PICTON, Ont. (July 5, 2016) – Tim Kerr rebounded from a weekend of bad luck with top-five and top-10 finishes at Brewerton and Fulton speedways in New York over the Canada Day and Independence Day long weekend.
Kerr, of Picton, Ont., could taste his second victory of the season two weeks ago at Brewerton when the gear shift inside his Bronskill Group/Home Hardware Picton No.07 broke under yellow with two laps to go. The weekend string of misfortune continued on Sunday at Cornwall Motor Speedway with the Super DIRTcar Series when a ring gear came apart inside the bell housing and forced the team to deal with the broken parts instead of focusing on the setup.
Despite the rash of difficulties, Kerr refused to let it keep him down during his preparation for the following week.
“We’ve had our fair share of bad luck. I just find you get in the shop and you work harder. We got it apart when we got home Monday night and we were dead tired,” Kerr said with a shrug, “but we put it back together and did our usual thing. You try not to stride away from what you usually do. Good luck’s going to come.”
The level-headed approach brought the team back to greener pastures, or dirtier ones for that matter, which was perfectly fine with Kerr and his team. A fourth-place finish at Brewerton on Canada Day set the tone for the weekend and a ninth-place result followed the next night at Fulton.
“We were good Friday. Our tires take a little while to get them to where we want them to run them. It was probably about 15 or 20 laps in to the race before they came in,” Kerr explained.
“We had fallen back to seventh or eighth and got back to where we were. We got back up and we were on the back bumper of third and first and second hadn’t pulled that far away. I was pretty happy with fourth.”
Kerr was happy with his ninth-place finish, but more importantly was happy to make an important set of notes.
“A top-10 there is good, but I made a gearing selection that limited me. We made a decision that didn’t kill us but didn’t help us. It was something I wanted to try,” he commented. “If we get that same track, we’ll know we need to go a little different, so we’ll write that stuff down.”
A couple of frustrating weeks have detracted from an otherwise strong season for Kerr who has been trending upward since early May at both of the Syracuse-area ovals.
“We’re happy with our Friday night deal. We’re strong at Brewerton,” said Kerr, who has been in win contention at that track several times this season. “There’s still room for improvement and some stuff I want to try. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can really get some stuff turned around.”
With the calendar now flipped to July, the busiest portion of the Northeast’s Big-Block Modified season is taking shape. Kerr will focus his efforts primarily on his weekly races at Brewerton and Fulton, but also hopes to travel with the Super DIRTcar Series on a few occasions.
“It’s going to be a last minute decision what we hit and miss. I really want to concentrate getting back up and going with our Brewerton stuff. We’ve had enough DNFs there and our point position doesn’t show where we should be,” Kerr said. “I’d like to be top-10 at both places in points. If that means I have to cut back on travel a little bit, that’s okay.”
One race, however, Kerr hopes to attend is the return of Big-Block Modified racing to the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio on July 18-19 alongside the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“We’re still working on trying to get something together for Eldora. I think that’s every Big-Block drivers dream right now, to be at Eldora. It’ll be cool,” Kerr added.
For now, Kerr is eager to return to action at Brewerton on July 8 to continue building the momentum that began last Friday night. Keep up to date with Tim Kerr and the No.07 team’s progress via their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TimKerr07.
SEASON STATS
Tim Kerr 2016 Season: 20 Starts – 1 Win, 3 Top-5s, 6 Top-10s
KEEP UP WITH KERR
Website: www.timkerr07.com
Twitter: @07TimKerr on Twitter
Facebook: facebook.com/TimKerr07
Tim Kerr’s 2016 Big-Block Modified season on the Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modified tour and weekly racing at Brewerton and Fulton Speedways is supported by a number of corporate supporters, including: The Bronskill Group, Hubert Kerr Construction, Home Hardware Picton, Greenbush Electric, Tim Dainard Electric, The Main Stop Picton, Bicknell Racing Products, Enders Racing Engines, Threadwords Custom Embroidery, Zero3 Motorsports, Chris Cunningham Racing, Number One Speed Shock Service and AtomicWraps.com.
Prepared By Clayton Johns Media
