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The South Boston 150

South Boston, VA
Sat. April 3rd |
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Ken Spring Photos |
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SEVENTH
PLACE FINISH FOR EDDIE MACDONALD
AT SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY |
(South Boston Speedway, April 3) Eddie MacDonald raced to a
seventh place finish in the K&N Pro Series East in the South
Boston 150 in Virginia in the Grimm Construction Chevy this past
Saturday at the famed half-mile. The Rowley, Mass. driver
qualified in the eleventh position and rode in fifth and sixth
for much of the race before losing a spot on the final lap.
After last week’s disappointing 16th place run at Greenville
Pickens MacDonald feels the team is headed in the right
direction but needs to improve.
“Obviously we ran much better this week and the car was
definitely better than what we had last week but it is not where
we want to be,” said MacDonald after the race. “The car was
really good in the first practice, I think we were third
fastest, but after that we kind of struggled getting the car to
turn in the corners. We were either a little too tight in or
loose off but then we were really loose at the end. It is
frustrating because we are so close to nailing the set-up but we
are just a little off and when you are a little off against the
competition this year it is tough to race for the win. It will
come. We’ve done it in the past.”
When the green flag waved MacDonald was content to maintain his
position in the early stages and move up when the opportunity
presented itself saying, “It doesn’t do us any good to race the
tires off the thing in the early going. I was just trying to be
smooth and make sure I had the tires at the end. I was able to
move up a few spots but South Boston is such a tough place to
pass, you don’t want to use everything up at the beginning. We
really had a nice pace going and the car was handling well. It
was a little tight but it was okay. No one was on our bumper so
I could just take it easy and save the equipment. We had the
leaders in sight and that is what we want because we usually
have the car set up to be there at the end”
On the lap 99 restart MacDonald had the #71 Chevy riding
comfortably in the sixth position until the final lap when the
#20 car banged his way on the inside. “By the end of the race
the car was really loose. The #20 car kept running into me and I
was probably holding him up but the car would not stay on the
bottom. It was tough to lose the spot on the last lap but there
was nothing I could do. We didn’t have anything for the leaders
and I couldn’t get past Kobyluck so I think we got as much out
of it as we could. The series is so competitive right now with
all the new drivers and teams; you really have to everything
almost perfect to run in the top five.”
The series will be off until May 23 when the next K&N Pro East
race will be held at the fast 7/8th mile high-backed oval at
Iowa Speedway. “This will be our third time racing at the track
and we expect to run well there. It is a great track and a lot
of fun to drive. I think we have really learned a lot from our
two races there and we expect to do well. The team has already
been preparing the car at the shop and we are anxious to show
what we can do. We know we are capable of running better than we
have.” |
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