photo by RPM 360
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – The finish for the 18-year old East Montpelier driver did not reflect the gallant effort to drive an ill-handling race car towards the front, and unfortunately Emily Packard left Beech Ridge Motor Speedway with a 17th place finish this past Saturday night.
As the day began, Packard and her Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team took to the track for the first practice, hoping that the changes to the set up that worked out so well at Oxford might help her at Beech Ridge, only to be 16th fastest on the chart. The team continued to make adjustments to the car and her times remained consistent throughout the day. “Went out in the first practice, and the car wasn’t too bad,” said Packard. “We made some minor adjustments during each practice to try to better the car.”
With the luck of the draw, Packard would start in the last position (10th) in the second heat, making her work to qualify in the top 4 to transfer to the feature race. In the 12 lap heat race Packard was able to make her way the 7th but that was not enough to transfer into the feature, and would have to run in one of the two consolation races. “I started 4th in the consi,” Packard said, “and a couple laps into the race, the car beside me pushed up, causing me to slide up. He dove down to the bottom, and car drove in between us, which pushed me further up into the marbles and I hit the back stretch wall pretty good.” With a good bit of damage to the front end of the car, Packard and the team went to work on repairs in order to be ready for the feature race. “The whole front bumper was crushed in, the fenders were rubbing on the tires,” said Packard, “the hood was crinkled, the tie rod was bent and the air box in front of the radiator was pushed in, causing the car to overheat some. There were a lot more other things that were wrong with the car, but we just didn’t have enough time to fix them all before the feature.”
Starting dead last in the feature, Packard had her work cut out for her. Driving an ill-handling race car from the start, Packard settled in and started to make her way, calculating her moves, as her spotter Kevin encouraged her, clearing her through traffic each lap. By the halfway point, Packard was up to 15th place. She continued to make her way through the field, managing to stay on the lead lap until lap 130 when she finally went a lap down to the eventual winner Brad Babb, but had moved herself up to the 12th position. “I started rear of the feature, and started picking them off early but the car was junk,” said Packard. “We were able to dig pretty good on the outside, but the car was just too tight down on the bottom.”
In the closing laps of the race, Packard was battling for position with another lapped car, and made her move on the front stretch with 10 to go clearing the car for twelfth place. As her and the other lapped car came out of turn 2, there was contact made from behind that sent Packard spinning into turn 3. When the checkered flag fell, Packard would cross the line in seventeenth position, the last car one lap down.
“We were battling for 12th and I got by him, I used another lap car going three wide and went to the bottom,” said Packard. “He gave me the lane, and then decided that he wasn’t ok with it and came pounding into the back of me, spinning me out. I was then sent to the rear with 10 to go where I would finish in 17th. It makes me angry that someone who is not racing for points would go out there, racing for 12th place and a lap down, would do something like that, but that’s racing.”
“I want to say thank you to my crew; Neal, Frankie, Sam and Matt, Kevin for coming to spot for me again, as well as my mom and dad for all their support. I would also like to thank my sponsors; Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Creative Visions, Be The Match, Yipes! of Barre, and GossCars.com.”
Packard and the team head north to St-Croix, QC’s Circuit Riverside Speedway for the sixth annual Can-Am 150 on Saturday, August 22.