She started second row inside in the heat, and had serious handling problems.  It was all she could do to control the car, and finishing 4th was a considerable achievement on the dry slick track..

Crew Chief Bill Smith made several adjustments to the suspension before the feature race--where she again started second row inside.  We held our breath that the car was set-up right.  In the first couple of laps the car still seem to "push" upward into the turns, and Nichole lost several places.  She took a hard knock in the rear bumper, then appeared to stall.   That set her back several places.  She explained later that the impact knocked her car out of gear (into first gear);  she noticed the rpm and oil pressure shoot up, and knew what had happened.  Quickly shifting back to second, she did a burn out forward around turn two--just in time for a yellow flag.  However, this put her in last place. 

But  after that, Nichole drove to make up time--and then some. She found her line and her confidence, and started to hammer out the laps, picking off cars one by one.  As a friend of the team remarked, "So who's the 16 year old girl out there?"  It was a  sly joke (from the aggressive way she was driving, certainly no one could tell). She got faster and faster as the race went on, and was challenging for higher placement before she ran out of laps and the checkered flag fell.

A good night of racing.  No damage but for a bent rim.  Had to buy two tires, but that's part of doing business.  Nichole had a smile on her face after the race, as did everybody with Team Weaver.  Dirt track racing is not the Indy 500 (which ran today)--it's far more real.

Next race:  tomorrow night, Monday, May 31, Memorial Day.  Heats begin an hour early at 4:00 p.m  BE THERE, BE THERE!