Sides Invading Lakeside & Salina Highbanks This Weekend With World Of Outlaws
Story By: SHAWN MILLER / SIDES MOTORSPORTS – RANSOMVILLE, NY – Jason Sides is excited to return to the Midwest for the next two weekends with the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series.
Sides will compete on Friday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., for the FVP Platinum Battery Shootout and on Saturday at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina, Okla., for the Twister Showdown.
He posted a career-best runner-up result at Lakeside Speedway in 2013 and a top finish of seventh at Salina Highbanks Speedway in 2011.
“Hopefully the Midwest has good weather the next couple of weeks and we can produce strong results at Lakeside and Salina this weekend and then at Dodge City the following weekend,” he said. “We’ve had good results at all three tracks. If we can get qualified and start up front I know we can run up front. With only a few races remaining this season our focus is on finishing strong.”
Sides competed in the Northeast twice last weekend, beginning on Saturday at Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, Pa., for the Nittany Showdown. He qualified fourth quickest in his group before placing second in both a heat race and the dash. That lined him up on the outside of the front row for the main event.
“In the dash the bleeder quit,” he said. “We thought it didn’t get charged good so we put it back on the charger. Then we put it back on the tire and got ready for the feature. We pushed out there and turned the bleeder on. It went back out. The first few laps it wasn’t bad at all. Halfway through that race the left rear started gaining air pressure. Even when I tried to hold the bottom it wouldn’t at all.”
Sides struggled throughout the second half of the race and he faded to a 15th-place result.
“When we came in the right side lost a half a pound,” he said. “Since the guys were in the infield during the feature it took a while to get to the trailer and tires will lose a bit of air. When we finally got an air gauge to check the left rear it had 10 pounds in it. The left rear had more pressure than the right rear.”
Sunday’s Empire State Challenge at Weedsport Speedway in Weedsport, N.Y., rained out and the weekend wrapped up on Monday at Ransomville Speedway for The Big “R” Outlaw Shootout.
Sides timed in 23rd quickest during qualifying before he placed fifth in a heat race to lock into the 19th starting position in the main event. He advanced a trio of positions in the A Main to finish 16th.
“It was cold and it had a miss to it in the dash at Port Royal, but it quit,” he said. “When we hot lapped at Ransomville it did it the entire time. We put a new box on it and got ready to qualify. It wouldn’t even hit a lick when we pushed off. We came in and put the old one back on and got one lap at the end.
“Qualifying is critical at every race and we got behind by qualifying so far back. We made a little progress in the heat race and the main event, but the hole we were in was too big to do much with.”
