BALDWIN PARK, California — With 4 races left in the Auto Club Late Model series season, Taylor Miinch’s opportunity for winning a race at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale was quickly approaching an end. With that reality, Miinch arrived this weekend for a series double-header and was intently focused on attaining that elusive first win of the season. With today also being his 17th birthday, the youngster was hoping to have his first win as his birthday present. He would not be disappointed and by the end of the night, Miinch would be welcomed into the first time race winner club at the Speedway.
"Wow, I cannot tell you how happy I am with this win. This is a team win. "— Taylor Miinch
Earlier in the day Taylor scored a pair of third place finishing results for the day’s two practice sessions. The Position One Motorsports crew went to work on the #03 Position One Motorsports/Jan’s Towing entry and got it ready for the day’s qualifying session. Miinch followed up his practice sessions by qualifying in the 4th spot.
For race #1 Miinch started off in the 3rd spot as a result of the field invert. The start of the race saw Taylor lose some positions initially and by lap # 7 Taylor had slipped to the 7th spot. He soon gained solid footing and began to make his way towards the front and on lap #11 he was fighting to retake 5th from #56 Dylan Lupton. A caution and the ensuing restart on lap #15 helped Taylor retake the 6th spot and 5 laps later he was able to squeeze by the #51 of Nik Romano for 5th. With a 5-car gap between him and Lupton, Taylor maintained his 5th place position during the closing laps, ultimately finishing in that spot.
After consulting with Taylor, the team, led by crew chief Steve Boldroff, went back to the pits and worked on the car to get it ready for race #2. While he was disappointed in the result, Taylor wasn’t deterred, but rather more determined and hungry for that win. That hunger was evident at the start of race #2 when Taylor rocketed forward and began to work his first lap to the front of the grid. His charge would have to wait. An 8-car wreck on the front straightaway halted all racing for over 15 minutes. Though the right side of the car did suffer some damage, Taylor did escape the incident relatively unscathed. The restart saw Miinch take 2nd and on lap #6 Taylor grabbed the lead and never looked back. He managed to put a half a straightaway lead by lap #15 and managed to maintain the lead by that impressive margin and ultimately crossed the checkered flag in first. The overjoyed crew rushed out to greet Taylor and celebrate his maiden victory.
Taylor Miinch – Driver #03 – “Wow, I cannot tell you how happy I am with this win. This is a team win. We have been so close this whole season and I am thrilled to be able to win our first race with this group of guys who have helped me progress! I’m hoping for more of these wins in the next couple of races. Thank you to everyone who helped get me here including Jan’s Towing, and my parents”.
ABOUT POSITION ONE MOTORSPORTS
Based in Baldwin Park, CA, Position One Motorsports enters its 4th year of stock car competition at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. In the past 3 years of competition the team has garnered a Championship in the S2 division in 2009, 1 win and multiple top-10s with drivers Mackena Bell, Sergio Pena, Randel King, and Luis Martinez Jr. For 2011 Rodney Johnson Jr and Taylor Miinch will pilot the team’s Super Late and Late Model division cars respectively.
