Good Start To Night Goes Bad For Sides At Stockton
Story By: SHAWN MILLER / SIDES MOTORSPORTS – STOCKTON, CA – If anyone in California has a monkey cage, please bring it to the Jason Sides pit area at the next World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series race.
Sides, who has had a monkey on his back throughout the first month of the season, seemed to have his fortune turn around last Saturday during the FVP Western Spring Shootout at Stockton Dirt Track.
He qualified second quickest in his group before winning both a heat race – his third of the year with the series – and the dash to line up on the pole for the main event.
“After the dash we had a little oil on the floor board,” he said. “We reached in there and snugged the power steering line. When you do that and don’t hold the line it will move the hose. I tightened it and when I did it turned the hose to the steering box mount. I think that rubbed a hole in it. I made it a lap and a half. It rubbed right through and blew all the oil out.”
Sides took the lead on the start of the main event and he completed the first lap before a caution came out.
“On that restart Brad (Sweet) got by in turns one and two,” he said. “By that time I was trying to hang on to it. I had no steering. After about three laps it was going where it wanted to and I was being passed so I decided to pull in.”
Sides was unable to finish the race after all the power steering fluid had drained, which cost a shot at his first win of the season and relegated him to a 24th-place finish.
“It was a good night going, but we just didn’t get the results,” he said. “Hopefully the speed and everything but the bad luck will continue the next few races.”
Sides has a tripleheader on deck this week with World of Outlaws events on Wednesday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., for the Brad Sweet Placerville Short Track Showdown presented by NAPA Auto Parts; on Friday at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., for the Kings Outlaw Shootout; and on Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif., for the SoCal Showdown.
Sides finished a career-best third at Placerville Speedway in 2015. He has placed 12th at Keller Auto Speedway during his two most recent visits and he has a top-10 finish at Perris Auto Speedway each of the last two seasons.
