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Promising Night Ends With Engine Failure
September 21, 2019
The Double D Racing team was in action on Saturday night at Flamboro Speedway for the penultimate event of the 2019 Grisdale Weekly Racing Series championship. Thirteen teams were in attendance looking to take home the victory on an absolutely beautiful September day. Driver Rick Burbridge and the team were looking for a strong run out of the #2 West Brant Window World Chevrolet to solidify their hold on the second place position in the point standings.
On track activity for the day began with a pair of practice sessions. In the first session, driver Rick Burbridge reported that the car was a little tight in the center of the corner and a little bit loose off the corner. Crew Chief Dave Burbridge opted for adjustments to the sway bar and both front springs to help the car through the corner. In the second session, Rick reported that the car was better through the middle of the turns, but a little tight on the exit. For the evening's racing action, a minor adjustment was made to both rear springs to help the car turn better on corner exit.
For the evening's first race, Rick drew the 8th place starting position. When the green flag flew, Rick got a good run down the front straightaway and was able to make his way down to the bottom line with the 7th position heading into turn one. On lap three, Rick moved past the #93 of Carson Nagy to pick up the 6th position. Rick broke into the top five on six when he moved past the #5 of Mike Westwood. On lap nine, Rick was forced to take evasive action when third place runner Chris Howse in the #55 was spun by fourth place Shawn McGlynn in the #1 car. Howse and McGlynn were both sent to the rear of the field and Rick now found himself in the 3rd position for the upcoming restart. When the green flag flew for the restart, Rick moved past his brother Mark in the #02 car to pick up the 2nd position. Rick then set out to track down the race leader, the #97 of Blair Wickett. As the race moved past halfway, Rick was running about 10 car lengths behind Wickett. Moving into the final ten laps, Rick began closing the gap, and found himself on Wickett's rear bumper as the race approached two laps to go. Rick stayed tight looking for Wickett to slip up and open the door for a pass. Heading into turn three on the final lap, Rick drove hard into the corner, giving Wickett a nudge. As Wickett slid up the track, Rick moved to the inside and the two cars came off turn four in a dead heat. Coming across the finish line to take the checkered flag, Wickett would hold on to take the win by approximately a foot, with Rick forced to settle for a 2nd place finish despite the last corner effort to snag the win.
With an invert of the first race finish setting the starting order for the evening's second race, Rick found himself starting from the 10th place position on the starting grid. As the green flag flew on the opening lap, Rick hung back on the outside line, but began making up ground as cars on the bottom line jammed up in turn one and two. Rick drove deep into turn three on the high side, moving alongside his brother Mark. The two came off turn four side by side for the 7th position. Heading into turn one on lap two, Rick experienced an engine failure that send the car spinning after getting oil from the engine on the rear tires. Luckily, the spin did not result in contact with the wall, keeping the car intact aside from the drive line. After getting a push back to the pit area from the tow truck, the team went under the hood to investigate the issue. The final conclusion was a crank shaft failure, which is a terminal issue for this particular engine. After failing to finish the race, the team was scored with a 12th place finish, which was the team's first finish outside the top ten all year.
The Double D Racing team will now have a busy week investigating the full extent of the damage as a result of the engine failure and getting a replacement engine into the car for next week's race, which is the Grisdale Weekly Racing Series championship event at Flamboro Speedway. This event will take place on Saturday, September 28th at 6:30pm. See you at the track!
Spin and Charge Through Field Highlights Memorial Night
September 7, 2019
Saturday night was Flamboro Speedway's annual Memorial Night event. To highlight the occasion, the Grisdale Weekly Late Model Series was slated to compete in a unique event format, with the usual twin race format swapped out in exchange for qualifying heat races and an extended distance main event with double the points of a regular event on the line. Fifteen teams were on hand looking to finish the night in victory lane and put their name on the Flamboro Speedway Memorial trophy.
Teams hit the track under the afternoon sun for a pair of practice sessions. In the first session, driver Rick Burbridge reported that the #2 West Brant Window World Chevrolet was handling fairly well, with just a little bit of a tight handling condition on corner entry. For the second and final session, Rick made a small brake bias adjustment to help the car get down into the corner. Despite the change, Rick reported that the tight handling condition got a little bit worse. Crew Chief Dave Burbridge hoped that bolting on new tires with a slightly different stagger profile would help dial in the handling on the car for the evening's racing action.
For his qualifying heat, Rick drew the 5th place starting position in the seven car field, looking to finish in the top four in order to enter into the starting position redraw for the top eight starting positions for the evening's main event. When the green flag flew, the inside line would get the advantage, and Rick moved into the 4th position on lap one. On lap two, Rick moved up into the 3rd position as the field single filed out. Solidly into a qualifying position, Rick quickly got onto the rear bumper of the #93 of Carson Nagy. As the race quickly moved past halfway, Rick remained in position, looking to capitalize on any potential slip ups Nagy may make. An opportunity for a pass would not materialize, and Rick settled for a 3rd place finishing position when the checkered flag flew at the conclusion of the eight lap distance. Back in the pit area, Rick reported that the car's handling was feeling good, and the team was confident that they would have a strong run in the evening's main event.
The top eight qualifiers for the main event redrew for starting positions, with Rick pulling the 3rd place chip. When the green flag flew, Rick quickly moved into the 2nd position on the first lap. A shot at the lead would be thwarted by a quick caution for a spin at the rear of the field, setting up an outside restart on lap three. On the restart, Rick and race leader Jake Gilbert in the #03 raced into turn one nose to nose. Through turns one and two, Gilbert would pull ahead by a half car length and maintain the gap heading down the back straight. In turns three and four, Rick would get a good run, pulling nearly even with Gilbert off of turn four and down the front straight. Heading into turn one, disaster struck as third place runner Blair Wickett in the #97 would slip up, clipping Rick in the left rear. The contact sent Rick sliding up the track, where he would be hit from behind and spun by the #46 of Lane Zardo. Rick came to rest at the exit of turn two, just inches from the wall. With no damage to the car, Rick would rejoin the tail of the field to restart in the 15th and final position on the grid. On the restart, Rick would quickly pick up a pair of positions on the bottom to move into 13th. Rick then took to the outside, moving past another pair of cars to move up to 11th on lap five. Caution would fly on lap six for a spinning Zardo, moving Rick up to the 10th position. On the restart, Rick would quickly drop down to the bottom line still holding the 10th position. On lap 7, Rick jumped up to the 9th position. Rick would pick up another position on lap 15, when he moved past Jake Gilbert to pick up the 8th position. Rick would pick up another position just past halfway, on lap 21, when he moved past the #55 of Chris Howse to pick up the 7th position. On lap 25, Rick would slip past the #86 of Kenny Forth when he got loose on the exit of turn four. Now in the 6th position, Rick was on the cusp of moving into the top five, with the #50 of Chad Corcoran right in front of him. The door would open on lap 31, with Rick getting a bumper inside Corcoran on the exit of turn two. Entering turn three, the two cars made contact, sending Corcoran up the track and allowing Rick to move past and pick up the 5th position. One lap later, the caution would fly as Corcoran spun after making contact with Kenny Forth, setting up an eight lap dash to the finish. When the green flag flew, Rick would use the inside line to his advantage to move past the #27 of Kevin Albers and into the 4th position. Rick would now find himself on the rear bumper of his brother, Mark Burbridge in the #02. For the first few laps after the restart, Rick would hound his brother's rear bumper, looking for an opening to move past. After a couple of laps, Mark would pull out to a slight advantage. Rick would close this gap over the final few laps, but would not get close enough to challenge for a pass, settling for the 4th place finishing position when the checkered flag flew. Despite the early spin taking them out of contention for the win, the team would finish the night happy with the strong run up through the field to get back to a top five finishing position.
The Double D Racing team will enjoy a weekend off before returning to action at the next Grisdale Weekly Racing Series event at Flamboro Speedway. This event will take place on Saturday, September 21st at 6:30pm. See you at the track!
Handling Struggles Abound in Weekly Racing Series Return
August 24, 2019
After a hiatus of over a month since the last event, the Grisdale Weekly Racing Series for Pro Late Models was back in action on Saturday night at Flamboro Speedway. The Double D Racing team was in attendance on a beautiful Saturday evening looking to strengthen their grip on the second place position in the championship standings and hopefully begin closing the gap on points leader JR Fitzpatrick and his #84 team. A strong field of 17 cars was on hand for the evening's events, matching a season high for the Weekly Series Pro Late Models.
On track activity for the day kicked off with a pair of practice sessions. In the first session, driver Rick Burbridge reported that the #2 West Brant Window World Chevrolet was struggling to turn through the middle of the corners. Crew Chief Dave Burbridge opted for both a spring rubber and stagger adjustment to rectify the issue. In the second session, Rick reported that the car had now gone too far the opposite direction and was on the loose side. The team settled on reversing the stagger adjustment for the evening's racing action.
For the first race of the evening, Rick rolled off from the 9th position on the starting grid. During pace laps, track officials sent the #93 of Carson Nagy to the pits to rectify a mechanical issue, bumping Rick up to the 8th position for the green flag. Starting on the outside would not prove to be good fortune, as Rick struggled on the initial start, dropping back to the 10th position before falling into line. Rick quickly picked up a position to move into 9th, and gradually worked his way past a pair of cars to move up to the 7th position by the midway point of the race. Just past halfway, the caution would fly with Rick still holding on to 7th. During the caution, the #1 of Shawn McGlynn would head to the pits, bumping Rick up to the 6th position for the restart. Rick would get a good restart and was able to fall into line maintaining the 6th position. Unfortunately, the race was slowed by a red flag shortly after the restart for a serious crash on the front straight involving the #18 of David Gallinger. Once the crash was cleaned up, the race restarted once again but Rick was not so fortunate on the outside this time. Rick would lose a position to the #55 of Chris Howse, falling back to 7th. For the remaining laps, Rick would remain on the rear bumper of the #55 machine, but was unable to complete a pass and came home with a disappointing 7th place finish.
For the evening's second race, Rick was starting from the 3rd position, so the team opted to bolt on a set of new tires to capitalize on the strong starting position. When the green flag flew to start the race, the caution flag immediately flew for an incident in turn two. This would eventually turn into another red flag, as crews needed to assist two cars off the track. On the second attempt at starting the race, pole sitter Shawn McGlynn got a good jump in his #1 machine, pulling ahead of the #97 of Tyler DiVinenzo. In turn two, McGlynn slid up the track, allowing Rick to peek inside of him. Coming off the turn, McGlynn would spin his tires and get sideways, coming across Rick's nose and spinning into the infield as the pair made contact. In the ensuing bottleneck, a few more cars would spin and the race returned to another caution period. For the third attempt to start the race, Rick was now starting from the outside of the front row. When the green flag flew, Rick would get a good jump over DiVinenzo and lead by a half car length through turns one and two and down the back straight. Heading into turn three, the two leaders would make slight contact, but this allowed Rick to inch ahead a little further. By the time the pair got back to turn one again, Rick had cleared for the lead and sailed out in front of the field off turn two and down the back straightaway. Rick would pace the field until lap 7, when the caution flew for a spinning McGlynn off turn two. On the restart, Rick would get a good jump and pull away from DiVinenzo, bringing the #89 of Shawn Chenoweth along with him, who moved into second. Rick would lead with Chenoweth right on his bumper until the caution flew again on lap 10 for an incident in turn three. On the ensuing restart, Chenoweth would jump ahead of Rick coming to the green, but officials ruled that he jumped the start, bringing the field back to caution for another attempt. On the second attempt, Rick and Chenoweth were dead even heading through turn one and two. On the exit of turn two, 3rd place runner JR Fitzpatrick in the #84 got into Rick's rear bumper, sending him sideways onto the backstretch. As Fitzpatrick backed off and Rick gathered up the car, Chenoweth pulled ahead with a big lead. Rick would fend off Fitzpatrick for another two laps until the #84 slipped under him coming off turn two. Rick would drop into line behind Fitzpatrick heading into turn three, settling into 3rd place. The race would run clean and green from this point onward to the finish, with Chenoweth and Fitzpatrick pulling away from the field and Rick maintaining a steady gap to the cars behind him. When the checkered flag flew, Rick brought home a 3rd place finish.
The Double D Racing team will have the Labour Day Weekend off before the next Weekly Racing Series event, which is also Flamboro Speedway Memorial Night & Fan Appreciation Night. This event will take place on Saturday, September 7th at 6pm. See you at the track!
Latest Results
October 6 Results
1. #13 - Shane Maginnis
2. #3 - Shae Gemmell
3. #89 - Shawn Chenoweth
4. #86 - Billy Schwartzenburg
5. #52 - Jake Sheridan
18. #2 - Rick Burbridge