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GAME OVER
August 4 - On a
night that usually had all five members of Team
Hadley racing, two were missing. Terry and
Krista Hadley. They chose to sell off their race
cars, and instead devote their time, energy,
money, and fun toward their family. Something
they made sure to do in the days following their
last race on July 23rd.
Minus the two teammates, the rest of the team soldiered
on, and had a pretty good night of racing. Time-in's
weren't exactly what they were hoping for, as
Preston Jones qualified sixth, Joe Guider came
in ninth, and Jaime Guider finished it off in
10th.
The first heat race was pretty exciting, as the father
and daughter duo of the Guiders set to do battle
with the other racers. As the green flag
dropped, Joe Guider tried to make it three wide
going into the corner, and made it stick.
Everyone was waiting for the pileup, but it
never happened. All the cars came out of turn
two in fine shape. Joe managed to squeak out an
advantage and was in third, while Jaime was
caught behind everyone in sixth. Joe managed to
work his way to second place, and did everything
he could to pass the leader, but both cars were
pretty equal. At the finish of the heat, Joe
notched a second place and Jaime fell back to
finish in seventh.
The second heat had Preston Jones all by himself. At
the start, Preston managed to take the lead but
soon found out the old expression of "losing
focus," means a lot. As he started his second
lap, he spun out in between turn one and two,
and everyone drove right by him. He did manage
to get going again, but it was too late. Being a
half of a lap down in such a short race meant
there was no way of catching the leaders. He
ended up finishing sixth.
The A-Main was pretty exciting for two teammates. As
the green came out to get things started, Jaime
Guider either missed a shift, or it came out of
gear, because she instantly dropped from her
starting position of 10th to the back of the
field. Meanwhile, Preston Jones took advantage
of starting sixth to get a bead on the leaders,
and see where his car would handle on the track.
Joe didn't let his ninth place start detour him
as he soon made his way to Preston's rear
bumper.
As the first handful of laps went by, Preston and Joe
were playing "follow me" through the field.
Preston would pick a lane, and Joe would follow.
It was working as both drivers were picking off
cars one at a time. The pair soon found
themselves third and fourth. That only lasted
for a couple laps as another driver found his
way by Joe, to drop Joe back one spot to fifth.
Now Preston was next on the other drivers list.
As the last few laps ticked off, Preston did a great
job of staying focused and finding a line on the
track that worked for his car. By the time it
was said and done with, the A-Main for the
Super-4's was over with and Preston took another
third place finish. Joe Guider did look strong
tonight and finished fifth, while Jaime Guider
seemed to struggle with her setup and finished
the night in 10th.
Even though Terry and Krista decided to call the racing
season quits, we have to remember that there are
more important things than racing. When the
family suffers because of a hobby, it's time to
put the hobby aside and refocus on what's more
important. No one is ever wrong with that type
of decision.
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