Britten Rallies Three Top-Ten Finishes With Super DIRTcar Series

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / PETER BRITTEN RACING – WEEDSPORT, NY – Joining the Super DIRTcar Series for a full three-day weekend of racing, ‘Batman’ Peter Britten was able to overcome several challenges and battle his way forward each night to collect three top-10 finishes.

“Everything pretty much went against us this weekend but we were able to make something out of it,” Britten said. “We made lemonade out of lemons.”

Britten opened the weekend on Friday evening at Brewerton Speedway where he finished second in his heat race, placing him in the top-12 redraw.

Britten rolled off fifth for the 100-lap main event.

“Unfortunately we missed the set up,” added Britten. “The track was so fast. I thought it was going to hold grip a little longer. From the moment I went out there I knew it was going to be a long race.”

At the beginning of the race Britten fell back to 16th. After a few laps he was able to make something work and rally his way back up to tenth.

“The last third of the race I found the line that worked for me,” he said. “I felt pretty good but the track kind of wore out a little bit and went to one lane. Overall, considering we completely missed the setup, it’s one of those things you take what you can get.”

The momentum continued on Saturday to Mohawk International Raceway in Hogansburg, N.Y.

In group time trials Britten timed second fastest overall. Unfortunately, Britten was lined up to start second in his heat and the car wouldn’t start.

“I went to fire up the car and it wouldn’t start,” Britten said. “The battery completely shorted out. They even tried to push start me and I couldn’t even get push started. The track is tough there so starting position is pretty crucial for that place.”

Britten lined up on the outside of the 18th row for the 100-lap main event.

“We had a pretty good car and was able to make some moves,” he said. “They re-prepped the track so it was pretty fast. Midway through the race down in one and two the bottom became pretty dominant, the problem was even if you have a run on the guy you had to tuck back into the bottom because it was too dominant and too fast so the other guy would drive away from you, which made it hard for passing.”

Despite starting last for the main event, Britten made a strong comeback and capped off the night with a 10th-place finish.

Britten closed out the weekend on Sunday at Cornwall Motor Speedway in Ontario, Canada.

Britten finished where he started – third – in his heat race, which once again put him in the top-12 redraw.

“It was another weird night,” mentioned Britten. “We were too tight for time trials but managed to get a decent lap then for the heat we started third, over adjusted the other way and were too loose. At least we were good enough it put us in the redraw.”

Pre-race festivities saw Britten draw the outside of the second row for the main event.

“We were up to second at one point,” he said. “We were too tight at the start of the race but I knew it would come in midway through the race.”

Unfortunately there was a crash in turns one and two where Britten had to slow to miss it. Someone rear-ended Britten, giving him a left rear flat while running second.

Britten was able to change the tire, make it back out and battle his way through to another top-10 finish.

“It was a tough race,” he added. “The track was pretty quick. Once I got going again I tried being pretty cautious because the track was pretty rough. It was a little bit of a challenge to keep our nose clean but I picked off some cars and made it back up to the front to finish seventh.”

Despite all of the obstacles Britten ran into over the weekend, he’s satisfied with his results.

“It was a little bit of a frustrating weekend but considering how things went we still managed to stay in the top ten every night,” noted Britten. “It was encouraging to be able to do that.”

Britten’s results are proven success for the new TD4 Troyer design.

“Ever since this new car has come out it seems like we’ve been able to run consistently well even when things don’t go our way, we seem to always finish,” he said. “We obviously have the challenge to win. We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season.”

Britten is scheduled to run Fonda Speedway on Saturday with the Super DIRTcar Series.