Tough Finish, But Team Places 5th Overall

      Wow, what a way to open up the 2005 season.  The opening race of the year went from "As Good As Possible" to... "Not Too Bad" in a matter of milliseconds.  It was the opening race for the brand new Lefthander chassis, and Hale Racing team was pretty excited about getting it out into competition.  With a few test laps already under it's belt, the new chassis seemed to be pretty well setup for the opening event of the '05 season.  By night's end, Michael Hale and the entire Hale Racing team... proved it.

      With the opening test sessions in the books, the team prepared for it's first qualifying session with the new chassis.  With most of the heavy hitters already qualified, Hale Racing knew what sort of times they would need to shoot for.  Michael's first lap around the high banked oval proved successful as he crossed the start/finish line with a lap time of 15.90 seconds.  He backed it up nicely with a 15.91 second elapsed time on his second lap.  As anyone who follows this series knows, qualifying position is key to winning a championship and earning points.  Michael's time of 15.90 scored him a second place spot.  "We ran a bit better in practice, but we'll take second," said driver, Michael Hale.

      Not even an hour later, it was time for the heat races.  Michael started 8th in the opening heat race of the night, and held on for a 4th place finish.  2 laps into the race, Michael moved himself up to 6th, fell back a spot on the 3rd lap, and then charged back to the front soon there after.  Michael was able to overcome the 23 car of Mike Sargent and the 10 car of Jason Aposhian on lap 5, and then followed closely behind the 84 car of Mark Ith Jr. Michael battled with the 84 car, lap after lap, before running out of time on lap 12.  Rather than push it too hard and risk spinning himself, and Mark Ith, out, Michael held his position and settle for 4th place.  The night was still young and a 24 car field of main event action was still to come.

      Main event time would prove to be both exciting and disappointing.  Michael started the main in the 13th spot.  By lap 2 he had moved himself up to 10th, but heavy traffic and bunched up racing early on caused him to fall back to 12th by lap 4.  Michael fell in behind the #11 car of Gary Madsen and followed him closely throughout the next 5 laps.  On lap 9, cars checked up on the throttle and Michael got into the back of Gary Madsen.  This caused Gary to spin out and fall to the back of the field.  "Everybody checked up and I just barely got into the back of Gary, it wasn't a hard hit, but it was right in the apex.  I apologize to Gary for the incident, I don't like when things like that happen," said Michael of the mishap.  On lap 12, Michael followed the #4 car of Lynn Hardy to slide by the 10 of Jason Aposhian down the back stretch.  Michael followed closely behind the #4 car up through lap 14.  As they raced down the backstretch, the #23 car of Mike Sargent moved up the racetrack and before Lynn Hardy could check up, he bumped the #23 car and sent him spinning... almost into the pit area.  As you can see from the photo, Michael was just barely able to avoid the accident.  Click the photo to view a short clip of the incident.  Following the caution, Michael went to battle with the #20 car of Dan McCoy.  The two drivers raced side by side for more than a lap before McCoy was able to take the spot away.  Michael set in behind the #20 car and then followed him past the #48 car of Rob Davis.  Michael followed closely on the back bumper of Dan McCoy for numerous laps.  Patiently waiting to a make move, Michael finally able to when the #80 car of Todd Alonzo got loose in turn 1, sliding up out of the groove.  This forced McCoy to check up on the throttle and gave Michael an opening to slide by.  Just ahead of that, the #74 car of Kurt Lindeman had issues and Michael was able to fly by him on the outside groove down the back straightaway (View Video).  Unfortunately it was all for nothing when a caution came out on lap 20.  The track officials moved Michael back behind McCoy and the #80 of Todd Alonzo... much to the dismay of Hale Racing.  Michael once again followed Dan McCoy... this time for 10 more laps.  Finally Michael made an awesome "High-Low" pass to get by the #20 car.  Michael came in slightly high in turn 3, used his momentum and turned the car under McCoy, using his momentum again to get a great run down the front straightaway, into turn one, and completing the pass out of turn 2 and down the back stretch (View Video).  On the very next lap, Michael drives his car to low side and gets under the #80 of Todd Alonzo.

      One lap after a caution, Michael was involved in another extremely close call.  The 3 cars in front of him were all involved in a slight altercation.  Driver of the #14 car, Todd Ellison got into the #84 car of Mark Ith Jr., causing him to get loose.  This caused Ith to slide up the track and slide in front of the #30 car of Nick Parker.. thus causing him to check up.  This opened up a hole for Michael, which he hit immediately, enabling him to drive under the 30 and 84 to move into 3rd. (Click the image to the left in order to see video of this altercation).  Caution came out in belief that things may get ugly, but luckily no damage was done to any other cars.  After everything was sorted out, the 14 car of Todd Ellison was also sent to the back for involvement of the incident.  This gave Michael 3 more spots and put him into 2nd.  After the caution, Michael went to work on the #24 car of Jimmy Waters.  Jimmy had lead most of the event, and was setting the pace after the caution laps.  Michael followed closely behind Waters, making numerous attempts at a pass.  Turn after turn, Michael would do his best to get by, but each time being held off by the 24 car.  Finally on lap 36, Michael made a risky move to the low side of the the racetrack going into turn 3.  Michael drove his Lefthander chassis deep into the corner, moving his bumper to the door panel of Jimmy Waters' #24 modified.  The two cars touched, and both were nearly completely sideways.  Out of turn 4, Michael held the lead and the two raced down the front straightaway.  Michael held the edge going into turn 1, out of turn 2 he would complete the pass and pull away from the #24 car down the back stretch.  It looked as if the event was all locked up, but an ugly accident involving 4 cars brought out the final caution of the night.

      The race would end in a "Green, White, Checker" fashion.  When they took the green, Michael jumped out in front, on lap 38 he held a solid lead going into turn 3.  The pesky Waters somehow drove his car under Michael's, just out of turn 4, and battled with him down the front stretch.  The white flag waved as the two raced into turn 1.  Out of turn 2, the cars were side by side, down to turn 3, Michael held a slight advantage.  Michael tried to close the door as the two raced side by side entering the corner.  The two cars touched yet again.  Both turned sideways... only one drove away.  Jimmy Waters drove to the finish line to take the victory.  Although the team was disappointed in the way the race turned out, their were still a few things to be happy about.  First of all, lap times.  After taking a look at the race statistics, Michael Hale turned the fastest lap time in the feature event.  A 15.81 second elapsed time proved to be the quickest of the evening.  Second of all, their qualifying spot plus a finishing spot of 11th place earned the team a fair amount of passing points.  After all was said and done, Hale Racing still scored 5th overall.  "That's racing, and that's all you can say about it.  It was a pretty ugly night for a lot of the heavy hitters, our car is in one piece, and that's something to be happy about," said Michael Hale after the night's event.  Car owner Red Hale wasn't too upset either: "The car is still together, it may not have turned out the way we wanted it to, but we didn't hurt anything."  The statements couldn't be more true as many of the heavy hitters from a year ago didn't even finish, and had to tow home a pretty banged up racecar.

      Hale Racing will return to the racetrack next Saturday, May the 7th, for their next points event.  We hope you all come out to cheer us on and support us.  Even with the cold temperatures of last Saturday, the fans were out in full force, and we greatly appreciate it.  We'd like to thank all of our sponsors that came on board this season to help us out yet again.  You guys make this hobby not only possible, but enjoyable as well.  For that, we thank you.  We invite you all to please stay tuned to HaleRacing.com all season long for updates on the entire 2005 season.  Thank you for stopping by.

Short article written by Brad Edwards

Have a question or comment about this article?
e-mail us at haleracing@comcast.net

- Return To The 2005 News Archives
       (for users coming from HaleRacing.com's News Page)

- Return Home
       (for users coming from HaleRacing.com's Home Page)