Emily Packard
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt – With the rain cancelling the race scheduled for Friday night, all the focus was on the Vermont State Championship Race #1 at Thunder Road for Packard and her 9x Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team.
Packard and the team unloaded the car and immediately got to work readying the car for the first practice. After running a few laps, Packard found the track to be greasy and the car really loose. The team continued to work on tightening the car up for her, and eventually found something that worked for her. “The guys tried hard to get the car set up, so that I could race.”, said Packard. Starting second in the second heat, Packard wasted no time in moving out front of the 25vt, running in the lead until the 58vt got by her to take the checkers, giving her second place. The car showing that team had found a way to tighten it up.
Packard found herself starting 14th in the Mekkelson RV Memorial Day Classic, and with only 100 laps, she would have her work cut out for her. “We had a semi-decent run; the car was just too free all day,” said Packard, “the track was definitely a lot different than the last time we ran here.”
Starting on the outside, Packard found a hole on the bottom around lap 3 and settled in behind the 29vt in the 15th position. Running the bottom was not the best and on lap 18 Packard lost another position to find herself back in 16th position. Just before halfway, Packard moved her car to the high groove where she was able to gain some momentum and work herself back up to 14th position. “The car just fell off really quick,” Packard said, “By lap 20 the car was just gone and it was just getting very loose as the race wore on.”
At the halfway point Packard found herself running back in the 15th position. In a caution free race, by lap 61 Packard was passed by the leader putting her down a lap and into 18th position. From lap 83 to 85 Packard ran side by side with the 26vt car battling to stay ahead and eventually was passed, falling back to 19th position. On lap 87 Packard battled back up to the 18th position where she ran until the checkers fell. “It was really frustrating, but we won’t give up. We will be back again to tame the beast,” said Packard.
“I want to take the time to thank my sponsors, Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, GossCars.com, Be the Match, Rutland Regional Medical Center, and R.G. Paving, I appreciate their continued support.”
Packard is looking forward to a good run at next week’s Vermont State Championship #2 race at Devil’s Bowl. “We are going out and trying to finish in front and make up for this one,” Packard said, “hopefully, when we return for the Thunder Road race, we can have a better finish.”
Packard and the 9x team will be heading to Devil’s Bowl for the Vermont State Championship race #2 on May 30th.
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