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01 Awesome 4th of July Wow, what a 4th of July. I'm not sure what more you can say after last Monday's night at the races. The fireworks after the night's event were good, but nothing compared to the fireworks on the race track. Michael Hale and Hale Racing went back to work on Monday the 4th of July for yet another points race for 2005, and boy did they put on a show. Although the night didn't start out perfect, it ended about as good as it could. Michael and the team opened up the evening with an eighth place qualifying position. The track was beyond slick and qualifying times were down all across the field. However, with a field of 25 cars, 8th place wasn't bad at all. With the large field of modifieds, the class had to run 3 heat races. Michael ran in the 1st one. Michael started 5th in the event, and with a rather loose racecar, fell back to 6th. Fortunately, the heat race isn't what we're all here to read about. Those of you at the race Monday night, know what I'm talking about, and those that weren't... well you missed out, and it better not happen again, especially if you're a fan. With his 8th place qualifying spot, Michael started closer to the back for this one. Michael went to battle early, racing side by side with the #23 car of Mike Sargent for more than 5 laps before overtaking him for the 10th spot. Just as Michael would get by him, he moved up on the #48 of Rob Davis. Just as Michael moved to the high side of the front stretch, Davis moved up and Michael couldn't help but rub up against the wall. The two raced into turn one, and out of turn 2 Michael was able to overtake Davis, and move himself up to 8th. Once in 8th, Michael worked with the driver of his former racecar, the #7 of Bryan Wordelman. Michael followed Bryan under the #8 car of Kelly Van Cleave to move into 7th. On the very next lap, Michael would once again follow closely behind Wordelman... unfortunately this time, Bryan wasn't able to make it through the pass as he touched with the #51 of Michael James Celia causing him to spin the car and nearly tag the outside wall in turn 3. Surprisingly enough, Celia was given his spot back and remained in front of Michael. After the caution, Michael started 6th right behind the 51 of Celia. As the green flag flew, Michael raced under the 51 car and beat him into turn 1... taking over the 5th spot. Two laps later Michael took advantage of another opportunity as the #80 of Todd Alonzo got loose going into turn 1, and Michael slid under him... the two would race down the back stretch and into turn 3, still side by side until the exit of turn 4. Michael had the slight advantage and would eventually complete the pass down into turn 1. Alonzo would then fight back, side by side again with Michael, the two raced for 2 more laps before Michael would once again move ahead. By the 18th lap, Michael had moved himself into the 4th place position... the task was still far from done. Michael moved up on the bumper of the #10 car of Jason Aposhian. The patience proved very important at this point as Jimmy Waters was knocking at the door right behind Michael. Aposhian moved up to the rear of the second place car, #50, Roger Wilson. It was now a decision of whether or not Michael would go high or low. He must have made the smart choice, Michael stayed to the low side of the racetrack and followed Aposhian passed Roger Wilson. Michael now followed closely once again behind Jason Aposhian. On lap 23 Michael would get an awesome run out of turn 2, he moved his racecar under Aposhians and the two raced down into turn 3. Michael drove hard into 3, sliding up slowly as he entered turn 4... moving himself into the 2nd position. On lap 24, a caution would come out, forcing the field to bunch up. When the green came out, Michael was able to make an extraordinary pass on the leader, Brett Thompson. The Idaho driver moved slightly up the track exiting turn 4 as the green waved, and Michael was able to drive under him and complete the pass down into turn 1. Unfortunately the night was far from over. There was still a good 15 laps remaining and some hard chargers were moving through the field. On lap 30, the #51 car nearly caught fire and a caution was brought out. This would once again bunch up the field, and put the competitors right back behind Michael. The green flag waved and Michael was able to jump out to a big lead. Michael would slowly pull away for 5 more laps before another caution was waved when the #14 of Todd Ellison got into the #24 of Jimmy Waters causing Ellison to spin into the infield. The track officials sent both drivers to the back of the pack and with just 5 laps to go, Michael would once again have to fend off the competition. This restart was even closer, but Michael would once again pull away from Thompson and get a small cushion on his lead. Unfortunately it was short lived as one lap later on lap 36, another caution flew. This time the start wasn't quite as easy and almost proved disastrous as Thompson was all over the back bumper of Michael... the green flew and Michael spun the tires just as he accelerated. Thompson had no where to go but right into the back bumper of Michael. The two drivers were full throttle exiting turn 4 and Michael did an amazing job at not spinning out the car. After saving the car, Michael was able to move ahead yet again. Right behind Michael was a great battle for second. Current points leader, Nick Parker went to work on the 71 of Thompson and was able to overtake 2nd just as the white flag flew. Michael raced around the final lap with the #30 of Nick Parker right on his bumper. Parker drove hard into turn 3, and got a great jump out of 4... the two raced side by side to the finish line where Michael Hale was able to prove victorious... by no more than a car length. It may have been the closest finish of the season, and for this team, it was definitely the best. After the race, Michael was able to thank all of this teams great sponsors including Hunter Machine, Rowland's Auto Recycling, Bimm's Racing Products, Arnold's Machinery, Barlow's Landscaping, and A&L Towing. "The car felt really good throughout the whole race, I couldn't be more proud of this team. After the season we've had, this is only going to give us more hope throughout the rest of the season," said Michael after the night's race. Michael made it very clear that without the help of all those that support this team, he would not have been able to compete, let alone win this or any other race. The support of this team has been incredible throughout this season. With all the bad luck and the hard times this team has been through, it means the world to us that our supporters stood by us and helped us in getting last years car back on the track so that we didn't miss any of this year's action. Hale Racing can not thank you enough for all of your help and support. It was an extremely late night at the track on Monday, and the fan support was once again incredible. Michael was busy signing autographs up until midnight. We can not express how much we appreciate everyone coming out to cheer this team on week after week. You guys make this sport even more exciting for us. "To have a young fan want to sit in your racecar after a long night at the track, it almost makes whatever troubles you had throughout the night... all worth it. The fan's smile when he's in the seat holding the wheel is really a special feeling," said driver Michael Hale. If you missed Monday's race, you don't want to miss next week's event as Michael will be running two main events on Saturday, the 9th of July. Don't miss out as Hale Racing goes back to work. The team currently sits 7th in the point standings and still has hopes to move up. Come out and cheer Michael on as he looks for another successful night at the races. Thank you for stopping by, and stay tuned for more updates. Short article written by Brad Edwards
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