Solid Weekend On Super DIRTcar Series In Canada For Heinke-Baldwin Racing

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / HBR – WEEDSPORT, NY – The HBR team produced strong results throughout last weekend’s Super DIRTcar Series events in Canada.

The team produced two top-five finishes and two-top ten finishes. Together, the team has earned 18 top-ten finishes out of 20 Super DIRTcar Series events.

Friday evening saw the team at Autodrome Granby with the Super DIRTcar Series.

Jimmy Phelps timed fifth in his group and ran fifth in the heat race.

Phelps started on the outside of the seventh row for the main event.

“We got ourselves up in the top five,” Phelps said. “I thought our car was decent. The race was really hard to push the car 100%. The track was super fast and rough. It made it real difficult to get in the corner without getting airborne.”

Despite a rough racetrack, Phelps was able to maneuver his way through the field and cross the line in sixth.

“We were way off the pace right off the trailer on Friday,” McLaughlin said. “We time trialed last in our group and finished last in the heat.”

McLaughlin rolled off on the outside of the 12th row for the 100-lap main event.

“Once the track got slicker and slowed down, it kind of came to us,” he said. “We got a lot better and were able to move our way around everyone. We found a groove they weren’t in.”

McLaughlin muscled his way through the field from his 24th starting spot to finish fifth in his No.6h machine.

The team then went to Le RPM on Saturday with the series.

Phelps started third in his heat and ran third, placing him in the top-12 redraw.

Phelps drew the pole for the main event.

“We lost the lead on the initial green,” Phelps said. “The outside fired better.”

Just like Friday evening, the track at Le RPM was wicked fast.

“We ran the top three or four the whole race and ended up third,” added Phelps. “We had a decent car and had a solid top three. All-in-all it was a good weekend.”

McLaughlin started fifth in his heat and finished fourth, locking him into the top-12 redraw.

McLaughlin started on the outside of the second row for the main event.

“We lost rear brakes early,” noted McLaughlin. “I dialed the brake balance all the way to the front. It was a challenge running the whole race with just front brakes.”

With ten laps remaining McLaughlin lost brakes completely.

“We had a really strong top five run going,” McLaughlin said. “It’s kind of a bummer that happened. We had a really good car. I felt like we could have been in the top three but we struggled without brakes.”

The HBR team has a busy three-day weekend ahead of them. Friday evening they will be at Brewerton Speedway in Brewerton, N.Y., Saturday at Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y. and then on Sunday at Cornwall Motor Speedway in Cornwall, Ontario.

“Obviously anytime you can have a series race at your weekly track you’re confident,” added Phelps. “We finished fairly strong there so the confidence level is pretty high going into this weekend. Mohawk is one track I really like. I like Cornwall but you never know what you’re going to get there. Hopefully it’ll be smooth and we can have a decent three-night weekend.”