OCTOBER 18, 2009 –-- Hi Folks, this will be our last racing report for the season and it includes the GLR 360 races of October 9th and 16th held at Watsonville’s Ocean Speedway. 

I missed reporting timely for the race on the ninth because we burned a piston and we were busy obtaining and installing a new engine so let’s do a little catching-up.

The GLR winged 360 series was coming down to the last two events of the year and Evan was third place in points. If he was going to make a run at Brent Kaeding for second it had to start now. Qualifying went well as Evan was again quick-time, his forth of they year. Unfortunately we burned a piston on the second lap of qualifying and were to run on seven cylinders the rest of the night. Quick time meant Evan would start sixth in his heat and would have to finish fourth or better to transfer straight to the feature. Quickly into the heat race Evan passed a car to get to fifth and he was chasing Bud Kaeding for fourth. Evan passed Kaeding but spun in the last turn and the pass was for naught. Evan won the B Main and we started the Main eleventh, first behind the invert. The engine got worse lap after lap and was slowing noticeably after mid race. Evan finished but was out of the top ten.

Last Friday night we came back with a engine we purchased during the week. It is a three year old Shark with AllPro heads. A pretty nice piece that will likely become out primary 360 engine next season.

Evan was again quick time with a lap of 11:617, his fifth of the season. This was the second time this year he has broken the track record. Seems like the “new” engine will work out well.

Evan transferred out of his heat race drew the four pill for his starting position in the feature.

Tim Kaeding, Brad Furr and Randy Hanagan started ahead of Evan and while passing Furr, Bud Kaeding got by Evan and that is pretty much the way it ran for 28 laps. Evan put on a charge at the end and actually chased-down Bud but did not have enough to make the pass for third. 

Ev finished the night in fourth and easily had enough points to complete the season series in third place, Behind Tommy Tarlton and Brent Kaeding.

The GLR Investments 360 winged Series held at Watsonville’s beautiful Ocean Speedway is a terrific series. The car-counts, fan enthusiasm and the competition are outstanding. Suggs Racing really enjoys the place and is already looking forward to the 2010 season.

This is the last race for us this year. We will not be participating in the Trophy Cup as Evan has a national engineering exam in San Francisco at the same time as the race. In our world, school always comes first. Our plans for next season are to again compete full-time in both the 410 Golden State Challenge-King of California Series and the GLR Watsonville 360 series.

Thank you for following and supporting us this year, we appreciate your interest and enthusiasm.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season and we will be “talking” to you soon!

Best….

Evan, Linda and John