Mulkern Racing Driver Finishes 3rd In NASCAR Race At Beech Ridge
After late nights, long hours in the shop and a lengthy list of unknowns heading into the weekend, Bobby Timmons turned in a career-best effort on Saturday night at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway.
Timmons, of Windham, finished third in the 40-lap NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Pro Series feature at the track for his best career finish in a Super Late Model. The 19-year-old Pro Series rookie was all smiles just one week after retiring early from a 100-lap event due to an off-track excursion that left the Mulkern Racing No. 48 Southern Maine Motors/Timmons Machine & Fabrication Chevrolet with extensive suspension damage.
“It’s awesome,” Timmons said of his podium finish. “I have to kind of remind myself that one of these weeks, I know I’m going to have a bad run. Last week was kind of bad – but I felt like we had a Top-5 car. One of these weeks we’re going to miss it, but it’s absolutely amazing right now.
“I only have seven races in one of these cars, so it feels really good to show up here and be one of the faster cars every week.”
Following practice on Saturday, Timmons said he’d have been happy just to finish the 40-lap main event. But a small adjustment to the car’s handling following a 12-lap qualifying race paid big dividends in the feature.
“We were so bad in the heat race, but we found a problem that Greg Peters pointed out for us,” said Timmons, who started 15th in the 20-car field. “We just took a stab in the dark. It started out really tight, but it got better and better and came to us at the end. I could pass on the bottom, pass on the top – Beech Ridge is starting to come back to a two-groove race track.”
Timmons was especially effective in the outside groove on his march to the podium finish. He joined 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series state champion Bill Rodgers in a patient march to the front after starting deep on the grid.
The key for Timmons came when he avoided a multi-car wreck on the backstretch in the middle stages of the race, one which collected a number of early contenders.
All of this after wondering if he’d even have a race car ready in time to get back to the track after a destructive bounce over the Turn 1 rumble strips a week earlier. The crew worked late hours every night during the week to put the car back in working order.
“Can I say it was hell? Because that’s exactly what it was,” Timmons said. “It was just absolutely exhausting this week. It was such a long week, and I can’t thank my guys enough. They’re sacrificing their time to help me.
“I can’t thank (Mulkern Racing owners Scott and Vickie Mulkern) enough. Vickie said, ‘Whatever it takes, get this car back to the race track.’ And Tony Ricci’s been such a great help. I’m really kind of speechless almost.”
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