Kirila Gets Drenched At Montgomery
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONTGOMERY, AL (June 6, 2010) – Gene Kirila got a double dose of Montgomery Motor Speedway and Mother Nature Saturday.
The 17-year old Hermitage, PA native made his first-ever start at the historic Alabama stock car track wheeling the No. 11 Gresham Motorsports entry to a 14th-place finish in the Show Me The Money 125 after heavy rains washed out the back half of the event.
“Montgomery proved to be a pretty hard place to get the hang of at first,” said Kirila. “It took me awhile to get my line down, but once I got it figured out, we were really fast. Gene (crew chief Gene Roberts) and the crew really helped me out. We got the car dialed and we found out just how fast that place really was.”
Kirila managed to qualify 13th out of the 31 cars on hand for the Pro Late Model event and quickly worked his way into the Top-10 after the drop of the green flag. Thirty circuits into the event, contact with another car damaged the right front of Kirila’s Gresham Motorsports entry forcing him to fall back out of contention.
“The fender brace got damaged and it got down underneath the right-front tire,” Kirila stated. “It felt like we had a flat right front. It was really tough to drive the car, so we dropped back a bit. We were still just outside the Top-10 when the caution flag came out just short of Lap 50. That’s when the skies let loose and we, along with everyone else, were done for the night.”
For the record, the rains came at Lap 47 of the 125-lap contest and the premature washout left Kirila with a 14th-place finish.
“It was a cool race because we were able to run with the best of them for awhile,” said Kirila. “We decided to try to charge to the front because we knew the rain was coming. We just didn’t know when. Before we got in the right-front damage, I think we were one of the fastest cars on the track. We were real quick and about we were about one-tenth of a second a lap faster than the eventual winner Chase Elliott. We just had some trouble and Mother Nature didn’t do us any favors.”
Next up for Kirila and the Gresham Motorsports Park team will be another Pro Late Model event, this one on Saturday, July 3 at South Georgia Motorsports Park on Cordele, GA. The green flag is set for 7 p.m.
To learn more about Gene Kirila, please log on to www.kirilaracing.com.
For information about sponsorship/partnering with Gene Kirila and his Gresham Motorsports Pro and Super Late Model Stock Car efforts, please contact Tony Gresham at tgresham@greshaminc.com.