Kirila Finds Lanier National To Be As Tough As Advertised
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BRASELSON, GA (May 8, 2010) – Heading into Saturday’s Super Six Series Pro Late Model race at Lanier National Speedway, Gene Kirila heard all the stories about how tough the venerable raceway could be. After the event, he knew exactly what everyone had been talking about.
“This place is pretty tough,” said Kirila, who finished 15th after crashing out of the Red Top Auto Auction 100. “It’s really different, one of the hardest tracks to figure out and one of the hardest I’ve ever driven at. I started to get the hang of it after awhile, but then we got wrecked and that ended our night.”
Kirila opened the night touring the Lanier oval 14.114 seconds in qualifying, good enough to put him 11th in the starting grid for the 100-lap main event. It didn’t take long for the Lanier track to jump up and bite the Gresham Motorsports driver as a missed shift by one of the front-row starters bunched the field and sent Kirila into a lazy spin before he ever got to the start/finish line.
“I guess that was my bad,” Kirila stated. “I got on the throttle too hard. Everyone bunched up and I went low to miss them. I was still on the gas and I got down in the dirt and spun around.”
Race control put Kirila at an even further disadvantage placing him at the tail end of the field on the restart - even though the event hadn’t completed a lap and the caution was not of his making. Undaunted, Kirila motored his way up to eighth place by the halfway point of the race despite battling a loose racecar.
“I don’t think that was the best call,” said Kirila of the decision to start him at the rear of the field. “We didn’t even make a lap. I guess that’s one of those things that you chalk up to ‘that’s racing.’ After that, the car was good for awhile but I totally burned the tires off trying to race back through the field. By halfway, I didn’t have any tires left and the car was really, really loose. It was like driving a drift car.”
Any hopes of good finish were sidelined on Lap 66 when Kirila got squeezed into the front stretch wall by another competitor. His No. 7-11 racer suffered heavy front end damage putting him behind the wall for the remainder of the event.
“I had a car to my inside and he came right across my nose and forced me into the wall,” said Kirila. “I don’t know if his spotter told him he was clear, but he had to know I was there. I tapped him once in the middle of the corner to let him know I was out there, but he just kept on coming up the track and put us in the wall. That was the end of that.
“As much as I’m disappointed, it was still a good experience,” Kirila concluded. “I know the next time I come back here to Lanier, I will be able to go over my notes and be a lot more prepared. I’ll be more prepared as to how weather plays a part in how this track races and know not to burn my tires off passing cars early in the race.”
Sponsorship/partnering with Gene Kirila and his Gresham Motorsports Pro and Super Late Model Stock Car efforts can be arranged by contacting Tony Gresham at tgresham@greshaminc.com.