Odessa: Davin Scites race notes

Gremlins bite Scites at I-70 Speedway

[DavinScites.jpg] Charlotte, NC (Wednesday June 18th, 2003) - - Davin Scites Motorsports (DSM) headed to I-70 Speedway hoping to bounce back from some recent disappointing finishes and prove that they are a contender to win the 2003 American Speed Association championship.

Practice got underway from one of the fastest short track of the season early Saturday morning. Davin struggled in his No. 06 John Michael Montgomery Motorsports Chevrolet as an handling issued arose putting the team in the bottom half of the results sheet. "We are disappointed, we're definitely going to make some changes, and we'll have to hope for better in the second practice session."

Unfortunately for the Virginia native, things did not improve in the second session, as the team was still battling an ill-handling silver car. The team made adjustments left and right knowing that qualifying up-front on a short track is always in advantage.

"We're again going to make some changes," said Scites. "We're shooting for a solid qualifying effort, and if I think if we can get a good starting position, we should be okay for the race," he added.

In time trials, Scites maneuvered his No. 06 around the track in a time of 18.131 seconds amounting to a speed of 107.220 MPH, which was 37th fastest, almost a second off the pole sitter's effort. "Man, we are struggling this weekend, we need to again find out what's wrong before the race," said Davin.

Despite the poor qualifying effort, ASA rules would put Scites in the 23rd starting position for the seventh event of the season.

The 2003 American Speed Association rookie of the year candidate also mentioned "We have to turn our luck around for the team and the sponsors, they are a key element to this team."

The series took the green flag shortly after 9:00PM on Saturday with Scites making the quick jump to advance for position. While the car was still batting an handling problem, he was doing an impressive job on the track.

Attrition was arriving on the track and the former NASCAR late model driver was doing an excellent job of avoiding the wrecks in front of him.

Trouble would bite the team later in the event as a faulty radiator hose would ruin the night for the team.

While the team was still able to finish the race 23rd completing 215 of the scheduled 250 circuits.

"It was a tough night for the DSM crew," Davin said following the race. "This is all a part of racing, we have a monkey on our back right now and we need to get him off and have a good run next weekend in Mansfield.

Scites, who captured a spectacular win earlier this season at Concord stated "I have to give a huge thanks to our sponsors for sticking by us and for my crew for putting every effort into this team, we'll bounce back, we always do."

-dsm-