Thursday, June 10, 2010

Another Top–Five Finish


"Come on, Come on,” was what Moses Smith heard from his spotter/crew chief Mario Isola throughout the 150-laps race at Douglas County Speedway. With that encouragement Smith piloted the No. 16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota Camry to a fourth place finish in the TOYOTA/NAPA AUTO PARTS Bonus Challenge "150" in Roseburg, Oregon.

The No. 16 Hasa Toyota from Bill McAnally Racing was looking great on the track posting a fourth and a sixth position on the timing charts during the first and second practices. Smith would put the entry from Hasa inside of the third row to start the race.


“The Hasa car was good all day,” said Smith. “Hopefully this will be a start for us to gain the momentum we need to move to the front in the chase for the championship. A good finish is what the team and I needed.”


With a little over 65 laps to go, Smith found himself in the mud in turn two after another competitor turned Smith around. (Oregon had record rain the week before the race event.) Smith lost a few positions but recovered quickly and within 15 laps was back up to sixth.


“Mario (Isola) usually talks to me during the race when he’s wearing his crew chief hat. This race he was also my spotter. His pep talks really helped me keep focused. ‘Come on, come on’ he said and I would respond the same. ‘Sixty-Five laps to go… that’s one position every ten laps’”, laughed Smith.


“This track is difficult to pass on. As my tires got more and more laps on them, the car just kept getting better and better. When it came to the last few laps, it was time to go after it. Our car was faster than the car in front of us so we charged hard for the checkered flag.”


Before the race, Smith signed autographs for the fans and the over 300 Hasa VIPs in Hasa Hospitality.


The TOYOTA/NAPA AUTO PARTS Bonus Challenge "150"can be seen on Thursday June 17th on SPEED Channel 3 pm PST. It was the second event of the five race Bonus Challenge Series in which teams competing in the five events are eligible in sharing in more than $100,000 in bonus money being offered by Toyota and NAPA.


Smith is currently sixth in the chase and only 44 points out of the top three. The next race will be the Thunder Valley Casino Resort 200 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. on June 19th. For information please log on to www.infineonraceway.com.


For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and the No. 16 Hasa Toyota team, please visit our website at www.billmcanallyracing.com.


For more information on Moses Smith, please visit www.mosessmith.com. You can visit our sponsors’ websites at www.hasapool.com, www.whiteflyer.com, www.blimpie.com and www.tcitransportation.com. Become a fan of Moses Smith on Facebook and you can now follow him on Twitter.

by Kaye Reshaw

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