Altamont Race 4th place for Hardin

[stuETM]

Eric Hardin finished fourth in the 200 lap race at Altamont on April 28th. This is his career best finish in the Grand National Division West Series. The No. 5 Alta Dena Dairy Chevy qualified fifth. At one point in the race Hardin had moved all the way to the back of the field after his tranny locked up on a restart. His crew chief Mike Harvick and car chief Justin Holechek made some changes at the half way point. Eric piloted the No.5 to a fourth place finish.
Next race: May 18th, Minn.
than: May 20th, Iowa

[NIKAL]

Looks as all the off-roaders did well, Myers got 2nd, Hardin was 4th, Lofton was 7th and Ickler finished 13th. Good job to all!

Altamont 200 Race Results April 28 NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series
0.5-Mile Short Track
200 Laps/100 Miles
FP SP Car Driver Team / Make Laps Points Money Status
1 9 2 Mike David Bennett Lane Winery Ford 200 185 7,250 Running
2 14 44 Andrew Myers Toyota of Escondido Chevrolet 200 170 4,250 Running
3 2 54 Tim Woods III Chino Hills Ford Ford 200 170 3,000 Running
4 5 5 Eric Hardin Alta Dena Dairy Chevrolet 200 160 2,900 Running
5 4 22 # Jason Bowles Sunrise Ford/Turbo Torq Ford 200 155 2,350 Running
6 17 88 # Jamie Dick Motrway Auto Group Chevrolet 200 150 3,050 Running
7 3 66 Justin Lofton Lofton Motorsports Chevrolet 200 146 2,700 Running
8 8 8 Johnny Borneman Twisted X Boots/Red Line Oil Ford 199 152 3,850 Accident
9 1 9 Mike Duncan Lucas Oil/Ron's Rear Ends Chevrolet 199 143 4,763 Running
10 6 61 Brett Thompson Habby Too BBQ Sauce Chevrolet 197 134 3,250 Running
11 26 42 Rick Wall Xiser Ford 196 130 1,750 Running
12 23 09 Lloyd Mack III STAR Motorsports Chevrolet 195 127 1,600 Running
13 18 16 Brian Ickler NAPA/NAPA Belts & Hose Chevrolet 194 124 2,750 Running
14 11 59 Kyle Cattanach Dan Gamel RV Toyota 193 121 1,400 Running
15 15 18 # Moses Smith Hasa Pools Chevrolet 192 118 1,850 Running
16 13 65 # Stan Silva Jr A&S Metals/Trucking Chevrolet 192 115 1,800 Running
17 7 20 # Eric Richardson GreenFrogRoasting.com Chevrolet 190 112 2,000 Accident
18 12 84 # Alex Haase Motorway Auto Group Chevrolet 189 109 1,200 Running
19 22 15 Jack Sellers Aramark Chevrolet 189 106 1,500 Running
20 16 1 Jim Inglebright Jelly Belly Chevrolet 188 103 2,250 Running
21 10 21 # Ryan Foster Golden Gate Meat Chevrolet 188 100 1,000 Running
22 25 27 Bobby Hillis /Wal-Mart/Hinkley's Lighting Chevrolet 128 97 1,500 Engine
23 21 71 Daryl Harr WestWorld Computers Chevrolet 128 94 1,500 Engine
24 20 30 Phil Bonifield Red Line Synthetic Oil Dodge 101 91 1,000 Vibration
25 24 77 # Mike Gallegos King Taco Ford 51 88 1,750 Engine
26 19 3 Wes Banks Orco Construction Supply Ford 28 85 1,000 Accident
27 27 63 Jose Luis Ramirez Pro30/Bad Boy Drink/Rayere Ford 16 82 1,000 Brakes

[NIKAL]

Lofton Racing experienced the highs and lows of hard racing in the Altamont “200” on Saturday night. Driver Justin Lofton never dropped out of the top four during practice and had his best qualifying effort to date with a lap of 18.06 netting a second row starting position. The race proved to be more of the same until a last lap melee became the undoing of a great run.
The race began with the #66 Lofton Cattle/Cometic Gasket/Klotz Synthetic Lubricants Ford Fusion lined up third on the grid in the 27-car field. While the car handled well all night, it took a few laps for the car to come in. The numerous cautions and red flag periods became a challenge on restarts until the half-time break when tire pressure adjustments were made. With less than 10 laps to go Justin moved into the 2nd position, challenging the leader for the remaining laps until moving to the point on the final lap. Contact in turn three sent both cars hard into the wall allowing the series point leader to move by for the win. Lofton was able to bring the car across the finish line and remain on the lead lap.

“We had a terrific car this weekend,” said the 21-year old driver from Westmorland, CA. “We ran up front consistently and made the right adjustments during the intermission which really helped the car on the restarts” concluded Justin. Crew Chief Rob Dixon added, “It was an impressive run and the driver was very comfortable with the car. We’ll have the same car prepped and ready for next month’s events coming up in Minnesota and Iowa.”

The next race will be the Minnesota “150” on Friday, May 19, at Elko Speedway. The event will air live on HDNet at 9:00 p.m. EST. The series will then travel south for the 2nd combination event of the weekend, with the NASCAR Busch East drivers, at the Iowa Speedway for the Iowa “200”. The Sunday afternoon race will air live on HDNet at 4:00 p.m. EST. Both events will re- air on SPEED’s “Racing Across America.”

[stuETM]

The crash off turn three was wild, it was unfortunate that neither of the two in the wreck came out with a clean car, or the chance to get 1st and 2nd.