St-Eustache: Joey Hanssen preview

ROOKIE JOEY HANSSEN READY TO BEGIN HIS NORTH AMERICAN RACING JOURNEY

May 19, 2009. Seventeen year old Joey Hanssen is ready to begin the biggest challenge of his young lifetime. Hanssen is about to take the first step in stock car racing competition as he begins the task of competing for the 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series rookie of the year in the #40 Prime Champ Dodge Avenger this weekend.

Joey Hanssen has had great success competing in Formula Cars and Go Karts in his native Netherlands. This off season with the support of his family and sponsorship from Prime Champ he came to Canada and is intent on succeeding in the very challenging NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Prior to this spring Hanssen had never driven a stock car. He turned his first laps at Delaware Speedway in April and immediately showed he has the skills to succeed. In those first laps behind the wheel the concern was not about how fast he could run but making sure he understood how different the racing line was for these 2,800 pound stock cars and learning about running on oval tracks. "It was a huge change from the Go Karts that you can maneuver easily, you really have to concentrate on being smooth with these cars" said Hanssen.

The job of making the switch to stock cars has been made easier by having great equipment provided by Canadian racing veteran DJ Kennington and having a crew chief that's made the same kind of transition in Kenny Forth. The more time Hanssen spent behind the wheel of the #40 Prime Champ Dodge the more comfortable he felt, and the more his racing line and lap times improved. "When we were at Kawartha the first time I went out I was just over half a second behind the times of DJ" said the driver. "Later in the day he took my car out for a few laps and was only about 3/10ths faster than me so I am very excited about my first race" he added.

-credit: jhPR