Robert Marmino
Legends Semi-Pro
1 #7 Chad Hackenbracht
2 #63 Christian Pahud
3 #5 Gene Kirila
4 #76 Jamie Smith
5 #57 John Davis
... then celebrated with them in victory lane.
Kyle Pierce at speed
“The weather helped us out tonight, because the track tightened up once it dried off. The car started hooking up really good once it rained.”
Kiser Laps Harris, but Both Take Victories
It’s not very often that a racecar driver can finish a lap down and still win a race. In fact, it’s impossible – or is it? As the lone Legends Car Pro Division competitor at Concord Friday night, Ken Harris was the winner (and last-place finisher, too, ironically), but he ran with the Legends Masters and wound up a full lap down to overall race winner, Charles Kiser.
Charles Kiser (top) and Ken Harris (bottom) in victory lane
Kiser dominated the Pro/Master feature and held off point leader Larry Friddle for the win. Harris, who finished sixth overall in the six-car feature, still got the Pro Division victory, and a victory is still a victory regardless of how it comes.
“We made wholesale changes to the car after last week,” said Harris, who finished third on June 1st. “I’ve got a bunch of people that help me out and get this thing going and it feels great to be here in victory lane.”
Even though he’s not battling Friddle and the rest of the Legends Masters for the points championship, Kiser still knows how much of an accomplishment it is to hold off Friddle, the toughest-to-beat Master so far this year.
“It’s great to be here in victory lane. We had a good car tonight and it was great holding off Larry like that.”
Legends Point Battles at Halfway
While the Legends Car divisional races are not quite as close as the Bandoleros, there are still nine weeks left come August for the battles to heat up. The closest points race is in the Masters, as Larry Friddle holds an 88-point advantage over James Stanton.
Ken Harris, who won the Pro Division race at Concord Friday, is atop the Pro Division standings by simply attending all 12 races so far this year. Jordan Anderson is second in points, just 87 points behind Harris despite making two fewer starts. Thomas Hartensveld sits third, 131 points behind Harris with just eight total starts.
