Monday, January 26, 2009

Moses Credits Crew for His Respectable 12th Place Finish in the Toyota All-Star Race


The sixth edition of the Toyota All-Star Showdown was held on the Toyota Speedway half-mile after two days of uncharacteristic California rainstorms. The lack of practice proved to be a hindrance to the Hasa Pool Products #16 Toyota Camry. The team was not able to shake out the car completely and experienced a carburetor issue during qualifying. The team was not pleased with their qualifying results.

Unfortunately the team would not be able to correct these problems, because all the cars are impounded after qualifying, and no changes can be made. Moses’ Bill McAnally crew would not be allowed to touch the vehicle until the first of three scheduled ten-minute breaks. Nevertheless, Moses came in for the first competition yellow in seventeenth place having moved up ten positions from his start.

After taking tires, and making a few quick adjustments during the first break, the #16 Hasa Pool Products car charged into the eleventh spot before becoming one of numerous victims of the “big one.” Lap 141 brought on a chain reaction crash that started with the leaders. Moses was left with no room to avoid the pile-up, and sustained major cosmetic damage, and minor component damage.

The incident brought out a fourteen-minute red flag. “It was very frustrating sitting in the pits with my guys not being able to fix the car.” Moses expressed. “However, I cannot say enough about how well my new crew chief, Mario Isola and crew did fixing my car when finally able to start working on it.” Because of the red flag, the team is not allowed to work on the car, until the track resumes under the yellow flag. Once the crew was able to start working, they hustled and, Moses was able to return to the field on the lead lap.

By the second scheduled timed pit stop, Moses was back in the thirteenth position. The team was very optimistic about their chances of breaking into the top-ten during the last fifty laps of the “Daytona 500 of Short-Track Racing.”

However, all did not go according to plan. During the final restart, with just seven laps to go, the right rear tire went flat. “It was all I could do to keep the car on the track.” Moses chuckled. “I almost lost it twice in turn four. It was pretty wild.” With so few laps to go, the team elected to stay out, and try to finish on the lead lap. Moses managed to keep the #16 Hasa Pool Product car on the lead lap for a respectable twelfth place finish.

3 comments:

Firecracker! said...

Congratulations, Moses!!
Way to 'roll and rock'!!!

Anonymous said...

Z and Moses,
For all the problems and circumstances and wrecks, 12th PLACE IS AWESOME. They really over came some hardships to get the job done.

Congratulations Moses, crew and of course you and your whole family Z!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Moses!