Heil avoids tire problems, holds off rookie in capturing 2nd TSRS win

[NickHolt]

Heil avoids tire problems, holds off rookie in capturing 2nd TSRS win

 

By Chuck Licata, K-MAC Sports

 

( Wichita Falls , TX ) John Heil ( Floresville , TX ) doesn’t have a lot of experience running in the Texas Super Racing Series (TSRS) late model series.

 

But Saturday night, the grizzled race veteran summoned up all his experience to grab the checkered flag at the Red River Speedway 75 in Wichita Falls .

 

Making just his seventh career start in the series, Heil drove the #43 Chevy Monte Carlo (owned by Jamie Fuller and leased by Arthur Alexander) to Victory Lane on the ¼-mile asphalt track at Red River Speedway. It was his second career TSRS victory. He was able to avoid the tire problems experienced by some of the drivers of the field – including Heath Stewart (Del Valle, TX), who led the first 24 laps of the race before his tire went soft and he had to pit; Stewart, the overall points leader, finished fifth.

 

“We were worried about Heath in the beginning,” Heil stated. “On the (second) restart (on Lap 16), he was getting away and he looked like he was running harder than we wanted to, because we were trying to save our tires. But eventually he started coming back to the field and we were able to put pressure on him.”

 

On Lap 24, Heil got underneath Stewart and passed him. Stewart was then passed by Jake Kruger ( Bastrop , TX ), Brian Moczygemba ( San Antonio ) and Bobby Teer, Jr. (Comfort); Teer himself would eventually experience tire problems on Lap 54 and fall back to an eighth-place finish.

 

Heil – whose #43 was sponsored by AAA house leveling (Converse), Royal Purple Synthetic Oils, C&C Signs and Graphics, Alamo Paint & Body and Swenson Racing – then had to deal with a TSRS rookie (the 14-year-old Kruger) who was picking up steam in second place.

 

Right after Lap 28, Kruger started making a hard charge on Heil; by Lap 37, Kruger was making some “inroads” on Heil and was threatening to pass him on the inside. But the race’s last yellow flew at Lap 40 and Heil had given a reprieve from the rookie’s hard challenge.

 

“We were glad to be able to hold off Kruger,” Heil said. “He ran a good race. We were trying to save tires and Jake was racing us hard; we figured we’d keep to the bottom (of the track). He couldn’t keep up with us coming off the corners. I’d like to add, to, that we were very happy with the fact Jake ran us clean and didn’t bump us. We appreciate the way he drove us – he earned a lot of respect in our books by running us tight but clean.”

 

Heil added, “I owe a lot of thanks to Arthur Alexander, Jamie Fuller, Brad Bush and Big John, as well as our sponsors. I’d like to thank all the fans for coming out and all the TSRS officials and competitors for making the trip to RRS.”

 

John Heil – winner of Red River Speedway 75

Lefthander Chassis

Ohlins Shocks

5-star body

Willwood Brakes

Chevy Monte Carlo (owned by Jamie Fuller, leased by Arthur Alexander)

 

Information on TSRS can be found at www.manracingpromotions.com. Information on Thunderhill Raceway – an ASA member track – can be found at www.thunderhillraceway.com.

 

 

 

- 30 –

[bubbac]

Great job Big John, Mom and I are very proud of you. Keep up the hard work.

Congratulations to Mr. Heil, whom John said drove a great race, and to the rest of the team.

[ups88john]

thanks dad, you know you taught me a long time ago that these things dont grow on trees, but hard work and dedication will get you there, and thats what we put in at the shop, hard work and dedication, and here we are, aside from some flat tires we would be talking about how many other wins we had in TSRS, and it might not mean alot to some folks, but winning a TSRS race with the caliber of cars that showed up means alot to me. heath stewart has set fast time at every race, won a few this year, b moczygemba has been fast and won a race, uncle joe aramendia has been fast, chris schild is always a threat to win, jake krueger(sp) is like 14 and is fast and winning races, dillon spreen is ln the same catagorey. john heil is a veteran and showed it by saving his tires and running a good race. the 43 might not of been the fastest car out there, but it was fast enough to win. i cant wait until we unload the pro late models at the tracks in the southeast and take this momentum with us. look for good things to come out of the alexander race shop.

 

big john

[alttuede]

thanks dad, you know you taught me a long time ago that these things dont grow on trees, but hard work and dedication will get you there, and thats what we put in at the shop, hard work and dedication, and here we are, aside from some flat tires we would be talking about how many other wins we had in TSRS, and it might not mean alot to some folks, but winning a TSRS race with the caliber of cars that showed up means alot to me. heath stewart has set fast time at every race, won a few this year, b moczygemba has been fast and won a race, uncle joe aramendia has been fast, chris schild is always a threat to win, jake krueger(sp) is like 14 and is fast and winning races, dillon spreen is ln the same catagorey. john heil is a veteran and showed it by saving his tires and running a good race. the 43 might not of been the fastest car out there, but it was fast enough to win. i cant wait until we unload the pro late models at the tracks in the southeast and take this momentum with us. look for good things to come out of the alexander race shop.

 

big john

 

 

theres some quiet guys here that know the dedication and perserverance it takes to win...well any race for that matter, especially ,like you said with the caliber that was in that field.

 

great job guys, good luck on the next one .