Inside Line Promotions – WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (Sept. 9, 2013) – Despite a pair of obstacles, Derek Hagar continued his top-10 streak in impressive fashion last weekend competing with the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series in an Arkansas doubleheader.
In his first nonwing competition this season and down on horsepower – he used an ASCS 360ci engine compared to the USAC 410ci engines – Hagar scored a pair of top 10s to extend his streak and earn a $250 bonus for having the best feature average of the 360 drivers.
“It feels good not being out of the top 10 at all this year and hopefully we can keep it up, especially last weekend with it being nonwing and racing against 410s,” he said. “We were behind the eight ball from the get-go because all we had was our ASCS 360. I just had to go out there and salvage what we could get.”
On Friday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Hagar qualified 11th quickest and finished fifth in his heat race to lock into the feature. After starting on the outside of the fifth row in the main event, Hagar battled within the top 10 for the entire race and settled for a ninth-place finish.
“We fell back for a little while,” he said. “The track was real slick. I tried to keep my momentum up. I got up to sixth and instead of being satisfied with what I had I got a little greedy and fell back to ninth, which is where I finished.
“When I pulled in from the feature Friday night I was kinda ticked because I thought we ruined our top-10 streak. I knew Saturday night was going to be really tough because you never know what you’re going to get at Riverside as far as track-wise.”
Saturday’s Topless at the Ditch event at Riverside International Speedway was a fast track and Hagar sat atop the qualifying times for most of time trials. He ended with the fifth-quickest time.
“We held the quick time for all the way up to the last four or five cars,” he said. “I think we turned like a 13.09 and I got out-qualified by four 410s. That’s pretty good for us for a 360. We were definitely the fastest 360 all weekend.”
Hagar placed sixth in his heat race and started the main event on the outside of the fourth row. For the second straight night, he competed within the top 10 for the entire race and ended with a seventh-place result.
“We had a real good run,” he said. “We beat a couple of 410 guys. We were just under horsepowered for the way the track was. It was real heavy and fast. We salvaged another top 10 out of the weekend and had fun and made a little bit of money.”
Hagar will return to USCS action on Saturday at Tennessee National Raceway in Hohenwald, Tenn.
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 6 – I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark. – Qualifying: 11; Heat race: 5 (3); Feature: 9 (10).
Sept. 7 – Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. – Qualifying: 5; Heat race: 6 (5); Feature: 7 (8).
SEASON STATS –
33 races, 9 wins, 24 top fives, 33 top 10s, 33 top 15s, 33 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Tennessee National Raceway in Hohenwald, Tenn., with USCS
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.DerekHagar.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hagarderek
APPAREL –
Hagar has t-shirts, hats and koozies available for sale at his race trailer at every race he competes at. To see his schedule, visit http://www.DerekHagar.com/schedule.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Fragola Performance Systems
Housed in Southington, Conn., Fragola Performance Systems manufactures fittings, lines and hoses for the racing industry. For more information, visit http://www.FragolaPerformanceSystems.com.
“Fragola Performance Systems are all in all a good fitting and line manufacturer,” Hagar said. “They make really good lightweight hose. I prefer them over anybody else as far as a good pressure hose.”
Hagar would also like to thank R.E. Enterprises, J&J Auto Racing, DynoTech Performance, FSR Radiators, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, FK Rod Ends and Xtreme Race Graphics for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations, media management and merchandising services for sprint car teams. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and your sponsors’ return on investment.
To meet the media relations needs of your team, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or sprintcarreporter@yahoo.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.insidelinepromotions.com.