RACE22.com Client PR Report
Winston-Salem, NC(April 8, 2012) — Ronnie Bassett, Jr’s cofidence was riding high heading to Dillon, SC for the second UARA-STARS Series race and after a long day at the track the young driver was able to get the result that he wanted.
The 16 year-old driver left Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, NC three weeks ago with the winners check and trophy in hand against some of the best Late Model Stock Car racers anywhere, but that was Hickory and now it was time for a new venue, another race and up against some new challengers. Dillon Motor Speedway was the site of race number two of 16 for the UARA-STARS Series and Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and his Bassett Racing team led by crew chief, Chris Lawson came prepared to do battle.
With Dillon Motor Speedway being a unique egg-shaped oval with different shaped turns at each end of the track, Lawson and his team were kept busy as they tried to keep up with the changes that the track gave them on Friday during testing and Saturday in practice. The team seemed to have things under control on Friday, but when practice resumed on Saturday afternoon, it seemed that the track changed a little and was throwing them a slight curveball.
However, after running out of time to get the car right in the first practice, final practice proved to be less challenging for the team as they got the car turning more to Ronnie, Jr.’s liking. The changes gave the team a little confidence heading into qualifying. But, unlike at Hickory, Ronnie, Jr. wouldn’t have one of the fastest cars in qualifying as he had to settle for a sixth place start, but he and his team knew they should have a great car in the race.
“We fought the handling on the car all day, just trying to find that brute speed for qualifying, but we knew that the car would be good in the race,” said Ronnie, Jr. following qualifying. “We’ll take a sixth place start, that’s about where we fell to at Hickory and just rode, so I think that will be a good place to start and see how the race goes. It’s more about 150-laps and not the two in qualifying.”
Ronnie, Jr. and Lawson have meshed well together over the last season or so that they’ve been together and have become masters at riding, protecting and saving their tires and being ready to make a run for the win at the end. That’s exactly how Hickory played out and when the green flag dropped, that’s exactly how they played it at Dillon.
“Dillon is a little different than Hickory, I mean it’s so hard to pass here at Dillon. I didn’t want to slip down very far, but I knew that others would be running wide open right from the start.”
Ronnie, Jr. and Lawson stuck to their plan and after falling as low as fifth during the midpoint of the race, rallied to run third for much of the race before finding the right moment to pounce on the leaders. He got his chance just before the lap 100 mark with the second place car and put his car in position to run down the leader. At lap 112, he bolted into the lead and never looked back, bringing his teammate and brother, Dillon Bassett with him to second position.
The final couple of restarts late in the race and especially the final one following a red flag, pitted both Bassett Racing cars against one another in a four lap dual to the finish. On the final restart, Dillon got the better of his older brother, but Ronnie, Jr. rallied right back and pulled away slightly as he cruised to his second straight win.
“Racing against Dillon was a lot of fun, he’s always a great competitor and we didn’t give each other anything,” said Ronnie, Jr. “Getting a 1-2 finish for Bassett Racing in just our second race this season is incredible, I know my mom and dad have to be proud of both of us.”
For Ronnie, Jr., the win helped him to gain on the points lead as he’s set out this season to win the UARA-STARS Series championship and this second straight win puts him on par to do just that.
“This is the way to start out a season,” continued Ronnie, Jr. “This team, the whole team mine and Dillon’s has worked extremely hard this winter and spring to get us prepared to run like this. The hard work is paying dividends now and we couldn’t have asked for things to start off better.”
Ronnie, Jr. and his Bassett Racing team will have to work overtime this week to make sure that they have the car ready to head to Rockingham Speedway on Thursday evening. The UARA-STARS stop number three will be on Saturday, April 14th on the one-mile track in Rockingham, NC on the same weekend as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“It’s going to be a short week for this team, but with two wins in a row, we’ll have a little adrenaline to run off of this week.”
Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and Bassett Racing are supported by Bassett Gutters & More, Roof Shampoo, Rex Younger Galleries, G-Force South, WP Racing Shocks, Performancenter Racing Warehouse, Ford Racing, Kerry Lawrence Exhaust, Bulldog Rearends, Hank Thomas Performance and RACE22.com.
Want to keep up with Bassett Racing? Check out these links …
Website: http://www.BassettRacers.com/
FaceBook: “Bassett Racing”
Twitter: @BassettRacers
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BassettRacers
Want more information on Ronnie Bassett, Jr.? Check out these links …
Website: http://www.ronniebassettjr.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RonnieBassettJr
Twitter: @Bulldog_04
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/RonnieBassettJr
