[Task Force]

LATE RACE CONTACT SPOILS HAMILTONS CHARGE FOR VICTORY
By Zach Tasker
Driver Kyle Hamilton entered Saturday nights USAC Honda National Pavement Midget Championship season finale at Columbus Motor Speedway with high hopes. He had won the previous USAC pavement event at Grundy County Speedway in August and was looking forward to racing with his younger brother Nick for the first time. After finding an engine problem earlier in the week in Hamilton’s primary car the crew scrambled and a last minute deal put him in the #33 Pit Stop BBQ & Grill/Curtis Motor Sales Beast/Mopar owned by Eric Cottongim.
The night started off great as Hamilton set the fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 13.423 seconds. “I was very pleased with my team’s effort all night. To jump into a car none of us had ever worked on and qualify quick time is impressive in my books and I have to give credit to my guys for getting the car setup that close right out of the box. The transition to a different car was easy.” That would put the Danville, Indiana native in the nights first “scramble” which determines the starting lineup for the feature event. The field was inverted by 6 which meant Hamilton would start on the outside of row 3. The finishing positions of the first scramble would determine the inside starting rows of the 40 lap feature. Kyle quickly worked his way through the field and made a spectacular inside maneuver on Chris Bell with one lap remaining entering turn 1. “The heat race was very intense. Every spot you make up in that race is another row you move up in the feature starting order. I was all over Bell and knew I needed that 3rd place starting position. He left the door open for a split second and I took advantage of it and slid by. Moves like that take a few years to nail down but I think I'm getting to the point where I am comfortable enough in a midget to make them.” He would run out of laps to catch race leader Tracy Hines and would start the “Battle in the Buckeye State” in 3rd position.
All eyes were on Hines and Darren Hagen as those two were battling for the championship. Hagen rocketed off in the lead early in the race but Hamilton was breathing down his neck for the majority of the race, just waiting to pounce if Hagen were to make a mistake. It looked for many laps as if Hamilton had the faster car, but was just plotting when to make his move for the lead. With 5 laps remaining the lead duo were in heavy lapped traffic and as Hamilton was looking to go around the lapped machine of Bret Sanderson the two made light contact sending Hamilton spinning off into the infield grass. Luckily there was no damage to the car but his chance at a feature victory was over. “It was just one of those weird racing incidents. I can't really blame the lapped car for anything. I was making a last ditch effort to get by Hagen and I just cut it a little too close to the lapped car and we clipped wheels and I spun. Obviously I wish he could have gave me a little more space but lap traffic is a part of racing and everyone has to deal with it. It’s tough to keep your head in a situation like that but I am a pretty calm person so I was able to brush it off pretty quickly.”
Kyle would finish the feature in 10th position even after stopping to avoid another 2 car incident with 4 laps to go. Younger brother Nick would finish a very impressive 8th in his debut, no doubt adding fire to a friendly sibling rivalry. “When the night was said and done I did get beat by my brother after having to go to the tail after the incident with the lapped car. We joked about it after the race. He was just happy to get his first national race under his belt. I am extremely proud of him. For him to be able to jump into a midget for the first time and qualify 3rd was awesome and I'm sure it boosted his confidence level quite a bit.”
Kyle finished the 2013 season 5th in USAC Honda National Pavement Midget Championship drivers points standings with 373 points. “We're going to take this season and build off of it. We had fast cars all year we just need to figure out how to capitalize on those and get wins because in the end that's what really matters. I'll continue my studies at Purdue this winter as I work to become a teacher. I will also be looking at my options for next year. We have a few opportunities on the table so we'll look at those and hopefully come up with a good program for 2014.”

[Eric C]

I just have to add that Kyle jumped into my car that had not been run since the season finally race at Grundy County Speedway where it had a First Place finish by my son Tyler Cottongim in his final race of his career and I just have to say how impressive it was to see Kyle do what he did in an underpowered car with an outdated W9 Mopar motor that was at minimum a 30 HP disadvantage to most cars in the field and just shows what a great talent this young man is.

Eric Cottongim