Weekly Updates:

FRIDAY - June 26, 2009

The Cooper Motorsports Team took full advantage of the off week to diagnose the engine woes in the #25 S.K. Light Modified. The engine was removed and put on the dyno to search for the culprit of the intermittent power loss during the race. It was after a few dyno sessions that the carburetor was found to be the problem.  That problem was quickly solved, with a new carburetor installed. The engine was back in the car Tuesday night, thanks to Ken Williams, and the team had the car loaded up Thursday night and ready for racing on Friday night.

The Cooper Motorsports Team had a good opportunity to use the practice session to work out any bugs in the engine with the new carburetor installed. It was after the first practice that Lauren gave the crew great  feedback on the engine and the handling of the race car. The crew went to work to fine tune the car and the engine for the next practice.

The second practice saw the motor perform flawlessly but now the team is still struggling to find the handling on corner entrée that Lauren feels comfortable with.     

The Stafford Motor Speedway called an end to Friday night’s activities after some classes had two rounds of practice in due to stormy weather.

LAUREN’S GRADUATION:

Visit our photos section under *Lauren’s H.S. Graduation* to see pictures of her!!!!

FRIDAY - June 19, 2009

We at Cooper Motorsports would like to congratulate Heather DesRochers on her first career victory in the SK Light Modified series.  We would also like to congratulate fellow teammate Dillon Moltz on his 3rd vicutory of the season in the Late Model class. We wish we could have been there to celebrate with both of you…Great job!!!!

FRIDAY – June 12, 2009   

The Cooper Motorsports Team was very anxious to get back to Stafford Motor Speedway after 2 consecutive weeks of rain outs. The team had 4 fresh tires on to work with this week, which made driver Lauren Cooper very happy.    

The first round of practice found the track a tick on the loose side. Lauren clocked in a time of 20.9 sec. Lauren called for  the team to make a small change to tighten the car up for the 2nd round of practice.

The 2nd practice would find the track going to the tight the side. Lauren clocked in a time 20.3 sec. The crew discussed what track conditions would be for the qualifying heat race, and what changes were to be made with Lauren. The team agreed to loosen the up for the heat race, and hope the track would stay on the tight side.

The heat race would find the #25 S.K. Light Modified starting on the pole. It would be Lauren’s first ever attempt at the pole position starting spot at Stafford Motor speedway. The start of the heat race would find veteran driver Harry Wheeler starting on the outside of Lauren. Harry made a veteran move on the outside to gain an advantage on the start and would find Lauren a distant 3rd at the drop of the green flag. Lauren quickly regained her composure and ran down the top 2 leaders, but ran out of time before the checkered flag dropped. Lauren had the fastest time in the heat race of a 20.1 sec.

The team discussed what changes would be made for the feature, if any. Lauren felt the car was still on the tight side and called for the crew to free it up just a little. The feature would once again find the Cooper Motorsports # 25 starting on the pole position. The start of the race would find the #25 car not coming up to full speed and Lauren dropped quickly to 6th spot by lap one. The #25 car would continue it’s decent to 17th by lap seven. The crew sat and watched as the #25 car seemed to have no power down the straights. It was odd how the #25 car would respond after some restarts and the #25 car would come to life . Lauren was able to wheel it up to the 10th position by lap fourteen. Then as luck would have it, the caution flew again on lap seventeen. Once again after taking the green flag, the car acted up again. Lauren ended up with a 13th place finish.  The team once again would like to give a shout out to all our loyal sponsors, and fans that support us week in, and week out. The team’s goal is to improve each and every week.

The Cooper Motorsports Team will be taking next week off to celebrate Lauren’s high school graduation on Friday night. Lauren will be graduating as a high honor student from Pomperaug High School. We will use this time to find out if it the problem this past Friday was a fuel issue or possibly a motor issue.   

Friday -  May 22, 2009

The Cooper Motorsports Team experienced another night of highs and lows. The #25 car was unloaded with parts waiting at the track and the team ready to make repairs to a worn out shifter. The crew worked hard to get the car ready before practice began, but as usual the parts that came didn’t match the ones on the car. The crew worked hard to make modifications and was only able to get the job half done before barely getting the #25 car out on the track for the first practice.

 The #25 car was off a bit in the practices and Lauren called for small changes to be made, but in the meantime the team was informed that there was a glitch in the tracks computer system and the #25 car transponder was not being picked up to monitor laps on the track or scoring.  The crew wanted to put on new tires for the 2nd practice to get ready for the feature, but unfortunately the transponder was a higher priority and had to be addressed. The track will not allow you to race without a transponder. The transponder was fixed in time for the feature, but unfortunately there was little time to address the work that needed to be done to the #25 car. The track posted the line up for the feature and it would find Lauren starting on the outside of the front row, in a field of 20 cars. The crew weighed their options of putting on new tires, but not knowing how they would respond to the track on this night, or leave on the 4 week old tires that may not be as fast as new, but the handling would be close to what it was in practice. The crew opted to leave the older tires on for the feature and go with the known vs. the unknown.

This would be Laurens first ever front row start at the Stafford Motor Speedway in only her 4th start in the S.K. Light class. Lauren showcased her talent as youngest rookie in the field by running in the top 4 for 14 laps on old tires. It was on lap 14 when the tires gave up and the back end came around on Lauren in turns 1 & 2. The #25 car would have to start in the rear of field on lap 15 and Lauren was able to wheel the car back to a 15th place finish.

All in all it was a good night to gain more experience for the team on and off the track. The crew and Lauren continue to add notes to their notebook about the track and the car. The goal of the team is make the car better each week for Lauren, thru adjustments made at home during the week. It’s Laurens goal to continue to learn the car and to get better each week. Although the finishes don’t always show the progress, the team does get better each week.

Thanks again to our loyal sponsors who support the #25 S.K.Light race team each and every week.  

FRIDAY – May 15, 2009: 

The Cooper Motorsports team worked hard during the week to make changes to the car to improve the handling of the race car. It paid dividends in the 2nd practice with a fast lap of 19.9 which was good for 7th fastest time. This would be the first time this year that Lauren and #25 race team would break into the 19 second bracket. The car was unloaded fast and with only two practices and no qualifying races, little needed to be done to the race car. 

The feature would see Lauren start in the 13th position. Lauren would move up to 10th by lap 2, due to a big wreck in turn 2 that took out 4 cars. The #25 car would run there until lap 12 when a heated battle for position found Lauren turned around in turn 2 with 4 cars piled into the drivers side of #25 car. It was fortunate that all would drive away with little damage. Although Lauren was able to drive away, the track crew saw something dragging under the #25 car and summoned her to pit road to park it for the remainder of the race. Somehow in the wreck off turn 2 the over-flow bottle had come off its support and was dragging under the car. The #25 team would end the night with an 18th place finish. It was a night of highs and lows. It was a night that would see the #25 team clock off their fastest lap of the year and yet their worst finish of the year. “That’s racing for you.”

The Cooper Motorsports team continues to make gains every week with the C.D. Chassis and we still feel there is much more speed to be found in the car.

The Cooper Motorsports team would like to send our thoughts out to the #70 team of  Brit Anderson who had to be extricated from his car and taken to the hospital after a very hard hit into the turn 2 wall. We know he will be back just as fast as ever. 

Friday May 8th 2009:

The Cooper Motorsports team was able to log in its first top ten finish of the year. It was a struggle to say the least. The team unloaded the car and fought with an ill handling car all night. The car was tight on entry for the Spring Sizzler, but it was hard to predict what the track would be like this week due to the fact we would racing under much different weather and track conditions. It was decided that no changes would be made from the previous race and we would wait to see what the track would bring. The first practice would again see the tight on entrée to a loose off.  The team went to work to try to give Lauren a better set-up. The second practice had the entrée problem solved, but that led to a race car that was very unstable from the apex off. The team again went to work to make changes for the heat race. Once again the car responded and the car settled down, but still led to a loose condition at the apex. Lauren started 7th in the heat race and finished 9th. Lauren and the team discussed the changes that would be made for the feature.

The feature would see Lauren start 17th in a field of 21 cars. It seemed it would take a few laps for the car to come around, but Lauren seemed to like the handling. Lauren made it up to 10th by lap 16 and finished the race there. It was a nice run for the #25 team, and Lauren did a remarkable job giving the team input as to what she needed in the car and avoiding the wrecks.

We would like to thank all of our sponsors for their support and again to all those that helped us out throughout the night. We will continue to learn and grow as a rookie team with a rookie driver.