By: Claytin Johns/Durnin Motorsports
August 11 2016
Kitchener, Ontario – It was a challenging month of July for Ryan Hunsinger and the Durnin Motorsports Crate Sprint Car team, but a busy August of racing scheduled at Ohsweken Speedway has the team excited for the championship stretch drive.
The Kitchener-based team battled through motor problems and a pair of rainouts in the last five weeks, which halted the momentum they built through the first half of the season. Nonetheless, the veteran Hunsinger, known as ‘The Gunslinger’, still managed two top-fives and three top-10 finishes in four starts.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck. We’ve all been working hard to get better, but we’ve just had a lot of bad luck. Hopefully it’s all behind us,” Hunsinger said.
The team suffered a blown engine on July 22, the culmination of a problem that went undetected for a few weeks. The team was fortunate enough to borrow Paul Ballantyne’s car for the Northern Crate Nationals on July 25, which Hunsinger piloted the a fifth-place finish.
The team now has another power plant under the hood of the Planet Realty-Tyson Hinschberger/Retail Design Group No.43h. Hunsinger drove it a fifth-place finish in his heat last week before rain postponed the feature.
“They’re all a little bit different,” Hunsinger said of the motor,” but it’s a lot different than a 360 engine. In a 360, you can have two motors with the exact same horsepower, but they drive totally different. With the Crate motor, they’re all very similar.”
The points battle is incredibly tight entering the month of August, which will feature a two double feature nights following rainouts on July 8 and August 5 after qualifying was completed. Hunsinger is in the thick of a six-car battle. He sits four points off the championship lead.
“We’re pretty much back to square one. We have six guys within 16 points and we have a month or so left,” Hunsinger explained.
“(The competition’s) been good all year, but I guess some guys are getting better as the season goes on. We had a lot of good luck at the start of the year. Hopefully the last month is good to us and we can come out as the champion.”
The first of the two double feature nights is on August 12 before concluding August with the second on the 26th. The extra laps on the night will be challenging for all drivers, especially with a tight points battle, but Hunsinger is keen for the challenge.
“I’m looking forward to it and pretty excited about it. We should have two completely different track conditions. There should be a lot of bite at the start of the night and at the end of the night it should be really slick,” Hunsinger said.
Continued Hunsinger, “We’re going to have a bunch of races in the next three weeks and that’s going to settle the championship. I think regardless of how it plays out, we’ve exceeded expectations as a team. We’ve had a pretty good year and we’ve had fun.”
For more information on Ohsweken Speedway events, visit www.ohswekenspeedway.ca.
SEASON STATS
Ryan Hunsinger 2016: 10 Starts – 3 Wins, 6 Top-5s, 8 Top-10s
UP NEXT
August 12 – Art Hill Memorial Night with Double Crate Sprint Car Features
MEDIA LINKS
Website: www.durninmotorsports.com
Facebook: facebook.com/DurninMotorsports
Twitter: @DurninMotorsprt and @Ryan_Hunsinger
Follow the Durnin Motorsports team and Ryan Hunsinger all season long on social media by Liking Durnin Motorsports on Facebook and following @DurninMotorsprt and @Ryan_Hunsinger on Twitter.
Durnin Motorsports is proud to partner with the following corporate sponsors for the 2016 Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Car Season at Ohsweken Speedway, including Durnin Motors, Planet Realty – Tyson Hinschberger, Retail Design Group, NAPA, and Hunsinger’s Heating & Cooling.