ORTING, Washington — What a season for a sixteen year old kid from Western Washington. After getting his feet wet racing all over the country, particularly in his native Pacific Northwest, he has matured as a driver and results are starting to show that. The trend of good runs started at this year’s Silver Cup at Chico, California’s Silver Dollar Speedway for the Steve Forler Trucking #2L Shark Racing Engines/Maxim Chassis 360 Sprint where they made the feature on both occasions including a fifteenth place finish on the final night of action.
“We started making some changes at Chico and we could see them right away,” commented Forler.
When their next race took them to the Marysville Raceway Park in Northern California the team bettered itself with a decent run in the heat races meriting him a sixth place starting position. In the main event it was a battle to get in the top five with some very stiff competition eventually getting as high as fourth place. When it was all said and done the teenager would finish in the fifth place finish earning his first top five of 2010 the best run heading before heading back to the Northwest.
In what became a long weekend Logan Forler was able to make the season opener for the Deming Speedway in Washington where he learned how to race in a 600cc Micro, this visit though was not in a 600cc engine but a 1200cc Micro Sprint. Results started to show early qualifying third in the twenty car field and finishing second in the heat race before making the start for the twenty lap feature. Starting from the pole position it would be a late race battle going side by side for the lead in the last ten laps before the checkers would fly with Forler the winner.
“That was really great to get our first win in a 1200 at Deming,” he would go on to say, “We had to earn this one after battling with Brock Lemley in the final ten laps.”
The big test would be the trek to the Cottage Grove Speedway for the season opener. Once again Forler would turn heads early posting fourth fastest in qualifying and finishing in third in the heat race he would earn a seventh starting position in the feature. But before the feature could begin the rain started to fall and it looked like the night would end early. Fortunately the storm passed and the cars were able to get out on the track.
The main event was an all out brawl for some drivers as only one caution occurred during the race and lap traffic was a large factor. Throughout the race Forler was in and out of the top five and was lucky enough to get up to fourth before the caution would come out.
“Under caution it started to rain and I knew we had a good car so that worried me that we were not going to get this thing in,” said Logan Forler, “then in stopped and it seemed everything came together at the end.”
It helped the efforts of Forler that the first and second cars lost their positions moving him up to second but the job wasn’t done and there was eleven laps remained. On the restart the leader took off and put some cars down a lap but all of a sudden got held up while Forler moved in on him.
“I saw that Mitch (Olson) was being held up by some lappers and it was there I knew I could challenge him.”
And that is precisely what he would do as the white flag came out Forler pressed the issue and out of the final corner on the final lap would make the pass on the inside to win his first career feature in a 360 Sprint.
“Ever since we changed to a different chassis and a different shock package we’ve turned things around and doing a lot better than last year,” stated Forler, “We plan on running a lot of Skagit with the 410 and ASCS as much as possible maybe even for points we’ll just see.”
With the first victory off of his shoulders the team will now concentrate their efforts in their 410 c.i. Sprint. The team plans to travel to take on the regulars of the Silver Dollar Speedway this Friday (April 16th) and after that they have a couple of options. If the weather is good they plan to travel to the Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington or they will go to California’s Petaluma Speedway to take on the Golden State Challenge Series.
Logan Forler is a young teenager out of Western Washington who has catapulted into the spotlight of sprint car racing. Begin his career in quarter midgets and a very successful career in Micro Sprints he graduated to the 360 Sprint ranks in 2009. In 2010 the team plans to run as many races as possible through various tracks and series. They are seeking additional sponsorship so if any parties are interested you may contact the team at (253) 209-0816.
Additional Information:
2010 Sponsors
Steve Forler Trucking
Line-X Bedliners
Digital FX Graphics
Hometown Sports
Maxim Chassis
Shark Racing Engines
Upcoming Schedule
When: Friday April 16th, 2010
What: Season Opener
Where: Silver Dollar Speedway
Chico, California
.250-mile dirt oval
www.silverdollarspeedway.com
When: Saturday April 17th, 2010
What: Season Opener
Where: Skagit Speedway
Alger, Washington
.333-mile dirt oval
www.skagitspeedway.com
or
When: Saturday April 17th, 2010
What: Golden State Challenge Series
Where: Petaluma Speedway
Petaluma, California
.375-mile dirt oval
www.petaluma-speedway.com
www.goldenstatechallengeseries.com
