The Cooper Motorsports Team exhausted many hours this week repairing the damage from last weeks wreck. There was substantial damage to left front of the car. The team also worked hard during the week to address the brake issues and the lack of power under the hood. The whole brake system was gone through and pressures were checked and the brake bias was set. The engine had the fuel pump replaced, a known good carburetor was installed, the ignition switch was replaced and the ignition rewired. The team had high hopes for this week of racing in hopes of finally having a complete competitive race package.

This week the weather looked good, a little on the chilly side. The team was excited to find out if the changes made any improvements on the track.

The first round of practice would find the Cooper Motorsports #25 running a time of 20.3 that was good for 15th fastest on the speed chart. Lauren had expressed that she was just shaking the car down from all the work that had been done during the week.

The second round of practice would find the Cooper Motorsports #25 running a time of 20.3 that was good for 16th fastest on the speed chart. The team was very disappointed with that run and Lauren had expressed that the cars handling was off. The car was loose in and tight off. The motor she felt was better.

The crew made some changes to the set-up for the heat race in hopes for a better handling car. The heat race would find the Cooper Motorsports #25 starting on the pole position. Lauren would take the green flag and drop quickly to 6th spot by lap three. It was obvious that the car was still not handling well. Lauren would finish the heat race in 10th. Lauren had expressed to the crew that the car was rolling over hard on the right side and was like driving on ice. The crew looked over the car hard and it was discovered that the sway bar was bent. It had been over looked from the previous weeks wreck. The sway bar was replaced and changes to the set-up were made for the feature.

The Cooper Motorsports #25 would start the feature in 19th position out of 20 cars. Lauren took the green flag and quickly busted a move to the 15th spot by lap one and 14th spot by lap two. It was evident that the car was handling much better and the motor seemed to pull down the straights to keep up with the other competitors. It was on lap eight that Lauren and the #21 of Erica Santos would battle for the 14th spot. It was a good battle for position that Erica would win. Erica and Lauren would run together and both moved up a spot on lap fifteen when they both passed the #99 of Steve Greer. Then on lap sixteen Lauren would make her way around the #54 of Harry Wheeler to move to 13th spot. The caution would come out on lap eighteen for #31 of Ted Cain who hit the turn three wall hard. Lauren would move up to the 12th spot. It was on the last lap in turns three and four that a couple of cars got together and slowed up the field. Lauren made an evasive move and ended up in a drag race with the #10 of Heather DeRochers to the finish line with Lauren edging Heather to end up with her second top ten finish of the year.

The team felt very good about the run they had but still feel that more work is needed to be done. It was after the feature that Lauren expressed that the car was extremely tight at the apex. This week the team will practice on Friday for the seasons fall final on Saturday. Hope to see you all there.

Posted in Weekly Updates |