Two for Two
After starting the Kenyon Midget season with a win at the high-banked Anderson Speedway, the next challenge was the historic flat 1/5 mile Indianapolis Speedrome. The race night provided some challenges, but the end result was the same. Ayrton would once again dominate the feature to take his second win of the season.
It was the team’s first visit to the Speedrome, and quite frankly we missed the initial setup. In the first hot laps session, Ayrton struggled with an overall lack of rear grip. With a very short break before the second hot laps session, the team went to work. After a quick debrief for feedback from Ayrton, the team agreed on a direction for changes, and Tony Fox and Kevin Houk transformed the setup on the car for the second hot lap session. After the quick adjustments, Ayrton went back on track for the second and final hot lap session. While we still finished towards the back of the time sheet in P8, the feedback from Ayrton confirmed that the balance was much better, and that we were moving the setup in the right direction. Now with a bit more of a break before Qualifying, we had a chance to massage the setup a bit further.
For qualifying, Ayrton laid down a stellar lap of 12.341, which ended up being good enough for P2 behind pole sitter Jack Macenko’s lap of 12.253.
The P2 qualifying position would put Ayrton on the pole for the second heat race. He easily pulled away to win the 10 lap heat race by over 2 seconds over second place finisher Logan Huggler.
An updated rule for this race meant that the top 4 cars would be inverted for the start of the feature race. This would put Ayrton starting the feature from the 3rd position, inside of row two. The inside line is the place to be at the Speedrome. When the green flag dropped to start the race, Ayrton was able to take advantage of the inside line to get past 2nd place starter Colin Grissom. On lap 2, Ayrton looked to the inside of leader Logan Huggler down the back straight and completed the pass for the lead through turns 3 and 4. From that point, Ayrton put down a series of fast laps to pull away from the pack. Just when it looked like he could cruise to the checkered flag, a late yellow flag would eliminate his 3/4 lap lead over second place. A double file restart with only 3 laps remaining would put the hungry pack right back on Ayrton’s rear bumper. When the green flag waved, Ayrton was able to get a good restart, clearing the outside line of cars. From there it was fast qualifier Jack Macenko chasing Ayrton to the finish. At the checkered flag, Ayrton Houk would take the 50 lap feature win by 0.7 seconds over Jack Macenko. Colin Grisson, Logan Huggler, and Kameron Gladish rounded out the top five.
Ayrton drove well all night, provided great feedback, and extracted everything he could from the team’s setup changes. This was a special win, seeing the team rise to the challenge, and make the car faster and faster every session. It was also great to have a large group of friends and family in attendance. Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer Ayrton on to the win!
Next up, we head back to Anderson Speedway on Saturday June 12. Can we make it 3 for 3? We are sure going to try!
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.