Team PR Report
Winston-Salem, NC(March 20, 2012) — Ronnie Bassett, Jr. came to Hickory Motor Speedway with momentum and recent success on his mind and when the checkered flag fell he had the same kind of feeling in victory lane.
Bassett, who competed quite successfully last season under the banner of another high profile race team, returned this season to his own family owned team to compete for the championship for the first time in the UARA-STARS Series. He’s also teammate and mentor to his younger brother, Dillon, who will also be running full-time in the UARA-STARS Series, chasing Rookie of the Year honors.
The elder of the Bassett brothers was ready when he and his team rolled into Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, NC for the first of 16 races on the UARA-STARS Series schedule. Bassett, who might have been driving for a different team or at least under a different name this season, but not much had changed. His crew chief from last season, Chris Lawson had returned as well as his spotter and other members of the team. He’s also still competing in Marlowe Racing Chassis and one of the few changes of the off season came in a switch to Ford powerplants.
With not much having changed off the race track during the off season, Bassett was hoping to pick up right where he left off at Hickory last season, in victory lane. The last time he visited the worn out 3/8 mile track was for the prestigious, Dwight Huffman Memorial race in October. There in his final race for his former team, they went out with a bang as he drove his car to victory lane after a hard fought race. It was the pinnacle win of a season full of ups and downs that saw the young driver take trips to victory lane in three UARA-STARS Series races as well.
With 2011 in his mirror, the challenges of building new cars and getting both he and his brothers teams ready for the new season faced Bassett Racing over the winter, but as a new season dawned, it was evident that all their hard work would pay off. In the UARA-STARS Series, the season officially commences with a test session on Friday as all the teams find out where they stand, one day before the first race. Bassett was fast all day and had high hopes riding into Saturday’s practice, which carried over and found him at the top of the board for the final practice of the day.
Bassett then laid down a solid second place qualifying effort in a full field of 28-cars. Most drivers would have been excited to get to start on the front row and with Hickory Motor Speedway’s old pavement making the outside the fastest way to get around for some competitors, but Bassett was disappointed in not winning the pole.
“I left a little out there on the race track,” said Bassett before the race. “For my guys to have worked as hard as they have all winter and for us to not win the pole is a disappointment. I really wanted to get that for them, but at least we got a good starting spot for the race.”
Bassett might have been disappointed with the qualifying effort, but right from the drop of the green flag it looked as if he might have the best car in the field. On the start, from the outside of the front row, Bassett took the lead early, but in just a few laps he gave up the top spot and then started a backwards slide. To people, who weren’t used to seeing Bassett race with guidance from his crew chief, Lawson, they might have thought that he just didn’t have the car to compete, but Bassett was just riding.
After falling as deep in the field as sixth place, Bassett was letting the guys ahead of him sort out and use up their equipment as they raced every lap like it was the final one and Bassett was still just conserving his tires. When the time came later in the race to go, Bassett was already passing several of the cars in front of him as they were all used up and headed toward the back of the pack. The young Winston-Salem, NC driver began to turn up the wick on the final couple of restarts and stayed door to door with the leader on the final restart before slowly pulling away.
From there he would cruise to the finish line first and would seal his third career win in the UARA-STARS Series as well as his first with his family owned, Bassett Racing team. It was the perfect start to the season for a young driver that is looking to continue to make a name for himself and chase the championship in one of the most competitive Late Model series in country.
“We saved our tires and that was a big key,” commented Bassett from victory lane. “Chris[Lawson] and the boys gave me a great car tonight and I knew if we could just ride, we would have something for the end of the race. It worked out just the way we thought it would and we got this season started off the way everyone here tonight wanted to.”
Bassett’s win will also give him the points lead heading into race number two of the season, which will be at Dillon Motor Speedway on April 7th.
“It’s the way you want to start the season,” continued Bassett. “We’re out here with both teams looking to win the Rookie of the Year with Dillon[Bassett] and we’re out here to get this championship. We’ll take this win and try to ride this momentum through the next couple of races and maybe pick up a few more wins along the way.”
Bassett and his Bassett Racing team will be hitting some of the tracks on the upcoming schedule to test during the two weeks off before the next UARA-STARS Series race at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, SC on April 7th. You can keep up to date on Ronnie Bassett, Jr. via his website, which is being revamped for the 2012 season at http://www.ronniebassettjr.com as well as through his Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/RonnieBassettJr or keep updated on twitter @Bulldog_04 or http://www.twitter.com/Bulldog_04.
