And that is what Noel is dealing with Saturday night at Yakima Speedway as the defending Burger Ranch Sportsman champion and current points leader will be out to keep his Chevrolet in the hunt with a motor on loan from a fellow racer.
“We lost our motor in the last race and Allen and Cheryl Reid have stepped with an engine to help us finish out the season,” Noel confirmed.
Noel leads Kyler Conduff by 50 points with three races left in the season. The division's 2011 Rookie of the Year, Lucas Valdez, trails Conduff by seven points with Morgan Morrison and Terry Cook rounding out the top-5.
Also looking to squeeze as much out of his wounded car as possible to gain a championship is Speedway Mini-Stock points leader, Cody Denton.
With an engine that has been struggling of late just to keep its fire, Denton will be out to nurse his car through the weekend and maintain an advantage over second-place Joshua Henne and the hard-charging Josh Parmentier.
H&H Furniture Pure Stocks, CWI Security/EZ Credit Auto Sales Hornets and the wild and crazy Sea Galley Bump-to-Pass cars round out the racing action for Saturday night.
Chris “The Wildman” Marang, Rob Allen and Tim Hitchcock have been racing hard since April for a chance to claim the 2012 Pure Stock championship, but, a newcomer has entered the picture to make it a four-man battle for the title. Kyle Wade trails Hitchcock by 14 points for third-place overall and at 50 points off Allen's second-place standing is still mathematically alive for the division's runner-up spot in the title fight.
Marang has the advantage over Allen for the championship by 33 points with three main events left in the 2012 season.
Jeff Ball continues to show the way in the Hornet division points chase with a commanding lead over Rodger Eaton and Robert Patton. With only the need to make the main event in the final trio of races, Ball can aim for main event victories the rest of the season knowing his 7-Eleven machine will come home with the top-spot regardless.
Bailey Broers and Michael Beck round out the top-5 drivers in the chase for the Hornet championship.
During the early portion of the season Josh Aguirre appeared to be well on his way to the Sea Galley Bump-to-Pass championship, but, a persistent Todd Nunn has made things interesting late in the going and now sits 27 points off Aguirre's lead heading into Saturday's main event.
Dennis Clouse holds down third-place in the Bump-to-Pass standings with a 12-point lead over Kellie Zacharias. Sitting in fifth place is the division's female driving sensation, Shannon Davis, who will look to trim her 20-point deficit to Zacharias.
For fast and furious racing action Yakima Speedway has all the action on beginning Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. as admission gates will be open with qualifying set for 5 followed by racing at 6. To learn more about this weekend's racing events at Yakima Speedway log onto www.yakimaspeedway.us find Yakima Speedway on Facebook or call (509) 248-0647.
As a reminder, Yakima Speedway will be hosting two great nights of late model racing over the Labor Day weekend. The annual Sun City 200 late model event is set for two 100-lap main events to be run on Saturday and Sunday nights respectively. Also racing over Labor Day weekend will be the Burger Ranch Sportsman, H&H Furniture Pure Stocks, CWI Security/EZ Credit Auto Sales Hornets, Speedway Mini-Stocks and Sea Galley Bump-to-Pass cars.
