Jake Puts it on the Podium at Ventura

4/21/12

    I turned 19 years old on the 21st, and what better way to spend a birthday than at the track doing what I love! Since the prior 2 VRA Midget races rained out, this was the first Ventura race of the year. And it was my first time on the new surface that Ventura has put down. The new dirt proved to be challenging to get a hold of despite the damp conditions that night.
    My cousin and I had a lot of fun in hot laps, it was the raciest track we had all night. The line was up on the fence all the way around; my kind of track. Slick to the fence and slide-job passing makes for a heck of a lot of fun. We posted the 2nd fastest time of the field.
    We had a good run in the heat race, started 3rd and finished 2nd. That put me starting 5th in the feature.
    The main was rough. The track wasn't a very raceable track. It was one-lined around the bottom, and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the top of the racetrack to work for us. This made passing extremely difficult. The invert placed a couple of the slower cars and the front, and all the faster guys at the back. We were running 4th for quite a while. I just felt stuck out there, everybody was protecting the bottom and the top was my only other option. The #22 was trying hard to work it in up there and got by me, so I had to try it. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I went from 5th to dead last in a lap and a half.
    After the freight train went by me, I made quick work of the back markers. I moved back through the field quickly, and when the checkers flew I had made my way back up to 3rd.
    I was happy to put it on the podium, but it wasn't a win. We are so close to picking up that first W for Swanson Motorsports. The improvements we have made on this car has been huge, and we continue to find little chassis tweaks that will give us the advantage we need on the track.
    The next race for me is in the #41 410 Sprinter at Perris on Saturday April 28th in the Henry/Jones DRC. The next USAC Midget Race will be May 12th at Santa Maria.

Stay Tuned!

Jake Swanson

www.jakeswanson.com