PRUNEDALE, Ca — For the second consecutive SPEARS Southwest Tour Series event, Jim Pettit II and his Moeller Bros./HUR Engines team preformed well throughout the weekend, but came up a little short of their first win of the season for the defending series champion in the Melo’s Gas & Gear 125 at Madera Speedway.
“Once again, Duane (Sharp) and all the guys gave me a great car all weekend,” stated Pettit. “We were good on Friday off the trailer, good on Saturday and qualified third overall under the track record.”
At the drop of the green flag of the 125-lap event, Pettit made short work getting into the top five from his seventh starting position. At the end of lap 1 Pettit was fifth, into fourth by lap 18, and into the top three on lap 27.
“We were in a great position early on and just wanted to ride to save our stuff as the new track surface was kind of an unknown for us. When we got to second, the 46 car (Zane Lovelace) had a big lead, but we still had a long way to go.” Pettit continued. “On lap 54 or 55 we moved into the lead and car felt great, so the mission now was to save our stuff the best we could and stay out of trouble while running out front.”
At the halfway point of the race, Pettit had a comfortable lead over Dave Byrd who was running second and Ross Strmiska in third.
“We felt it was our race to win as we got to 100 lap mark, but about that time the car started getting a little loose on entry, and each lap from that point it progressively got worse until the point Mike (Kanke) caught us and we were a sitting duck for him to pass us.”
Kanke passed Pettit with five laps to go, but Pettit would hang on for a second place finish.
“Our team was disappointed with second, which says something about how hard our guys work and how competitive they are, but all in all we had a great weekend, the SRL Team barbecue Friday that Carlos (Vieira) sponsored was a lot of fun, so at this point we can’t wait to get to Vegas in three weeks.”
Next race for the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series will be at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 12, for the “GoLiveStream.TV – Blackjack 121”. For 2012, Moeller Bros., HUR Engines, Golden Gate Petroleum, BizzwithBuzz.com and Swift Springs support Pettit and the Quentin Bammer #18 team.
