Engine Woes Put a Pause on Bruns’ Momentum
By Jessica Jenkins

The past couple weeks have been pretty good for Patrick Bruns as he’s racked up win after win and welcomed a new member to his family. In back-to-back nights on July 21st and 22nd, Bruns and his MWR team claimed the USAC IMRA win while leading all twenty laps at Farmer City. The next night at the race in his hometown the driver of the 10B came home with the runner-up spot at Champaign Motor Speedway’s POWRi/ILLINI D2 race to Tyler Vantoll. Undeterred by finishing second to his closest points competitor, Bruns headed off for Lincoln Speedway the next weekend on July 29th and turned a heat win into his 9th POWRi/ILLINI victory of the year.

Riding that wave of momentum, they came into Macon Speedway looking for his third win of 2016 at the 1/5th mile dirt track. Everything started off like normal in hot laps, but some smoke trailing from his bright orange and white car was the first sign of what was to come. In the second he race, he was set to start from the sixth position by the end of the first lap he had already jumped past two cars. The next lap he threw a really good slider on third place and took the spot, but on lap 6 of the 8 lap heat he suddenly slowed in turns three and four and pulled into the infield with an uncharacteristic engine problem.

Back in the pits the 4-time Illini Racing champion described the engine as popping. At Lincoln the car had started making similar noises, but it had not in any way hindered the untouchable pace they set...the total opposite of what was occurring this time around. Bruns’ dedicated team went to work and got the engine in a drivable state as the other series of cars took to the track. Despite the problems to that point, the guys on the team were still hopeful their driver would be able to drive up from the back and win for a second night in a row.

Bruns was lined up in last place for the feature, sharing the row with his only teammate present with him at the track. Even though there was a little bit of telltale smoke, he still drove past 5 cars by the time they reached lap 3. He generally was running the middle-high side of the track and restarted in the ninth position following the first yellow of the feature. A lap after they went green he got very sideways in turn 1, but continued on before the field was slowed once more for a car stopped in turn two. Taking off again from the ninth position, Bruns took to the very top side of the track and used every trick in the book to gain more spots. But with the power drained from the motor he was unable to pass any more cars and wound up in the ninth position when the twenty lap feature came to a close.

After the race ended, and before loading up the 10B, all six members of MWR team (Bruns included) began taking the car apart and draining the oil out of it, wasting no time in beginning the steps to repair the motor. When they got back to the shop, they all immediately jumped in and kept working on the car into the late hours of the night. Naturally, the driver hated disappointing his team by not claiming their typical win, but sometimes those things just happen in racing. If they still wind up pulling off this championship, it is because all of the hard work and great execution by the team on the nights that, like this one, didn’t go as planned.

There were a bunch of sponsors onboard the MWR EcoTec powered Boss Chassis, including Cain’s Marine Welding, Inc., Harold R. Colbert Plumbing & Heating, Triple T Car Wash & Lube, Advance Financial, Vital Signs in Champaign, Bell Helmets and a host of others.

With just eight races remaining for the POWRi/ILLINI D2 midgets in 2016, Bruns maintains a 230 point lead over second place Tyler Vantoll. Next up this team will head for Sycamore Speedway on Saturday, August 6th to attempt to reclaim their spot at the top of the finishing order.

To keep up with the team as they continue to roll through the season, like them on Facebook at facebook.com/mwrtech, follow them on Twitter @MWRTechnology or visit their website (MWRtechnology.com).