Inside Line Promotions – STOCKTON, Calif. (March 24, 2015) – Jason Sides wasn’t able to win a World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race last weekend at Stockton Dirt Track, but he did steal the show on Sunday night.
Sides capped the doubleheader midway through the main event by executing a move in his sprint car only a figure skater would attempt.
After qualifying seventh quickest and finishing third in a heat race to lock himself into the main event, Sides battled inside the top 10 throughout the first portion of the feature.
“We were pretty good,” he said. “On one of the restarts we got going good. It looked like another driver got a little sideways and checked up so I had to check up. My car started to spin and caught the infield berm. It spun around and I did a pirouette. When it came down it came down pretty hard. I was still running so I gassed it up and kept it going. The only thing it did was bend the rear bumper down.”
Sides lost several positions during the spectacle, which started with a 180-degree flat spin before ending with Sides rotating in the air on his rear bumper to face forward. He finished the race with a 17th-place result.
“I actually did that at the same track in the same turn a couple of years ago, but I wasn’t able to keep going,” he joked. “I flipped three times that night. This time it turned out a little better.”
The weekend began on Saturday when Sides timed in 13th quickest during qualifying. That lined him up on the pole of a heat race, but the inside lane wasn’t the preferred groove.
“At this point it seems like nobody is going to win off the second or third row,” he said. “You have to put yourself in that position to be able to be in the dash. You either want to be in the top four or nine through 16 during qualifying.
“In the heat race the bottom lane had already got slick and the top had a big curb to where the outside row was starting in the better part of the race track. The drivers starting second and fourth got a better start and we just fell in line.”
Sides finished third in the heat race to lock himself into the feature, which he started 16th.
“We were pretty decent in the heat so we made a few changes,” he said. “In the feature the car got really bad really quick. We found we had a left rear shock that was bad. It didn’t have any tie-down and it just kept popping up.”
Sides ended with a 13th-place finish.
He is slated to compete this Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., for the Mini Gold Cup and Sunday at Antioch Speedway in Antioch, Calif., with the World of Outlaws.
“I’m positive going into this weekend because the car is getting better,” he said. “Everything is running good. We just need a little bit of luck to go our way this weekend and we can put together a couple of top-five runs.”
QUICK RESULTS –
March 21 – Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif. – Qualifying: 13; Heat race: 3 (1); Feature: 13 (16).
March 22 – Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, Calif. – Qualifying: 7; Heat race: 3 (3); Feature: 17 (11).
SEASON STATS –
15 races, 1 win, 3 top fives, 7 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 13 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif., for the Mini Gold Cup and Sunday at Antioch Speedway in Antioch, Calif., with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.SidesMotorsports.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SidesMotorsport
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sides-Motorsports/283833970847?ref=br_tf
LIVE AUDIO –
Keep up with Sides Motorsports via free, live audio from DIRTVision at every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event throughout the season. Select events also include live Pay-Per-View video. For more information, click http://www.DIRTVision.com.
