ThorSport Racing hopes to keep momentum going north of border

With three wins, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10s between them in the 13 races thus far this year, Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton are having the seasons that they pictured in their dreams as they currently head the top of the standings. The pair are hoping that the momentum continues, leading to the team’s second straight championship.

Coming off a pair of top-four finishes (second and fourth), Crafton is hoping that Canadian Tire Motorsports Park produces another top-10 finish as he survived the chaos at the end and stayed on track throughout the day to finish 10th last year.

“I’m looking forward to the road course in Canada, I wish we had more than just one in the season to go race, but we’ll make the best of the one we’ve got,” Crafton said. “We are taking the same truck as we had last year to Canada this year, but a way different setup, I can promise you that. We were really off of where we needed to be last year, but we have a pretty good grasp of where we need to be this year. We actually got the opportunity to go shake our truck down at a little road course up in Ohio on Monday, so I think we will be ready to go put on a good show in Canada this weekend.

“Last year, I feel like we were on an even playing field in terms of experience, but I felt like I was a little more green than others. Hopefully, this year will be a lot different for us.”

Crafton hopes another good finish helps him close up on teammate Sauter, who currently leads him by eight points in the championship standings. Sauter is hoping to have better luck this year at CTMP as a fuel cable issue on lap two resulted in a long day, en route to finishing 28th. Sauter has been good on road courses in the past, including a sixth place finish in the Nationwide Series race in Mexico City in 2006.

“I didn’t think I was the greatest and I still don’t think I’m the greatest road racer, but I’ve had some decent days on road courses in the past, so if we unload pretty decent then I think we’ll be in good shape,” he commented. ‘I’m looking forward to getting there and it’s something that’s unique and something we don’t get to do a lot in the Truck Series. From what I saw, it got pretty crazy last year, but it’s a cool race track and I remember the crowd and the whole atmosphere being pretty awesome.”

Given the strong finishes of both throughout the year, odds are in their favor this weekend. However, both will need to survive the road, avoid incidents and mechanical issues, as well as survive the rain that may fall throughout the weekend.

About the Author

Ashley McCubbin

Joining OnPitRoad.com mid-2013 season, Ashley McCubbin is now the Managing Editor and contributes to each racing division as needed. Since studying journalism at the University of Guelph-Humber, Ashley has published articles on a couple of different websites, while serving as a public relations representative for different short track teams. Born in North York, Ontario, Ashley currently lives in Bradford, Ontario and spends her weekend at the local short tracks in the area. She has spent her entire life at the short track level, falling in love with the sport at the age of five. Beyond her love of short track racing, she also has grown an interest for both NASCAR and the IndyCar Racing Series. She also enjoys taking photos and working on websites, while playing a couple rounds of Candy Crush afterwards.

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