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8/3/20, 12:21 AM   #1
The Heartbreak Of The Night
Jerry Shaw
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 4,688
 

All the way from qualifying, to the heat race, through the feature, Garrett Aitken drove his ass off tonight. Most of the first 10 laps, he chased and battled with Shane Cottle, finally passing him with a daring move around the outside in turn 4, threading the needle through a hole between Shane and the wall, barely big enough to fit a sprint car through. And after that, it wasn't like Cottle just gave in and let him have that spot. Time after time after time, he got great runs on Garrett and executed really nice sliders on him, but each time, instead of backing down, he would gas the hell out of it and squeeze through and power around him, coming out of the turns to keep the runner up spot. And this happened a bunch of times. And several times during the race, when he would put some distance between himself and Shane, he did the unthinkable and aggressively went after Kyle Cummins and his lead. This was high drama, because it's been the longest time at Tri-State Speedway since we've seen another driver go after and actually take the lead away from Kyle. And several times, he put serious pressure on him and it looked like it might happen. Kyle would eventually put some distance, but then here comes Cottle again. He Fought him off again and looked to be headed to second place, but very late in the race (2 laps to go) Aitken either jumped the cushion or hit a snag in it, bobbled and just like that, Shane seized the opportunity. And it also caused him to fall victim to Chase Stockon.

Obviously, Kyle was the man, again tonight at TSS. And he's achieved a level of excellence and dominance there that you just don't often see. Chase won Sprint Week and that was also great to see there, because the home fans love him just like they do Kyle. The runs by Dakota Jackson and Critter Malone were great. I didn't realize Critter had come so far up through the field until somewhere in the middle of the race when he was going underneath Robert Ballou, to pass him. He would fade some as the laps wound down and end up losing the Hard Charger to Jackson. Shane Cottle once again reminded us what a great year he's having and how good the combination of him and Josh Hodges Racing are. But the highlight of tonight, IMO, was the show put on by Aitken. At one point, when he was throwing caution to the wind and going after the leader, I couldn't help but think "Apparently Mr. Aitken didn't get the memo about you're not supposed to be able to be in a position to try to take the lead away from Kyle Cummins at Haubstadt". But he very nearly did. And it was just deflating when he bounced in turn two and his chances to even make the podium were gone, just that quick. He should be proud, though. He was elbows up for all 30 laps, tonight.

Jerry
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Last edited by Jerry Shaw; 8/3/20 at 1:21 AM.
 
8/3/20, 12:40 AM   #2
Re: The Heartbreak Of The Night
jim goerge
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 29,877
 

Jerry I talked to him in pits, and he told car started running out of fuel last couple of laps. He earned a new fan in me with his runs tonight.
 
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