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 It's been three weeks since the Position One Motorsports driver trio of Randel King, Luis Martinez Jr. and Mackena Bell turned a wheel at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Returning this weekend to competition at the speedway the drivers were hoping to shake off any rust before the night's twin 40- lap race events. Luis Martinez Jr leads the Position One Motorsports Super Late Model division points charge by owning the seventh place spot with 720 points while Bell sits in tenth with 366 points. Both were looking to continue their mount towards the front of the standings this weekend. For his part Randel King came in this weekend leading the points chase for the S2 division with 100 points.
S2 Race
Randel King thoroughly dominated the S2 event this weekend. This was King's second outing with the team, and now stands as a contender to take the division championship. He got one step closer this weekend when he earned the pole award in a record breaking effort and followed that up by putting on a spectacular race. King started the race and immediately went for the lead by chasing after the # 44 of Andrew Anderson. King trailed Anderson for most of the race by a car length and with one lap left in the race it seemed like King was destined for second but as he entered turn # 2, King took the low side and made the move to take the lead and then shut the door on Anderson once the pass was executed. With the crowd cheering and on their feet, King took the race win in exciting form. This is Position One Motorsports' third win in the division and King's second straight win. Super Late Model Race #1
With a beautiful Southern California sunset in the background, teammates Martinez and Bell took the green flag start of the race in fifth and eighth respectively and both made immediate progress as Martinez climbed one position to fourth and Bell slid to seventh. Martinez continued his charge towards the front, but soon started experiencing handling issues. Martinez spent the rest of the race trying to salvage his position and keep a top-10 finish. The second year racer showed incredible maturity under difficult circumstances. He would go on to finish in the eighth spot. Bell kept up with the fast pace of the race but ended up going back several positions when the driver in front of her missed a shift causing Bell to get off the throttle for a split second. In a sport where seconds matter, the miscue cost Bell some valuable positions. Back in the tenth spot now, Bell kept her focus sharp and continued her assault towards the front. She managed to regain lost ground and caught up to her teammate as the race was coming to a close and was able to make the pass for seventh. Bell would finish in seventh.
Super Late Model Race #2 After Race #1, the Position One Motorsports team used the long break to get the # 03 and # 30 entries prepared for the second race. Martinez started third while Bell started right behind her teammate in fifth. Once again the green flag dropped and both rocketed out of turn # 4 to take the start. Martinez began the hunt for the fourth spot of # 01 Danny Gay. The pace of the 2-way battle was fast enough to catch up to the third place of # 12 Rip Michaels. By lap twenty-eight Gay had passed for third and Martinez began his charge against track veteran Michaels. With ten laps left Martinez was mere inches away from Michaels and with every turn attempted to take the fourth spot by diving on the inside of Michaels. Despite his best efforts, and rather than taking an ill advised risk, Martinez settled for the fifth spot. This is Martinez's fifth top-5 finish of the season. Bell began the race behind her teammate and at the start stayed tucked behind her teammate. She soon scooted up to the high side of the track to drive her own line. At the early stages, Bell had managed to put a wide gap between her and the # 6 David Beat. As Martinez and Michaels fought ahead of her, Bell's pace never wavered and her speed kept her 6-car lengths ahead from the threat behind her. The # 10 of Mark Perry began a charge towards Bell at the closing stages of the race but Bell kept her focus and composure and squashed any hope that Perry might have had on taking away her position. She would cross the checkered flag in the sixth spot. Bell was jubilantly greeted back in the pits by her crew as her sixth place finish represented her best finish of the season. Randel King - Driver: “Overall the weekend went very well. We had an issue with the engine during the race but despite that we did very well. Many thanks to our sponsors for their support and to Luis Martinez and the rest of the Position One Motorsports team for giving me a fast and reliable car.” Luis Martinez Jr - Driver: “ We struggled during the first race and came back and made some adjustments and had a great second race. Congrats to Randel on his win and Mackena on her best result of the year. A big thank you to the crew, our sponsors King Taco and Eibach Springs for their support and to the track officials and fans as well.” Mackena Bell – Driver: “We had a great weekend overall. From our practice on Friday, our qualifying session, and then the race. We faired very well. It was our best qualifying effort and we capped the weekend off with our best finish of the year. I'm definitely looking forward to our next step, which will hopefully be our first top-5 finish. Many thanks to the team for working so hard this weekend and to NASCAR Drive for Diversity, Eibach Springs, and Position One Motorsports for their continued support.” About Position One Motorsports: After competing in the Formula TR series in 2007 and 2006 and finishing 3rd in the Championship both years, Position One Motorsports entered the 2008 racing season looking to continue its success as a participant in the Whelen All American NASCAR Weekly Racing series events at Southern California's Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. At the conclusion of the season the team finished 9th in the points. For 2009 Martinez and newcomer and NASCAR Drive for Diversity participant Mackena Bell, will race the NASCAR Whelen All-American series at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Housed in a state-of-the-art facility in Southern California, Position One Motorsports continues to support an array of go-kart ventures. For more information on Position One Motorsports and its partners, visit www.position-one.com |
