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Racing wasn't in nature's plan
on Saturday and rain postponed the EROC race till Sunday. The day started at
7AM with the drive to Lakeland for a 9AM driver's meeting. After
the Hooter's Cup practice session, the EROC drivers practiced followed
by the Goodyear Challenge Series.
Finally, EROC was set to qualify at noon.
Car after car went on the track and the times dropped from the
22.60's in the first race to the 22.50's. Aaron was the second to
last qualifier. The first lap was a 22.810, under his first race
time of 22.90. Despite being the only car on used tires, he was
determined to improve his second place effort at the last race. The
second lap was a 22.485, beating the 22.49 mark of the #12 car.
One car to go....and after that driver posted a 22.50, it was
official. Aaron was the fast qualifier of the day and sitting in
the pole position.
There was no heat race in the shortened
program. The EROC race was between the 250 lap Hooter's Cup race
and the 100 lap Goodyear Challenge Series. The draw for starting positions inverted the top four qualifiers, so we began outside
in the second row.
Aaron moved into
third place before the end of the first lap. From lap 2 through
19, he worked to cleanly pass the second place car. He was clearly
faster, however, the second place driver was focused on keeping anyone
from passing. Meanwhile, the lead car was pulling away and by the
time Aaron made the pass, the leader was a quarter of a lap
ahead.
Undaunted, Aaron focused on reeling him
in. Eleven laps later he was on the leaders back bumper and
challenging for the lead. Unfortunately, with just two laps
remaining, Aaron's plan to win the race was spoiled when he spun out in
the second turn while attempting to dive under the leader. Despite a 6th place finish, he says he had a
great time and now "at least he knows how much is too much".
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