Reading: Bob Tasca III final report

TASCA MISSES OUT ON COUNTDOWN WITH FIRST ROUND LOSS IN READING READING, Pa. (Aug. 17, 2008) -- Bob Tasca III entered this weekend's race at Maple Grove Raceway needing some rounds wins and a little luck. Tasca suffered a loss in the first round ...

TASCA MISSES OUT ON COUNTDOWN WITH FIRST ROUND LOSS IN READING

READING, Pa. (Aug. 17, 2008) -- Bob Tasca III entered this weekend's race at Maple Grove Raceway needing some rounds wins and a little luck. Tasca suffered a loss in the first round of eliminations to Del Worsham, resulting in the rookie not earning a spot as one of the Countdown drivers that will run for the championship.

"Now we focus on winning some races from here on out," said Tasca following his first round run. "Obviously our championship hopes have been extinguished; it was a tough first round on a hot race track. The car didn't run as badly as what the scoreboard showed, because I was in really, really deep in staging. I shut the top bulb off, which actually distracted me a little bit."

Tasca's run in the first round against Worsham was a repeat of last week's first round in Brainerd, Minn., but Worsham's 4.232-second run to 1,000 feet was a little bit better than Tasca's 4.282-second pass.

"Del was spot on that run," said Tasca. "At the end of the day, that's racing. You move forward; you don't look back. I still feel very confident that we can come through this season with a couple of wins. It just unfortunately didn't happen when it needed to happen to get into the top 10. We struggled on the West Coast, which kind of really started to take shape of the top 10, as I thought it would."

The first round loss moves Tasca from 11th to 12th in the points, just one point behind Worsham.

Tasca and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang team will have a week off before the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Aug. 29-Sept. 1, where the team will enter the race with a special Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation wrap on their Shelby Mustang.