Saturday, October 8th was the penultimate round of the Western Classic Racing Series at Shasta Speedway in Anderson, CA and Geoff Ensign was in attack mode. Knowing he needed to collect as many points as possible as the series winds up with two pavement races, one not even on the schedule when the season started, Ensign got into “war mode” by hitting the local gun range before attacking the Shasta Paved 3/8ths as one half of the Finkenbinder Motorsports/Western Industrial X-Ray/Les Schwab Tire entry. Unfortunately for Ensign, handling problems were prevalent early in the night and upon qualifying, Ensign could not muster anything more than 8th fast of the 13 cars in attendance, putting him on the inside of row 3 of his heat race.
Ensign would finish second in his heat race after a race long battle, and would end up on the fourth row inside for the 50 lap feature event.
With teammate Tim Barber having a great night in the other Finkenbinder entry and starting on the pole, Ensign had his work cut out for him and went to work as the green flag fell. Ensign started 7th and ended up running down his closest rival in season points Tony Hunt early in the race. When Hunt spun and brought out the first yellow of the race, and ended up on the trailer just laps later, Ensign’s stage was set for a huge point night for the Sebastopol, CA wheelman.
Ensign’s luck was not good however as a spinning car went from the bottom of the track and up into Ensign’s line down the back straightaway. Ensign had to climb on the brakes and made minor contact out of something that looked like it was going to be much worse. As the yellow came out for the spinning car and the action slowed, Ensign’s rear brakes caught fire and that wasn’t his only problem…his left front brake wasn’t working and every time Ensign would hit the brakes the car would lurch to the right, not the greatest situation to pick up spots in the main event. Quickly Ensign faded from 6th to 7th, then ultimately finished 10th, three spots in front of Hunt, and actually gained more cushion at the end of it all. The point lead is now 18 points. Adding to the successful night was his teammate Tim Barber leading wire to wire in the main event, making Finkenbinder Motorsports not only the point leader in overall points, but it’s most recent feature winner. Ensign had nothing but praise for Barber after the race. “I’m stoked for Tim. He’s had nothing but bad luck all year long and to see it turn around for him…it’s about time it did. It certainly hasn’t been from lack of effort.”
Ensign’s next race will be at the Trophy Cup in two weeks, October 21st and 22nd at Tulare’s Thunderbowl Speedway behind the wheel of Dave Vertullo’s North County Plastering/Starr Property Management #83v when Ensign gets back under a wing. His next race with the USAC Western Classic Series will be the season finale at the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, CA on November 24th.
You can follow Geoff Ensign @Ensign3f on Twitter, Geoff Ensign Motorsports on Facebook and check up on results at www.ensignmotorsports.com or contact him directly via email at geoffensign@rocketmail.com.
- Ron Lingron on Oct 09, 2011
- Article Date: 10/9/2011