Bloomington Friday, May 18th

Heavy competition greeted Chad Boat as he rolled into Bloomington Speedway Friday night, the first of three straight nights of racing for the 15 year old.

 With no qualifying, pill draw would determine the heat race starting lineup, and Chad’s high pill would start him sixth in the heat. Chad quickly made a charge took the front and moved to third, but ran out of time for the second place needed to draw for the first eight starting spots in the feature. He would line up 11th. Chad got a great start at the drop of the green and quickly moved into the top 10. Steady progression had moved Chad up to the sixth position before mechanical problems sidelined the Roomstore / Billy Boat Exhaust Maxim. He was credited with an 18th place finish. John Stanbourgh took the victory.

Lawrenceburg Saturday, May 19th

The ¼ mile at Lawrenceburg Speedway was in top shape Saturday night, making the track fast but passing difficult early in the night. Chad again drew a high pill, which started him seventh in the eight car heat. He was able move to 5th by the, finish, good enough to make the main but he would start 15th in the feature event. With the track still in great shape, Chad charged at the drop of the green, passing cars high and low. The feature ran 25 straight green laps, and Chad moved to 6th position by the checkered flag. “I think we had one of the faster cars on the track, but I just needed a yellow flag to close up gap to the leaders. It was a great run from the back, and I hope when we come back nest week we can start a little closer to the front.”

Kokomo

Kokomo Speedway has a unique practice/qualifying format which groups of cars go out for five laps of timed practice, and by virtue of his first time at the track, Chad had to run in the first group. The track was still slick, which did not lend well to speed. Chad qualified 25th, which started him seventh in the first heat. Chad got a great start in the heat and moved to fifth, but a broken left front hub on lap two ended his race. The crew made repairs for the B main, which had Chad starting 10th and needing to finish in the top 4 to make it to the A main. Chad drove a great race in the semi, avoiding a couple crashes and passing high and low to challenge for the lead by lap eight. He settled for second, transferring to the A main. The A main rolled off with Chad in the 18th position in the 20 car field. The track was challenging, with a high cushion against the wall. Chad drove a steady race, moving up to the 11th position and getting valuable experience against Dave Darland, John Stanbrough, Damien Gardner and many others.

“Kokomo is a tough track, because it is so high against the wall and you have to drive it so hard. I hope these laps tonight will help me when we come back next week.”