You really couldn't have asked for a better way to finish up the season at Rocky Mountain Raceways.  September 13th was host to a full moon, and typically that sort of thing meant bad luck.  Well, on this full moon night, luck was on our side, and Hale Racing took home the big check and a whole lot of smiles.  It was special to win this event last year, but to back it up with another, that's just extraordinary.

     Everything was going well right from the get-go on Saturday.  The team arrived in early fashion as they always do and hit the track with high hopes of closing out the year at RMR with success.  Practice began and the team seemed to make it a "6th lap" sort of thing by running their fastest times of each practice session on lap #6.  Thus meaning it took a little time for the tires to warm up and get the car really working.  This proved somewhat costly in qualifying, but the team more than made up for it by lap 30 of the big race.  2 thousandths of a second separated Michael's 3rd place qualifying time to 1st place qualifier, Billy Osoro.  1 thousandth separated  Michael's 3rd place time to 2nd place qualifier Bryan Wordelman.  Tight field of racers?  You bet!

     Although the season was filled with some pretty exciting events; I'm not quite sure any of them matched up to this one.  There wasn't a whole lot of "coming from the back" type drama, but when you realize two of the three drivers Michael had to pass were previous track champions and all three of them are some of the most difficult drivers to overcome, the display Michael put on was very impressive .  Even 2nd place finisher, Lynn Hardy, couldn't believe it when Michael snuck up on the inside of him and tucked his bumper under the #4 car to grab the lead.  It was definitely a "stealth-like" move by Michael.  He really came out of nowhere when he overtook the lead from the guy that finished behind him in the overall standings this year.  You'll have to check out the video on this one.

     The track chose to invert the top 6 qualifiers so Michael started the 100 lap feature race in 4th place; 2nd row, outside groove.  Below him on the inside was Nick Parker.  Just in front of Michael was the #6 of Michael Holder, and on the pole position was last year's points champion, Lynn Hardy.  In the early laps, Michael held his own in 4th place, racing closely with the #7 of Bryan Wordelman.  Both cars stayed side by side for the most part as they chased the #6 of Michael Holder.  The events first caution came out on lap 4, and the computer timing system determined Michael was ahead of the #7 car.  The field went single file, and when the race resumed on lap 5, Michael made a great move to overtake Holder.  Down the front stretch and into turn 1 the two cars were side by side, they exited turn 2 and the battle looked almost like the one we saw last week when the two cars got together.  This time everything was clean and Michael overtook 3rd place.  The hunt for 2nd was on.

     Lap 10 ticked by, lap 15, lap 20, lap 25.  Michael showed once again just how patient he can really be.  He waited and waited as one of the state's best drivers in the #30 car continued to hold Michael off.  Finally 2 laps later, on lap 27, Michael made the same move he made on Holder.  A caution had just come out and on the restart, Michael, once again, found his way to the bottom of the racetrack and after the two cars came inches away from touching, Michael made his move into turn 1 and finished the pass as they exited turn 2.  He wasn't done there.  Next thing everybody knew, the 01 car was knocking on the door of the current leader, Lynn Hardy.  Suddenly the two were door to door.  Turn 3 was quickly approaching and Michael drove his car deep into the corner.  Just over 1 quarter of the race was in the books, the tires held their own, the car worked flawlessly and Michael made one of the best passes we've seen during the entire season.  It was a thing of beauty to watch two drivers who are consistently atop the standings go to battle for the highest paid event of the season.  Door to door the two raced, side by side out of turn 4, down the front stretch they were still neck and neck.  Had it been anybody other than Lynn Hardy, you just never know if it would have been that clean of side by side racing.  Into turn 1, Michael finally moved ahead... out of turn 2 and down the backstretch it was finally secure.  Michael made the pass and was leading the event.  Lynn drove hard into turn 3, doing everything he could to try and get his car back into position, but it just wasn't enough.  The Hale Racing modified was the car to beat tonight, and it showed.  From then on out Michael ran away with the race and took home the teams second straight 100 lap feature win.

       It was a great way to close out 2008 at RMR.  Although the team fell just short of a points championship, it was exciting to leave Rocky Mountain Raceways with a win and a $1200 check.  Now I really don't know if or how many other drivers have won this event two times, but I'm almost 100% sure nobody has done it two years in a row.  This was a great accomplishment for Hale Racing and none of it would have been possible without the support of our great sponsors and race fans.

       Beehive Bail Bonds and the guys from A&L Towing were on hand to support the team this Saturday, and Hale Racing would like to give a huge thanks not only to them, but to all the sponsors that supported us this year at RMR.  Without you guys, none of this season's success would have been possible.  Finishing 2nd in points, winning the 100 lapper; none of it could have happened without you, so THANK YOU.  We can only hope to have the same support next year.  The fans were no exception either on Saturday night.  Michael was busy signing autographs, parents were busy snapping photos of children sitting in Michael's racecar, and kids were everywhere as the team had the candy bin on hand.  We can't thank you enough for supporting the team and cheering us on each and every week.  We hope to see all of you again next year and hopefully some of you can find your way out of town to come see us in Price on the dirt come September 26th and 27th.  For you asphalt junkies, Hale Racing is for sure going to Las Vegas for the "Fall Classic" on October 24th, and possibly a race in Twin Falls, Idaho on October 4th (still to be determined on whether or not we are racing).  Anyways, that's pretty much it for 2008.  If you can make it, great,  we will see you there, if not, THANK YOU for being a part of Hale Racing this year, and we will see you all next season.

VIDEO FOOTAGE WILL BE AVAILABLE BY MONDAY EVENING PENDING NO PROBLEMS WITH MY COMPUTER.

Short article written by Brad Edwards

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