Race Results

by Lois Pollard-Grant

Editor's Note: Lois Pollard-Grant is an International Ministock racer in British Columbia. Here are her notes on her first five races of the season.

After my first round of practice sessions I was happy with the way the car ran and how it handled, but I was disappointed to find out that our braking problem was not rectified after we had rebuilt the braking system in the car. The brakes in our car have been an ongoing problem for us over the last year.

Knowing there was nothing more we could do that night, we added more rear brake to the car. I concentrated on using as little brake as possible in the heat races in hopes that they would not get too hot and would get me through the main event.

Earlier in the evening, I had a decent qualifying time of 19:53 which put me at third quickest time. Jim Gallaugher posted fast time of 19:32. This put me on the outside pole for the trophy dash. (The trophy dash is a four car - four lap dash, for the fastest qualifiers - and is not worth any points)

I started the feature race in 8th spot and moved up one spot in the early going of the race. I was running in 7th position for most of the race, meanwhile trying to be easy on the brakes. Half way through the race they had faded terribly, and with only ten laps to go they were completely gone and I had to rely solely on the natural deceleration of the engine to slow me down. As if brake fade wasn't bad enough - loosing my brakes gave a whole new definition to our problem.

By race's end, I was able to gain one more position and had to settle for a sixth place finish.

The overall nights performance puts me in fourth spot in drivers point standings. With almost four weeks off before the next race, we took this time to reevaluate the braking system in the car. We went with a larger master cylinder and a metallic style brake pad. As well we changed the front rotors to a larger style.

We took the car out to practice with our new brake system and were very anxious to try it out. Within the first few laps I knew the brakes were great!

Unfortunately, the enjoyment only lasted about 10 laps, when all of a sudden my car came to an abrupt stop, with the engine shutting off and my front wheels locking up. I heard a loud crash as this was happening. The crossmember which holds the engine in and which is connected to the front suspension broke. There was my engine sitting two inches off the ground. The top of my tires were pointing in east and westerly directions, and the top of the transmission house had popped up through the floor pan of my car.

Awhile, all this was happening simultaneously, the engine pulled the coil wire off which caused the car to stall.

Once we got the car back to the shop and looked it over, we realized there wasn't as much damage done as it had appeared.

In practice session the car was fast. We were running with the fastest qualifier and the main event winner last time out.

I came in after my first practice session and reported that my car was real loose - but I was advised to keep it that way (Western Speedway is famous for tightening up as the night goes on - so it. s best to start off with a loose car) We took the hood off the car and noticed there was oil every where in the engine compartment and on my front tires. As with Murphy. s Law - what can go wrong will go wrong. After further investigation, we noticed the dipstick was partially pushed out.

We figured this was probably why the car was loose, so we jacked up on the left rear jacking bolt and down on the right rear to free up the car for qualifying.

We had a disappointing qualifying time of seventh quick, which put me at the back of the first heat race. Before the heat, we loosened up the car even more and the car then ran flawlessly. I finished the heat race in second spot - which qualified me to run in the fast heat.

I started on the back row of the fast heat and worked my way up to fifth spot.

In the main event I started in 8th spot and almost didn't make it through the first lap. It started with a car up front which was well off the pace from the rest of the field, who didn't get going quite as quick as the rest of the field. This created a bottle neck situation coming down for the green flag going into turn 1. I started to go on the outside of the cars in front of me, only to get creamed by John Rose who was trying to make a hole where there wasn't one. He turned me completely sideways in the middle of the corner only to have my car make a sharp right hand snap back the other way before I was able to gain total control again. The incident didn't bring out the caution flag so this allowed most of the field to pass me which put me well back.

Knowing it was only my quarter panel that was crunched in I had some lost ground to make up. I was able to pass most of the field and catch the leaders by the end of the race but there not enough time to challenge them for the lead. I finished a close fourth.

We took the car out for three practice sessions - and were pleased about the lap times we were turning. We leaned out the motor with a smaller jet and the car was fast. We were under the quickest qualifiers time last time out so we called it a night.

We had four classes of cars racing tonight so hot laps started an hour earlier than usual. Our class was first up, and it wasn't 8 laps into my practice, when it felt like my transmission popped out of gear.

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We were thankful that practice session had started an hour earlier to allow us the valuable time we needed to make the change.

Upon closer inspection, we realized it was a disk for an 1800cc (Nissan) engine, not a 2000 cc like what we run. It was about two inches smaller in circle, but it was still going to work as long and I took it easy shifting gears.

Qualifying was over at 7:30 and it was now 7:29 as I was getting buckled in; the drive shaft was getting connected; the shifter cover was getting ducktaped on to the tunnel, and the car was getting lowered from the jack stands. We had just made it in time.

The tires were stone cold and so was the engine. I had one warm up lap and two time laps. My first lap was a 19:407 and then I lowered it to a 19:200 which put me fifth quick. Fast time was 19:13. I missed the trophy dash by 3/1000 of a second.

I started on the pole of the fast heat and lead it from start to finish. My first win of the year! :-)

The car was tight but overall it ran pretty good. I started the main event in ninth spot and finished seventh. We had two cautions in the race which were brought out for a couple of cars spinning in turn one, and then to remove a stalled car from the track. By the end of the race the car was pushing severely, but the brakes were working great! :-)

Our new clutch arrived from Japan on Tuesday and we were ready for Thursday nights practice.

The track was greasy in my first session of practice, but conditions improved greatly as the night went on.

We were very impressed with our consistent lap times in the low 18:90. s.

We qualified second quick with a 18:90 to Paul Alexander who turned a 18:87. The car ran good, but no matter how much we freed up the chassis, the car would still push.

We finished the (fast) heat race in fourth spot after starting on the outside pole. The inside lane went, as there was not much of an outside groove to run in. I hung on the best I could as the slick track conditions were not in my favor. I was able to get back into line and finished close fourth.

In the main event I started on the back row on the inside. We were dealing with a bad push for the whole race but still managed a sixth place finish.

Earlier in the night we had a novelty relay race billed as "The battle of the sexes". The rules were quite simple - three girls against three guys - The three girls, Sharon Constantine, Angela Bertrand and myself took on John Misener, Matt Mansell and Randy Joyes in a relay race.

The large crowds enthusiasm to see the gals beat the guys faded when we were soundly beaten. Our next race is on Saturday, June 19. We will be running for (my dad) "The Earl Pollard Memorial Race".

Once again, we were struggling with bad push. It took most of the practice to get it right.

Tonight was the running of the third annual Earl Pollard Memorial Race. It is in honor of my dad, who passed away in 1997.

During hot laps the car ran great except when I was in traffic - there was that dreaded push again. We freed up the car more and went on to qualifying.

I had a turned a decent lap of time of 19:04, but to learn it was only as good as 7th quick. It was incredible how close our times were. Two of us had identical times of 19:048. From there it went 19:03, 19:02 and then into the high 18:90. s.

I qualified for the fast heat race and I went on to win it. :-) The car still had a bad push, and I had my hands full trying to fend off, a tailing Bob Lafleche who was running a close second.

As we were setting our tire pressure for the first main, we noticed the left front rim was extremely bent? We immediately changed it for the main event.

This year, the Earl Pollard Memorial was run in two 25-lap segments, with the second segment starting in the reverse order of the first race. s finish.

Before the main event started, all 19 cars lined up on the front straightaway with the drivers standing beside their cars.

Cordless mike announcer, and track promoter Matt Sahlstrom then introduced each driver to the fans.

After introductions we all buckled in and then I was given the checkered flag to do a memorial lap with the rest of the field to follow. I then slowed and pulled into my 13th starting position.

The starter gave us two laps to green as we were warming our tires.

The green flag dropped and the first 25 lap race was underway and I noticed immediately that my car was no longer pushing. Great! So we had made the right call in changing the tire. I had worked my way up to sixth spot, when a couple of cars got together in corner four. I continued around the track and as I was going down the back stretch, the yellow light came on. I took my boot out of it - only to be passed by a couple of cars. (Our rules state that when a caution comes out, we do not race to the yellow. We hold our positions and go back to the last completed lap).

However, as I was coming down the front stretch, I noticed the yellow light was no longer lit, and the green light was back on.

Knowing there wasn't much I could do and with only a few laps to go, I passed as many cars as I could and ended up finishing sixth.

In the second segment, I started in 10th spot, on the outside row. Coming down for the green flag, I got creamed by the #61 car, who started right behind me. The back of my car was pretty bent up, although I didn't realize how much damage was done until after the race was over.

I used the outside grove to my advantage and the car was running absolutely perfect, except the engine temp was running a little warmer than I would have liked to have seen it.

My next race is on Saturday, July 3.

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