Track Schedules

Chad Humston – Albion Ace Wins First of 2011!

(Bill W) June 20, 2011 – The Mark Burch Motorsports #1m team has spent much of their time towards the front of the pack in 2011, but victory had escaped them.  That changed on Friday night at the Boone County Speedway in Albion, Nebraska.  Starting in row five, driver Chad Humston prevailed at the checkers.  Another solid third place finish at Knoxville Raceway on Saturday capped another good weekend for the team.

The Giltner, Nebraska driver is no stranger to Victory Lane at the bullring in Albion.  He would win his heat from the fifth starting spot.  “It’s always fun going up there and racing with those guys on that track,” says Chad.  “We had the car really nice, and we were able to get around everybody and get to the finish line first.”

Threatening skies plagued the night, but the race was run with Chad starting ninth in the feature.  “We started in the back there, and it was really cloudy,” he says.  “They had a rain delay earlier in the night, and it was so dark that it was hard to see.  I was trying to get a rhythm on the high side of the track, and it took me a while.  When you don’t have walls to guide you, you know you’ve gone too far when your right rear is hanging off.”

Chad worked his way forward.  “Once I got my line, we had a really fast car,” he says of the #1m.  “It’s a typical fairgrounds track with sharp corners and a pretty good bank on it.  They reworked the track and it came around to being the same track after the rain.”

A late pass gave the team their first win of 2011.  “It was good to get a win,” says Chad.  “It was a little bit of a burden on our shoulders to get off, and we were hoping to get another win on Saturday.  It just wasn’t our time though.”

They did garner quick time for the third time this season, however.  With the 410’s doing a special redraw, Chad had to draw for the feature invert for the second week in a row.  It wasn’t hard to better last week’s draw of ten.  It was the best case scenario.  “Six was a lot better than ten,” he says.  “Everyone who qualified well was happy with it.”

Starting sixth in the first heat race, Chad jumped into third and stayed there to the finish.  “I was hoping to get a little better run on the top the first couple laps,” he says.  “At least we made the show, and that’s what really counts.”

The feature was an exciting one.  Chad would start sixth due to the invert, and was quickly battling with some familiar cars with drivers like Clint Garner, Dennis Moore Jr., Dave Hall, Matt Moro and Joe Beaver.  “Everyone was looking for the same part of the racetrack,” says Chad.  “I thought it was an exciting race to run for us and for the fans.  Before the caution, the top four cars were nose to tail.  There were cars going everywhere!  It was a lot of fun with clean racing.”

In the end, it was a solid third place finish.  They’ll try it again this Saturday night at Knoxville.  “We can’t complain,” says Chad.  “The car is in once piece and we had another solid finish.  It was a good end to the weekend.”