RACE RESULTS

April 25^th Billy Harvey Memorial

Matt and Dick Anderson spent many hours working on the 84x car in preparation for the Billy Harvey Memorial, a big event. On Thursday, the MBR Team tested at New Smyrna and found the car race ready and fast right out of the trailer! A few adjustments were made and the 84x car was put to bed, ready for Saturday. During the test session, Dick found some great coaching points on Matt’s habits that need adjustment. Without these observations, Matt could go right on with his career only to find challenges when the stakes get even higher. Best to learn these habits (mistakes) now when our objective is to learn. (How many young drivers have a real coach?)

Joining our team is Randy Anderson who performed an outstanding job as Crew Chief under Dick Anderson’s direction. Our first practice on Saturday placed us solidly in the top 5 for speed but with a loose condition. A shock and spring change placed the 84x right where it belonged for qualifying. As the track changes since Speedweeks and all drivers find a new learning curve, it still remains a challenge in the level of talent Matt is up against. Dick said it best: “Watching Wayne or Tim Russell run the car d-e-e-p into the turns is downright scary”. Matt, on the other hand, continues to run a racing tempo, thus the best he could get out of a very fast car was 6^th fastest. The good news is that Dick evaluated where the times are being won and lost, thus he explained very clearly to Matt why he is 6^th fastest and not on the poll. This time, it was not the car. Look for Matt to begin moving his qualifying toward the front.

So, we will take our qualifying time with confidence, our car is right and it will be race ready. The confidence between Dick and Matt will move us closer to the front the next time. What we do know is that Matt has a great car ready for 100 laps. I confess, I was more confident for the start of this race than I have been in a long time. I had confidence that Matt was ready and had a car ready to win and that his style of driving was going to prevail on lap 100. I must also say that to listen to Leroy Porter guide Matt to the green flag is quite assuring. Their communication exchanges prior to the start were that of confidence. This was to be our night.

On schedule, the green flag flew. The #84x car was starting 6^th right behind Wayne in the #92 car. Wayne used the outside line to power to the lead with Matt right with him, but looking for a safe place to jump in line and ride out the opening laps. From my perspective, he and Leroy called the move perfectly. Except for one thing: The car he fell in behind was moving to the rear quickly.

Post race, we reviewed our in-car camera. Matt jumped in line behind Brian Finney who found himself behind the wheel of a car that refused to cooperate. This left Matt in a trap and the cars behind were all over Matt. Finney was using two lanes to keep control in the corners, thus Matt could not move up or down. Cars were moving outside, basically pinching Matt into a corner. No big deal as this was only 4 laps into a 100 lap race. Let the cars sort out, and if we loose some spots, we know we’ll get them back. Unfortunately, two cars behind Matt decided it was lap 99 at lap 6. A nice slam to Matt’s right rear bumper sent the #84x car hard into the wall followed by another nice slam into the right door panel.

Our night was over. Unfortunately, much of our spring racing is done. The Port City chassis is hurt pretty badly, including the engine. Our team has only one way of doing things and a patch job is not an option. This chassis will see a complete rebuild into an Anderson Elite chassis. We’re in hopes that the #84x car will become a mirror of an Anderson #92 car by summer’s start.

The nice thing about being a victim early in a race is that by the time the checkered flag flew, Matt, Randy an I had the entire front of the car removed; side panels removed; broken A-Arm replaced; and the car back on 4 wheels before Dick arrived back at our pit.

Then we attempted to assess what happened. The last thing we want is to have caused our own wreck. That is where an in-car camera allows you to sleep at night. Who’s fault? It’s racing folks. Bad things happen and blame serves little purpose. As the April 25^th event marked the anniversary of this chassis, we look back on one full year of awesome racing with this car. In that year, we almost won at Lakeland, finishing second to Brian Finney in the Triple Crown; we pulled off a handful of top 5 finishes and several top 10s. In fact, that car almost won at Caraway, North Carolina last fall with 116 laps running 4^th and going to the front to be spun out with just 9 laps to go. In that year, we replaced 2 right spindles, a snout, and a right front fender AND survived Matt’s first Speedweeks!

Our team feels pretty lucky with that car and we look forward to getting her back on the track soon.

We are sorry to report such a crummy ending to our night of racing, but we know the bad ones make the good ones great! The MBR Team may have lost this race but we won a bigger race the day prior –

Matt Bowers Racing welcomes Whit McLamore and the Bonefish Grill to our growing list of premium sponsors. Many, many thanks for your continued support!

Skybolt Aerospace & Defense, CTech Cabinets, Mazak Machine Tools, Premier Equipment, Linda Marsh Enterprises, Allen & Co Investments, Malcolm Yawn Photography, Go Figure Accounting of Lake County, and MB Grill (Matt’s Roadside Barbeque enterprise that funds tires and GatorAid).