[JessicaJ]

Surprise D2 Appearance Brings Patrick Bruns to Lincoln
By Jessica Jenkins

When Illinois Speedweek arrives it always brings out the biggest names in POWRi racing. That continued to be true on the final night when reigning D2 series champion Patrick Bruns showed up unexpectedly to race the Justin Behrens-owned #17 midget. The last minute deal came together just in time to draw Bruns back to the track he has experienced a lot of success on, including four wins last year.

Bringing a couple members of his championship team with him, they worked with the #17 team to get the car set up for a fast-paced night at Lincoln Speedway. Bruns' first ever laps in the car set them eleventh fastest in hot laps before starting on the pole of heat three. In the opening lap of the heat, Speedweek points leader Andy Malpocker drove past for the lead, leaving Bruns in second. After surviving a couple yellows, Bruns gave the leader his best shot before Malpocker stretched out a big lead, leaving Bruns in the runner-up spot.

Finishing second in the heat sent the Champaign, IL driver to an eight place start in the Feature. As the dust settled from the National midgets, Bruns strapped into the #17 for his first D2 Feature since the end of 2016. He fired off strong and stuck to the bottom line for much of the event, enduring a flurry of yellows in the first six laps that enabled him to move up into sixth place. A big incident just behind him brought out the last caution of the race on lap 11. When the green flag flew with just a handful of laps to go, the 5-time D2 champion dove for the fifth spot before sliding back into a battle with the two drivers behind him. One of them drove to the outside and Bruns fought hard to keep the position before taking the checkered flag in the seventh position.

For his first time in a totally new-to-him car, Bruns was satisfied and grateful to get back into the series he's spent so much time in over recent years. A big thanks goes out to R.E. Griesemer, Aden Family Farms and realtor Julie Behrens for their support of the team.

Not having any immediate plans in place to race a midget, Bruns now turns his attention back to the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car series. He'll make his second 2017 start in the series at Pennsylvania's Williams Grove Speedway, a half mile dirt track that pays $8000 to win. Plans are in place to start a Facebook fan page for the open wheel veteran, so keep an eye out for it as Williams Grove approaches.

In his own words
It was a fun night! Justin Behrens gave me a great opportunity to run his car. He spent the winter redoing this car and Scott and Andrew worked hard on it here tonight with Skyler and Bill Papke. These guys worked really hard tonight to give me the best racecar they could. Justin basically opened the trailer and said 'here you go, boys', so I had my same crew and we're used to working together. We had our work cut out tonight as we went from the front bumper to the back bumper and changed a lot of things to get this car dialed in. We got it a lot closer, but there's definitely some room for improvement as well and we've got some more bugs to work out. This wasn't really anything that was planned well in advance, but I'm glad Justin called me and gave me a chance and hopefully we can do it again. I just like driving racecars and I like being here at Lincoln with Dominic, my son. So yeah, if we get a chance, we'll do it again.

On the track surface
It was very, very slick; my kind of track. I like a smooth, slick track like this. You've got to be patient and keep the racecar under you. We did a fairly good job of that and moved forward on the racetrack. I think if we get a few more bugs worked out of this racecar, we can do a lot better. Earlier in the night they grated the track before the features, and made it really, really smooth. And it was actually a really fun racetrack after that. Earlier in the night though, it was pretty rough and it ate a few cars. Fortunately it didn't eat us.

On Going to Williams Grove
I've never been to Williams Grove. There's a lot of history and a lot of heritage out there. Lots of famous people come out of the Pennsylvania area, so I think more than anything I'm just looking forward to a new racetrack and Williams Grove has been on my bucket list. I want to race under the bridge.

People to thank
All the guys that have helped me with the Full Throttle Racing bunch: Andrew, Scott and Paul. These guys have all been with me for a number of years and came to help out here tonight. Most importantly, I've got to thank Jessica tonight for all that she does for us and taking care of my son Dominic tonight. He likes to come to the racetrack, but my wife won't let him come unless she knows that he's in good hands and Jessica definitely fits the bill.