By: Clayton Johns/Charlie Sandercock Racing
July 28 2016
Trenton, Ontario – A tripleheader weekend for Charlie Sandercock and the 57 Racing Team resulted in three straight top-five finishes and an extended points lead with the Go Nuclear Late Model Series.
The busy 3-in-3 weekend started with Saturday’s weekly series racing at Brighton Speedway where Sandercock overcame a fuel and carburetor issue to finish fourth.
“We had issues a few weeks ago when alcohol from the Sprint Car got put in to the car. I don’t know if one of the jugs still had some alcohol in it, but it was just enough to make everything not fire properly,” Sandercock explained.
The fourth-place finish certainly was no disappointment for Sandercock who was able to solve the fuel issue for Sunday’s Go Nuclear series race at Humberstone Speedway. Sandercock finished fifth in a tough first heat race and missed the redraw.
A 13th starting position didn’t bother the driver of the Newham Enterprise/Image Landscaping No.57 Chevrolet. Sandercock quickly made his way forward, but his progress was stalled with a spin on lap 11.
“We got to sixth pretty quick and I knew right out of the gate we had a good car. I believe we had a little bit of assistance in finishing our pirouette,” Sandercock explained.
During the yellow, Sandercock took his car to the pit area to ensure there was no significant damage. The result was a restart at the rear of the field, but Sandercock was up for the challenge and proved he had a car capable of victory.
“When we came back out, I used some of my anger and got mad. Wherever there was any kind of space or room, we put the car in it and made it go through,” Sandercock said matter-of-factly.
Sandercock used the outside lane to his advantage on several restarts as the field fought to get single-file and use the bottom lane. On the final restart with three to go, Sandercock drove to third and challenged Dennis Lunger for second, but fell short of the runner-up spot by a few feet at the finish. The podium result was certainly impressive given the early challenge in the race.
Salvaging a third-place finish from the early spin gave Sandercock plenty of confidence entering the second half of the Go Nuclear series’ western swing to Ohsweken Speedway. Sandercock earned a third-place finish in his heat in order to qualify for the redraw and started fifth for the main event.
Sandercock maintained his fifth spot over the final five laps, but then quickly made his march forward and drove past Chris Fleming for second on lap nine. The final restart came on the same lap and Sandercock set out to track down leaders John Waters. Sandercock crossed the stripe second at the end of 25 laps.
“It might have been a little bit closer race. We were catching him towards the end, but with five to go the car seemed to go away. We had a right-rear down and by the time we got in to tech, it was right flat down on the rim. That was our biggest issue on the last five laps or so,” Sandercock explained.
The two top-five finishes helped Sandercock achieve a 44-point advantage over Brandon Mowat through five completed events on the tour.
“We wanted a little bit better finish on Saturday, because the points are pretty tight at Brighton with the top four, but it is what it is. It definitely was a good points weekend for the Go Nuclear series, so we can’t complain about that,” Sandercock added.
The weekend of strong finishes was also largely due to the hard work of a dedicated crew on the No.57 during a hot weekend.
“I have to give a shout out to the crew that went with us on the hot and busy weekend,” Sandercock remarked. “I have to thank all those guys for preparing the car in the heat all weekend long.”
Sandercock returns to action on Saturday, July 30 at Brighton Speedway to conclude a busy month of racing. Event details are available at www.brightonspeedway.com.
SEASON STATS
Charlie Sandercock 2016 Crate Late Model Season: 20 Starts – 4 Wins, 16 Top-5s, 18 Top-10s
Charlie Sandercock 2016 360 Sprint Car Season: 1 Start – 0 Wins, 1 Top-5, 1 Top-10
UP NEXT
July 30 – Brighton Speedway – Vanderlaan Late Model Weekly Series
FOLLOW CHARLIE SANDERCOCK
Website: www.charliesandercock.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CharlieSandercockRacing
Twitter: @57Sandercock
Charlie Sandercock’s 2016 season is proudly supported by the following corporate sponsors: Bellevue Fabricating, Deerhaven Farm and Garden, Newham Enterprise, Image Landscape Contracting, Excel Tower Service, Jeff Harrison Farms, Eibach Springs, MCR, Bullet Signs and Graphics, Victory Motorcycles, CCS Industrial Supply, C Smith Automotive Machine Shop, Klotz Sythetic Lubricants Canada, KD Transmission, Stampkrete Contracting, Auto Add-Ons Belleville and Image Factor.ca Motorsports Designs.