First Race, First Place
After a long offseason of hard work at the shop, in the gym, and working with partners, it all came together with Ayrton Houk taking a dominant win in the first race of the season on April 17 at Anderson Speedway.
We knew going in that his would be a tough race, as the field was full of past series champions, and multiple time race winners. But we also felt confident that our preseason prep would put us in a position to challenge the front runners.
The day started off promising, when Ayrton went out and set he fastest time in the first round of hot laps with a lap at 12.480 seconds. He followed that up with the fastest lap in qualifying of 12.570, just ahead of 2020 series champion Colin Grissom’s lap of 12.627.
Starting up front is always good at Anderson Speedway, as passing on the fast quarter mile is tough. So the team was feeling even more confident after the pole position qualifying run.
The heat race went as planned, mostly. A great start gave Ayrton a gap to the rest of the field who were battling amongst themselves. He would go on to take the heat race win. But we noticed some engine smoke as he stopped to take the winner’s photo.
Back in the pits, the team had a short break between the heat race and the feature to check on the engine issue. It turns out, one of the cam carrier bolts had broken. So the crew went to work. Don Kenyon helped with providing a new bolt. Tony, Kevin, and John worked on extracting the broken bolt, inserting a heli-coil, and putting things back together. Brad and Dustin handled tires, fuel, and the normal pre-race checks. Ayrton was buckled in and ready to go while repairs were still ongoing. As the rest of the field started to roll out to the track for the feature, the crew was just getting the cam cover re-installed after finishing repairs. Just in time, we fired the engine and Ayrton rolled out to join the field in his pole starting position.
Leading the field to the start of the feature race, Ayrton got a great jump off of turn four to take the lead heading to the green flag. Similar to the heat race, Ayrton immediately pulled a small gap while the rest of the field was battling behind him. From lap one, he never looked back. Ayrton built his lead lap after lap, turning the race’s fastest lap of 12.388 along the way. After 30 green flag laps, Ayrton took the checkered flag and crossed the finish line with nearly a 5 second gap over second place. This was Ayrton’s first win in the Kenyon Midget series. And it was also the team’s first oval race, after focusing on road racing the past several years. Coming away with a dominant win first time out was extremely rewarding for the whole team.
Huge thanks to the crew and family helping out behind the scenes and at the track. Kevin and Anna Lynn Houk, Nancy Hayes, Tony and Dustin Fox, and John Lamper. Also thanks to Don and Mel Kenyon, and Eric Bunn from USSA.
Last but certainly not least, thanks to all of our sponsors and partners who support Ayrton Houk and BHR. Horizon Equine, Upward Focus, Forum Credit Union, Redline Ace, PTH Racing Oil, Fast Forward Racing Components, Simpson Race Products, Stilo USA, Becky Risch The Alexander Group, Lamper Customs, Fortville Napa, Cortona’s Italian Cuisine and Wine Bar, Indie Asset Partners, Giraffe-X Graphics, PitFit, Corby Concepts, Kassie Kares, Jayson Swanson, Jacque and Jerry McNulty, Author Sutton Bishop, Mark and Judy Miller, Mike and Rosie Houk.