(Image Credit: That Picture Guy)
26 Promotions – Stockton, CA – (September 5th, 2017) – With the ASCS Southwest Series off for another couple weeks, Colton Hardy had no real plans of racing over the Labor Day weekend. But a funny back and forth between father and son, quickly changed those plans.
“It was a joke to go run Delta this weekend,” said Hardy. “But, the more we joked about it, my dad and I decided it was a good idea.”
With both the Non-Wing and Super 600 cars loaded up the Hardy’s made the trip to Stockton, California to run both nights of the Dual at Delta.
In the Non-Wing division, Hardy qualified fifteenth with a lap of 10.683, but the car didn’t take a competitive lap the rest of the night.
“In the Non-Wing class, we don’t know what happened,” he said. “The car ran fine during hot laps until a fuel line came off, then it wouldn’t run the rest of the night.”
Hardy qualified 7th in the Super 600 division with a lap of 9.829, lining him up on the outside of the front row for his heat.
“The wing car ran really good Saturday night,” he said. “We started second in the heat but got called for jumping the start and were sent back a row. We fell back to fifth on the start with the track being right on the bottom and finished there.”
With a six-car invert, and one car not getting their time back, it put Hardy on the pole for the start of the thirty-lap feature.
“The car was perfect during the feature,” he said. “We had a little struggle with lap traffic, which let second by but a yellow came out. After that, we were pretty much untouched the rest of the race.”
Hardy’s Super 600 victory is his third in a Micro this season.
“It feels good to run well over there but to win with the competition level is huge,” Hardy said. “After how California Speedweek went, this was a huge confidence booster and we learned a lot on the car for the future.”
Night two of the Dual at Delta saw Hardy go to the backup A-Class car, which had not seen the track at all this year, for the Non-Wing division.
Hardy qualified sixth in Non-Wing with a fast lap of 10.578, which lined him up on the inside of row two for his heat.
Hardy fell back to fifth on the start but was able to recover and pick up a position to finish fourth.
With a four-car invert, Hardy would start sixth in the Non-Wing feature.
“We got to fourth really quick and felt like the car was better than second and third, but the driver didn’t perform,” said Hardy. “Then I hopped the cushion with about three laps to go and fell back to finish sixth.”
In the Super 600 division on Sunday night, Hardy qualified ninth quick with a lap of 9.921. He’d start second and finish third in his heat, lining him up eighth for the start of the feature.
“We made the wrong decision on setup and were a little tight, I got up over the cushion and it ended up hooking me down the track in front of everyone, ending our night,” explained Hardy. “Felt like we were better than the results show, but sometimes that’s just how it is. It’s a learning curve going to California, not running at good short tracks every week. For how little we run a short track, felt like we improved and have something to keep building on for future trips and the Shootout.”
Hardy returns to ASCS Southwest Region action on September 16th at Arizona Speedway.
Colton Hardy would also like to thank A & C Remodeling, NPS Race Engines, Engler Machine and Tool, CSI Shocks, Schoenfeld Headers, Hyper Racing, Bandit Racing, M & J Trophies and Apparel, Mark’s Nuts and Bolts, Diamond Mechanical, and Napa Auto Parts for their continued support.
Saturday Results
Non-Wing
Qualifying: 15th, 10.683
Heat: DNS
Feature: DNS
Super 600
Qualifying: 7th, 9.828
Heat: 2nd -> 5th
Feature: 1st -> 1st
Sunday Results
Non-Wing
Qualifying: 6th, 10.578
Heat: 3rd -> 4th
Feature: 6th -> 6th
Super 600
Qualifying: 9th, 9.921
Heat: 2nd -> 3rd
Feature: 8th -> 19th
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colton.hardy41
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colton_hardy41
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colton_hardy41/
Website: http://www.coltonhardy.com/
- Darren Ward on Sep 05, 2017
- Article Date: 9/5/2017 by 26 Promotions