TEAMMATES CLARK AND LONG FINISH 2-3 IN STOCKTON USAC FOCUSES
Sacramento, CA (July 9, 2011)- 17 year-old Jessica Clark added solid finishes to her extraordinary 2011 USAC Ford Focus Midget season at the .25 mile short track of Stockton 99 Speedway. The Southern California female racer is a member of the Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle program which develops drivers for a career in motorsports. Clark drives in both USAC Ford Focus Midgets and the NASCAR S2 Sportsman divisions.
The talented female driver captured third in qualifying with a fast time of 13.733 seconds was a mere .026 seconds from the pole position. However, this did not discourage the young teenager by finishing second in the eight lap heat race. Clark secured fastest lap in the heat race with a time of 13.728 seconds.
With the technical track layout of Stockton 99 Speedway turns one and two are completely different from turns three and four, Clark was fast in turn one and two but was loose middle off of turns three and four. Thus the crew had to work harder to tune in Clark’s car to be fast in either the high or low line of turns three and four.
Jessica qualified for the four lap trophy dash where she finished in the fourth position. In the 30 lap main event, Clark started third with an advantage of the inside line on the start. As the green flag dropped Clark made a quick move for the second position for six laps. On lap eight, great racing within the top three Clark fell back to third as the battle for second continued. The young talented driver made the pass for second and held on til the end when the checkered flag waved. Clark turned fastest lap of the main event with a time of 13.606 seconds averaging 66 miles per hour.
“I had the greatest race of my life tonight! Qualified 3rd, Finished 2nd in the heat and 2nd in the main. I drove a great race and had a great car!” Says Jessica Clark. Clark showed improvement in her driving style by being more aggressive since the start of the season.
17 year-old Tanner Long from South Beloit, IL made the trek out to Stockton to pilot his No. 9 machine. Long started sixth in the main event ran down the lead pack to make a two position jump on lap 21 following closely on teammate Clark’s bumper to the finish line. This was Tanner’s best 2011 finish, so far, in his rookie season.
"Jessica Clark continues to run up front every week. This young woman is the real deal, proven by her leading so many championship series this year, stated driver coach, Ron Sutton. "Her and Garrett had a good battle and she came close to winning another one tonight."
Jessica Clark leads in the Western Pavement Ford Focus Series championship points with a total of 592 points, ranked third in the Northern California Ford Focus Series as well as third in the National Ford Focus Standings. Next race for young Jessica Clark is the Western series running twin races at Meridian, ID next weekend.
Jessica Clark Racing and Ron Sutton’s Winner’s Circle thank partners: Justice Brothers, Racecar Factory, HotRodPartsGuide.com, Total Woman Gym & Day Spa, K&N Filters, Scribner Plastics, Allstar Performance, Sunoco Race Fuels and Star Racing Supply.
Jessica Clark Racing can be found at www.jessicaclarkracing.com
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