Leander's Haugh Continues Consistency

[tqj3]

Leander Teen Adam Haugh Continues Consistent Runs, Moves to Sixth in TSRS Championship Points with the Finale Set for Thunder Hill Saturday

 

Houston – Speed wins races and consistency wins championships, but luck plays a big part as well. Just ask Leander High senior Adam Haugh, who has raced as consistently as any driver in Central Texas for the last two seasons and posted his fifth top-ten finish of 2006 in nine races by finishing seventh in the Texas Super Racing Series (TSRS) "Space City Spectacular 75" Saturday night at Houston Motorsports Park here. The race winner was multi-time track champion Bobby Joe New of Austin, but his seventh place moved Haugh into sixth place in the TSRS standings, his highest place of the season in the championship points race.

 

Haugh is also second in the race for the rookie of the year title in TSRS, but the leader, Haugh's buddy Cody Smith of La Vernia, is also leading the points standings. This isn't unusual, as Haugh finished as runner-up for the rookie title in the Hobby Stock class at Thunder Hill Raceway in 2005 to Smith, who won that championship while Haugh finished fifth after suffering two broken axles that cost him valuable points.

 

"It has been an up-and-down season this year," Haugh says. "We started with an engine failure in the opening race at Houston, then had to use our old Hobby Stock motor for the next race." Haugh finished seventh despite being down on power. In the third race a driver slid into the dirt and blocked vision for the following drivers. Haugh and New were caught up in the melee and were out of the race.

 

In June Haugh got his second top-ten despite brake problems, finishing eighth. The fifth race of the season netted another smooth top-ten finish, ninth place back at Thunder Hill. On the road course at Texas World Speedway Haugh finished seventh running on a flat tire, then posted hard-luck 16th and 12th place finishes at Houston and Thunder Hill before last Saturday's seventh-place run.

 

"It was a good race," Haugh notes. "We had our best qualifying run of the year and started eighth, which put us on the outside of the fourth row." Unfortunately, in short track racking, outside is not a good place to start. Haugh lost several spots before he could slide into the groove on the inside, but then moved steadily forward.

 

"We're looking for a top-five finish at Thunder Hill this weekend," Haugh says, "and we think we have a good chance. We were running fifth at Thunder Hill before the crash in the dust, and sixth at TWS before the cut tire cost us a spot on the last lap."

 

At this point, Haugh has a good shot at finishing in the top five in points as well, and is (once again) second in the rookie standings to Smith. In many years, being second in the rookie standings could also be last or next-to-last, but the TSRS series this season has a bumper crop of six rookies, most of whom are actually experienced racing drivers.

 

Shane Harris, Bill Hamilton and Robert Walton are veterans of years of short track racing and most recently raced in the United States Racing Association (USRA) Race Truck Series, with Walton winning the championship in 2004.

 

Haugh wants to get as much out of this season as he can, particularly as he's planning to race the 2007 TSRS championship series and take a shot at the title.

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T. Q. Jones, Writer and Publicist P. O. Box 341706, Austin, TX 78734

PH: (512) 261-5236 Email: tqj@mindspring.com

Edited October 27, 2006 by tqj3