Second Utah Event Proves Successful
(Videos Now Available)

            Well it was just the second visit for Hale Racing to Rocky Mountain Raceways this year, but it sure proved to be a successful one.  This was only the teams 4th race of the year.  The first being a trip to Las Vegas in late March, the second was back home at Rocky Mountain Raceways, and the third was a special trip to Wyoming for the team's first ever dirt track race (article coming soon).  Not only was this just the team's 4th race of 2006, it was only the car's 2nd.  The brand new Lefthander Chassis seemed to come around a lot better this weekend than in it's first visit to RMR.

            Qualifying was a little bit of a disappointment to the team.  After some pretty good times in a hot testing session, the team was upset to see a 10th place qualifying position in an even hotter qualifying session.  "The track got way slick with the sun beating on it and the car was just too loose.  Everybody else seemed to slow down too," said driver Michael Hale after his qualifying laps.

            With qualifying in the books, Michael took to the track just after 7:30 p.m. for his heat race.  Things started off well, as the car seemed to be working pretty good.  Michael started 4th, but unfortunately after moving into 3rd, he got stuck behind the second place car of Johnny Luttmer.  Michael was unable to get around as the #7 car of Bryan Wordelman made it two wide and Michael really had no where to go.  Finally one line of cars moved forward and Michael happened to be on the outside... with no room to move, Michael fell back to 7th.  With a little time left, Michael was able to gain two positions by the final lap and take home 5th.  5 seemed to be Saturday's lucky number.

            On a night full of cautions, oil downs, and yellow flags, Michael's main event wasn't run until after 9:00 p.m.  Michael started 10th based on his qualifying position, and didn't waste any time to gain a few spots.  Michael battled back and forth with the #51 car of Mike Celia while the two followed closely behind the 08 of Tanner Frey.  On lap 5, Celia was able to get under Frey and as the two exited turn 2, they got together... this caused the 08 of Tanner Frey to spin out and hit the back stretch wall.  All of this happened right in front of Michael, and fortunately he was able to avoid it (click here for the video). Caution was waved and apparently Celia wasn't involved in the first accident as he was not moved to the back of the field.  However 2 laps later after going back to green, Celia was involved in another incident. This time with the #50 of Roger Wilson.  Once again, this happened right in front of Michael.  And once again, he somehow avoided it (click here for the video).

            So after two close calls the race went back to green on lap 8 and Michael was able to make a great "Over-Under" pass on the #27 car of Jeff Price (click here for the video).  This move put Michael into 7th and right behind #18 Johnny Luttmer.  Michael followed Luttmer for just two laps and was able to move by him on a great low side pass coming out of turn 2 and finishing the move as the two entered turn 3.  The pass gave Michael the 6th place position and his next task was chasing down the #7 of Bryan Wordelman.  On lap 14, as Michael chased Wordelman, hard charger, Nick Parker, was able to move by Michael on the outside as they exited turn 2.  "When Nick went by me, I knew I had to get as close to him as possible and try to follow him passed Bryan.  I was able to get in position, and the move worked out nicely."  Michael was able to get by the #7 car on lap 17 but with many laps still to go, he wasn't quite done yet.  At this point Michael was back into the 6th spot . Caution came out two laps later on lap 19 and when the race went back to green... Michael hooked up with Nick Parker again and moved by the #49 of Carlton Ruesch.

            On lap 22, Michael would be passed by the #84 car of Mark Ith.  Right after doing so, Michael quickly closed the gap on the bumper of Ith and followed him passed the #77 of Todd Beach.  This moved Michael into the top 5.  Another caution came out and this bunched the field back up.  Michael battled with Todd Alonzo for just over 5 laps, and in doing so ended up being overtaken by the #11 of Gary Madsen.  "I knew Gary was there, so when he went by me, the same thought went through my mind... just to hook up with him and try to follow him passed Alonzo."  Michael did just that.  On lap 29, Gary was able to get himself under Alonzo and Michael quickly followed suit.  Gary and Michael drove by the #80 of Todd Alonzo as if they were team mates working together.  When Gary had room, he slid up and Michael was able to move his car ahead of Alonzo's... thus completing the final pass of the night.  As stated above, 5th place seemed to be the magic position as Michael posted a well deserved and hard fought top 5.

            "I drove my tail off tonight," said Michael after his main event.  "This team is great; we really worked hard and it showed tonight."  Michael and the entire Hale Racing team were pretty satisfied with the way the night turned out.  As we always like to do, Hale Racing would like to thank all of our fans and supporters that help this team each week of racing.  Although this has been a season of only a few races, the team has been competitive in each one.  In 4 events this year, the team has one win, and 2 more top 5's.  This kind of success would not be possible without our great sponsors and all of our fans.  We cannot thank you enough.  It is uncertain at this point where the racing season will go from here for Hale Racing.  The team is currently working on putting together a dirt track car and hopes to have it complete in the very near future.  Stay tuned to HaleRacing.com for updates on this project as well as future race plans.  Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you soon!

Short article written by Brad Edwards

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