**TCR Comes Home 3rd in Season Debut**

It was a thrilling night of racing at Oakland Valley Speedway for the 2nd annual Northeast King of Karting Series race. A last minute decision to run in the Super-Heavy class instead of Heavies was made by the team at the track.

The day started in hot laps. The team was anxious to try out it's brand-new CRISCI ENGINEERING built Briggs Flathead engine for the first time at OVS. It ran really well, and the kart was dialed-in. However, after reviewing a video of the hot laps, it appeared that the 25 was not the fastest kart on the track. So, the adjustments began. After each of the practice sessions, both heats, and before the feature, the team changed it's gear ratio. Slowly but surely they were gaining on the leader's lap times. The 25 came home 2nd in both heats after starting 2nd and 3rd.

By the feature race, the kart was handling the best it had in a long time. The gearing was set up to be at maximum performance (thanks to Bob Hayes and Pat Hayes of Team Dino for the tips and help) and the team was ready to battle for it's first victory in nearly two seasons. Driver David Crisci was able to jump the start and fall into second right behind the 24x. He would battle nose-to-tail with the leader for the first 10 laps, having many opportunities to pass.

"We were the fastest car in that race, no doubt. We would catch him, try to complete the pass, but would have to get out of the throttle because we couldn't get completely along side of him."

The pattern continued until Crisci gave the 24x a shove to try to move him up the track as the laps were winding down. The bump, however, gave the leader a push and sent the 25 back to 3 or 4 car-lengths behind. In an effort to try to catch back up to the lead before time ran out, Crisci over-drove turn 1 and spun around, bringing out the caution. The 25 would fall to the rear of the field, but was fast enough to pass enough cars to finish 3rd on the night.

"It wasn't the result we wanted, but it gave us confidence that we can run at the front, make good adjustments, keep up with the track, and compete for that W that we will get soon enough."



- The team will be back at Oakland Valley Speedway this weekend, Saturday June 20th, for the regular points race. An updated schedule can be found below.