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Michele Abbate earned podium finish

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Michele Abbate races in AustraliaSCCA touring car racer Michele Abbate earned podium finish at Buttonwillow Raceway this past weekend for Rounds 5 and 6 of the Western Conference Division SCCA US Majors Tour.  The track configuration was a new one, as the series ran the 25 Clockwise configuration, offering high speed sweepers, no bus stop, and the star Mazda turn.  Michele had never run this configuration, but looked forward to giving it a shot.  With two weeks to plan for the event after returning from their trip down under to the Bathurst 6 Hour in Australia at Mount Panorama, things in the states hadn’t slowed down.

In fact, upon the return of the GRR Racing team, new partnerships arose with perfect timing.  While working closely with the Pedders Racing team, Abbate fell in love with the set up of their right hand drive Toyota 86.

 I am so very thankful and grateful to now be partnered directly with Pedders Racing and their US distrubuter, 3PConnect!”, Abbate shares. 

The GRR Racing Toyota 86 is now equipped with Pedders Suspension including the external reservoir set up.  The team had a very busy week leading up to the race.  Including an unexpected motor swap, followed by an unexpected transmission pull, after their full suspension changes — they had their hands full!

 Special thanks to Grant at Pedders Racing Australia for help with our baseline set up”, Crew Cheif Anthony Philleo notes. 

Shaking the car down in the first qualifier, Abbate and Philleo decided to try out the car without the rear wing.  Michele quickly discovered she preferred having the extra rear grip, especially through riverside.  The team qualified P2 in GT-1 but was facing engine issues.  

It’s unfortunate that we had to swap back to our old [hurt] motor; but we didn’t have any other option,” Anthony explains. 

Michele drove as smart as she could and she was able to bring the car to the checkered flag with a P2 finish, being the first Toyota 86 to ever podium in GT1 in the SCCA.   Although the circumstances were not ideal, the team worked hard and they felt rewarded for their efforts.

A great accomplishment we have been chasing all year”, Abbate shares.  

 For Sunday, GRR Racing prepped the car as best as they possibly could to prevent further issue with the motor. Although, late to grid and started at the rear of the pack; Abbate played it cool for the entire race.  

My goal was to see that checkered flag, so I did everything I could to keep the car happy”. 

Ultimately GRR Racing capture another P2 podium finish bumping them into the 2nd place position for the Western Conference division, trailing the leader by just 16 points.

“Our purpose of running GT1 this year with our 86 is to qualify for National Run Offs for the GT1 program that is being built”, Anthony confirms. 

The team has done just that and is excited to be making progress up the ladder of motorsports.  The next SCCA US Majors Tour event is set for the beautiful Pacific Northwest at Portland International Raceway on May 20-21st. Fans can tune into all of the action on the live stream at www.M1cheleAbbate.com/live

Season-best for Harli White

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season-best for harli white
Photo: Speedway Shots

A season-best for Harli White on Saturday at Gator Motorplex during the 5 th annual Nolan Wren Memorial with the ASCS Gulf South Region.   The winged sprint car racer opened the event by advancing from third to second place in a heat race, which earned enough points to lock into the feature redraw.

“I got lucky and drew the No. 1 to start on the pole of the main,” she said. “The track was rubbered up before we went on the track. I knew we had to get the jump because whoever got out front first was going to win the show. Seth Bergman got the jump, but we stayed right there with him. In traffic it was going our way for a bit, but every time we’d get an opportunity the caution would come out.”

White maintained the runner-up position throughout the race to score her fourth top five of the season and third top-five finish in the last four races.

Her racing weekend began on Friday at Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, Texas, for the 2nd annual Gene Adamchik Memorial.   There, she was able to finish where she started – fourth – in a heat race to line up on the inside of the sixth row for the main event.

“We had some ups and downs,” she said. “I got ran over on the start. Everyone was trying to win it before they get into the first turn. We got collected in that and it bent the Jacobs Ladder. The car was biking real hard after that. I just hung on and finished.”

White battled for a top 10 throughout the main event before ending 11 th.

“We hung on to finish, which is a good thing after the way our season started,” she said. “Now that I’m racing full time for a living it’s important to finish every race.”

Harli is scheduled to make her debut at three tracks this weekend when she returns to Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour competition on Thursday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., before tackling ASCS Red River Region races on Friday at Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kan., and Saturday at Springfield Raceway in Springfield, Mo.

Meyer qualifies second in Charlotte

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NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster driver, Megan Meyer qualifies second in Charlotte before making her exit in the semifinal round of the 8th Annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. 

The defending event champion qualified second in the 15 car field with a 5.322 at 276.35 mph.

 

Eliminations

In round one of eliminations, Megan would take on Dan Lucas.  She would leave first, but Lucas was quick on her heels and passed her by the 60′ mark.  She was able to reel him back in by half track, edging him out at the finish line by 64 feet, a margin of victory of 0.2025 seconds.   Meyer advances to round two with a 5.666 second performance at 264.23 mph.

This would match her with Jeff Veale in the second round, who would get a slight advantage at the light over Meyer before losing traction and striking the tires.   But Megan would run her fastest pass of the weekend, with a 5.274 second,  275.39 mph pass and would advance to the semi finals.

Anticipation running high for the defending event champion, an uncharacteristic mistake costs her the win in round three against Shawn Cowie.   Megan Meyer would leave too early, giving the red light win to Cowie, who would move on to be the event champion.

“Stress was high and we did our best to be defending 4widenats winners, but I just didn’t do my job as a driver and disqualified myself in the semis. Red lights are never easy to get over and it’s tough to run two cars without your crew chief there. My guys did the best they could in the very limited time they had and I had an amazing race car, I just had too much on my plate and wasn’t focused on the track.”