OAKLAND, Ont. – September 20, 2016 – Brad Herron and Alex Schuts brought to a close the 2016 Crate Sprint Car season for the Insta-Insulation Motorsports team during last weekend’s Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway.
Friday night’s 602 Challenge saw both drivers time trial for a chance to earn an extra $602 on top of the winner’s $1,000 cheque if they could win from the back. Neither Herron nor Schuts was eligible for the challenge, but both drivers enjoyed the challenge of the different format.
“When you don’t really get to time trial and you finally do it’s a lot of fun. With three laps, you just have to put your best foot forward and I try to lay down your best stuff,” Herron said.
“I’ve done it before, but it’s a little different because you don’t know what your car’s going to do when you go out,” commented Schuts. “You’re kind of guessing at the track and making some educated decisions.”
Herron turned in an 8th-place finish on Friday night against the tough field in the Miska Trailer Factory/Climatizer Cellulose No.12.
“The track was a little bit slicker on Friday night than I thought. We found some stuff that worked a little on Thursday night at test and tune, so I figured if a little is good, than a lot is better. Not so much. The car was evil,” Herron said.
Friday night was also a challenge for Schuts.
“I pulled off early because it was bad. Somehow our rear wheel spacing was really far off. I made one lap and the next lap I started drifting and I couldn’t control the car. I wanted to keep everyone in one piece,” Schuts started.
Both drivers returned for the Dash for Cash on Sunday, postponed from Saturday’s original date due to rain. The top-12 in Ohsweken points were inverted for the start which put Schuts on the pole. He led the race early and battled up front over the first half of the race, but experienced issues with the car’s handling in the latter half of the race.
“Every time I went in to the corner I was bumping it with my elbow and I didn’t know. It’s too bad. The car was better than I thought it would be. It’s just so new to me. It’s not second nature to me yet to check the wing to see where it’s at,” Schuts said.
Herron took advantage of the late race opportunity to pass Schuts and earned a sixth-place finish while Schuts was seventh.
“He started fading back and once I had him in my sights, I said ‘okay, I have to pass him,” Herron laughed. “I may have hustled it in to turn three a little harder than I ordinarily would have. It was fun to race against him.”
Both drivers came away happy with their 2016 season and made significant improvements over the course of the campaign.
“I think the season was really good. We are definitely leaps and bounds ahead of where we were this time last year,” Herron explained. “If you look at the season as a whole, I think we figured some stuff out and we learned some things too. Fourth in points is a pretty solid year.”
“I really enjoyed driving the car. I enjoy driving against all of the people in the division,” Schuts said, adding he’s excited to return next year. “I thought there was a good respect level from all of the drivers. Overall I really enjoyed it.”
Stay tuned to www.instainsulationmotorsports.ca for a full season recap in the coming weeks.
SEASON STATS
Brad Herron: 20 Starts – 0 Wins, 8 Top-5s, 19 Top-10s
Alex Schuts: 18 Starts – 0 Wins, 0 Top-5s, 3 Top-10s
Karl Sault: 15 Starts – 1 Wins, 11 Top-5s, 12 Top-10s
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The Insta-Insulations Motorsports team is proud to partner with a dedicated group of sponsors, including Elastochem Insulation Extreme Spray Foam, Miska Trailer Factory, Middleport Mechanical, Climatizer Cellulose, Great Lakes Brewery, Insta-Insulation, Insta-Panels, Lake Erie Warehousing (Simcoe), Insight Graphics, Millards Chartered Professional Accountants, Expressway Volvo, Waterous Holden Amey Hitcheon LLP, Fence and Deck Perfection, Action Transmission, Baeumier Approved, Hotline Apparel, Lintec Label and Print Solutions, Brant Auto Painting, Rondex, Brantford Nissan and NAPA (Brantford, Tilsonburg, Delhi, Norwich).
Prepared By Clayton Johns Media
Photo Attachment 1: Alex Schuts leads the field off turn two during Sunday’s Dash for Cash at Ohsweken Speedway. (Dale Calnan/Image Factor Media photo).
