[JessicaJ]

Wyatt Teare Caps Lincoln Season with 7th Place Run
By Jessica Jenkins

With forecasted cooler temperatures on Friday, Wyatt Teare set off for Lincoln Speedway's final event of the season.

Rolling off for hot laps in his #87 Beast Chassis, the 1/4 mile dirt track was really tacky. Now knowing what to expect for the second heat race, Teare took the green flag in first place with the two points leaders right behind him. He held onto the lead for a little bit and by halfway was pacing in the third place. It wasn't long before he received a challenge from fourth place Chase McDermand that sparked an intense battle over the remaining laps. Coming to the checkered flag, the 21 year old racer drove it hard off the bottom exiting turn four, but was nipped by the #40 with his momentum on the high side.

Charged up by his battle to the finish and being just 7/100th out of third place, Teare and his father went to work preparing the car for the Feature. Starting eighth in the fifteen lap race, the racer from Rankin, IL moved into seventh position on lap two and waged a back-and-forth battle for the position. A yellow flag at lap seven bunched the field up together and saw the black and red D2 midget restart from the seventh spot. With his wife and daughter cheering from the stands, Teare set off after sixth position and as the laps clicked off settled into a decent gap to his competitors on either side. When the checkered flag fell on the POWRi D2 portion of the Brandt Season Championship 5 Buck Night, the rookie racer had claimed a seventh place result.

As his first full season in D2 midgets draws nearer to its close, Teare sits solidly at fourth place in the points standings while looking to claim Rookie of the Year honors. Recapping his seventh start at the Logan County Fairgrounds, Teare commented, "I had a fast car in the heat. I was battling the #40 car and blocking him every way I can because I knew I couldn't beat him if he got in front of me. Got into him a little bit, but it's racing. The feature was pretty fun. [The track] went from really heavy to almost slick, but it stayed pretty decent. Every time I went into the corner it was slicker and slicker. I had to change my driving every time, so it's kind of confusing for a new driver, but it's good practice. Seat time is everything and nothing is going to be the same every time you throw it in. I leaned out toward the end of the race and started losing momentum, but other than that, the car ran pretty good."

With his driving career still in the early stages, Teare has been learning a lot this season. He took the time afterwards to share some things he mastered on the first night of September, "I learned tonight from the sound of the motor to know where [the other drivers] are at and what they're gonna try to do. I've gotten better at using my peripheral vision, so I can concentrate on them and the track at the same time. I've gotten a lot better at multitasking, like ripping tear-offs and steering at the same time. And just being more aggressive. I think I was too worried about hurting everybody's feelings more than anything. I figured it was my last race, so I pushed as hard as I could. We got a pretty good night out of it. I'm gonna try to make it to Jacksonville, but we'll see what we can do."

Teare made sure to thank his dad/car owner for everything he's done, as well as Paul Cain and Cain's Marine Welding, Patrick Bruns and his advice earlier this year, his aunt Chris "for the tires and the time and money she spent" and his wife and daughter for making the trip to watch him race. He also expressed gratitude to Vital Signs for the graphics, Cresap Farms and Truck House Tees. He then made a special mention about all of his competitors, declaring "They know I'm newer and they like to help me out the best they can. So I just try to keep friends, not enemies." He finished off by saying they are "doing the best we can and are going to try and get a bigger motor for next year, maybe put a couple wins under our belt."

There are just two races remaining for the POWRi D2 midget series, at Jacksonville Speedway on September 8th and again October 14th. Stay tuned to his Teare Racing Facebook page @JWTmotorsports to catch any schedule updates and pictures that are posted.