Dylan Ames Wins Huntsville Speedway Opener
Press Box
The wild weather front that came through the South East Friday and Saturday caused the season opener to be postponed till Sunday March 16th. Fifteen Legends cars, most of which have apparently not gotten the 08 INEX Memberships, showed up for the first race of the Huntsville Speedway 50th Anniversary of racing. Huntsville always runs all the classes of Legends together to make for a good show – 15 cars on this fast tight ¼ mile is always exciting.
Ames had rented the track on Thursday to work through the set up required to race and to layout a plan for the weekend race. The track was extremely fast with the cool temperatures. Ames unloaded and picked up 7/10’s of a second by working through changes on the setup. By the time the practice was over, Dylan was consistently running track record lap times - Now to wait out the weather till Sunday.
Sunday was a beautiful clear day with temperatures slated for the mid 70’s. The Huntsville Times had run an article on Dylan for winning the Georgia Winter Series in the morning paper. Ames headed to the track early and unloaded, getting ready for the day. Practice went well, with Dylan picking up where he left off Thursday. The Pros were laying down some good laps as well, so when qualifying came around, Ames was ready to see how he measured up. Ames ended up qualifying 2nd out of all 15 cars with a 14.666, only 3/100’s off the pole. The pole driver rolled a 1 so the field would start the 30 lap feature straight up from qualifying.
Ames started on the outside pole. After the first lap, Ames had dropped into 3rd position. Ames quickly worked past the pole sitter who was running second and then started to work on the leader. Ames car was better on the long runs then the #48 Pro but both cars seemed very equal, running lap times below track record speeds. The leader got loose a couple times, but cautions for cars spinning out would keep Ames from being able to make a move. The Feature turned out to be an extremely clean race with several cautions but no damage to any cars. 30 laps is tough on the Legends Engines and Drivers on this tight high banked track, but when it all shook out, Ames finished 2nd out of 15 cars, where the rest of the top 6 cars were all Pro’s, and racked up his first Semi-Pro Win for the Summer.
Ames is headed to Lanier Speedway next weekend, trying to make it home Saturday night before Easter Sunday.
As always, Ames wanted to thank Doug Stevens Jr. and Sr. of Advanced Technology Motor Sports (ATM) for all their hard work in preparing awesome race cars and providing technical support.
Ames also wanted to thank Impact Racing for providing all his safety equipment. For all your safety needs, please visit http://www.impactraceproducts.com.
