Winchester 2006 Post-Race

The Manning Service 100 at the Winchester Speedway presented highs and lows to Opportunity Motorsports.  Team owner and driver of the number 41 car, Chet Blanton would battle mechanical gremlins during Saturday’s open practice session, and the team would be retired from the event by the end of the day, without having attempted to qualify, reducing OM’s effort to a single car.

The other car however, driven by Nashville’s Zach Taylor, would bring home Opportunity Motorsports’ best result yet.  Posting top five speeds during each of the practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday would have the team optimistic heading into Sunday’s qualifying and race.  That optimism turned out to be warranted, as the number 14 car posted the 6th fastest time in qualifying, setting the stage for a strong run in the 100 lap feature event.

Starting 6th after an unfortunate 5 car inversion, the 14 team would have to work for every position.  Despite a tight handling race car, Taylor stayed in 6th place for more than half the event, consistently completing laps and maintaining touch with the leaders.  Beyond halfway, Taylor encountered issues with a lapped machine, and made contact with the turn 3 retaining wall, damaging the right front suspension of the machine, but after several of the lead machines had encountered problems, the number 14 car came home to a strong 4th place finish.

It was obvious that the team had raised eyebrows, as congratulations were offered to the team all through the pits.  Bringing home a solid top 5 finish in the second event in the history of the Opportunity Motorsports/Circle Bound Racing partnership is a huge coup for the group, and should help to lend more credibility to our efforts.  The entire team enjoyed the weekend and learned a lot from the experience, and anticipates continued success at the CRA Bash 100 at the Baer Field Speedway in May.

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