Wayne Fall Rally

The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive Team went to the Wayne America 90 rally Saturday, October 16^th. With two wins in previous years, the B-R team was looking for a three-peat.  The B-R team brought two cars to race, the E-21 car and the S-20 car. The drivers for the E-21 car were Morgan Smith and Taylor Tietz. Morgan drove the team to victory the last two races at Wayne. The drivers of the S20 car were Carsten Tietz and Easton Weborg.  In the first heat, Morgan Smith in the E21 car started dead last, but it only took the E21 car two laps to take the lead. It didn’t take the E21 car long to stretch its lead.  It put the rest of the field down by one lap.

Driver Morgan Smith stated, “The car was handling great, and getting through the tight traffic was the key to getting such a huge lead.” The E21 car’s lead was quickly evaporating when caution came out, and the Raymond Central driver must not have seen the caution and ran over the front of the E-21 car. The steering of the car was bent badly.  Pit crewmember Easton Weborg stated, “Not sure what the Raymond Central driver was thinking.  That was a shifty move.”

The B-R car had to be pushed to the pits, but  with speedy pit work the E-21 car was able to get back into the race only 12 laps down, with Taylor Tietz driving. This was not the last time the car would be in the pits. The Toe, the inward angle of the wheels, was not correct, and that wore the tires out, causing a flat.

After the first 15 laps, Tietz had to come in for a pit stop, get the tire changed and head back out.  Taylor tried to make up laps, but got tangled with the leader, Wayne, and both cars ended up over the curb. The pit crew brought the car into the pits and worked on it. Once they got the car fixed, they put driver Morgan Smith into the car to finish out the race. Driving the fastest car on the track, he had to navigate around slower cars. Smith was running down the leaders but would run out of time. Great pit work was able to get the car back into the race. On the last lap Smith passed the same Wayne car that had been involved in the earlier collision with Tietz and finished third in the first heat.

The second heat rolled off following the conclusion of the first.  Drivers Carsten Tietz and Easton Weborg would drive the S-20 car. Tietz started the second heat from 6^th position. Sponsor, Rob Smith, instructed Tietz to take it easy and to be conservative. Tietz hung around in 5^th position for most of the first quarter of the race.

At the 25-minute mark, Tietz wheeled the car into the pits for the mandatory pit stop. Tietz told the pit crew, “I have a ton on battery left I think I can win”. Following the pit stop, Tietz got in a small altercation with the Winside car.   The two cars were fighting for the same piece of real estate when the S-20 car forced the Winside car to go up and over the curb.  Both cars got a little cosmetic damage, but and continued racing. At the 50-minute mark, Tietz picked up the pace, closing the distance on the leaders.  With 30 minutes to go in the race, Tietz came in for the final pit stop and changed drivers.

Pit crew member Baylie Reil commented, “The pit stop was a little slower than we hoped.” Driver, Easton Weborg, took a little longer squeezing into the car since he couldn’t bend his knee due to a football injury. Rookie driver Weborg was putting down some fast laps, and the S20 car was running in 6^th place when it came out of the pits. The S20 car quickly took care of Columbus Lake View and both Elkhorn cars. Then the S20 car set its sights on the Wayne car.

Leader Raymond Central picked up the pace as the S20 car started to close the distance. Weborg was almost five seconds faster than the rest of the field. Unfortunately the 90-minute mark struck before Weborg could run down the leaders, Raymond Central and Wayne High. Weborg finished about 22 seconds behind the Wayne car and four laps down from the Raymond Central car.

Instructor, Rob Smith, said, “ I was very pleased with the finish of the cars. The drivers did a great job, and both cars were fast.  In the first heat, the E21 car would have had a good shot to win if Morgan hadn’t got run over during a caution. We left a lot on the table with the S20 car. It could have won the race if I hadn’t made the drivers run so conservatively.  I should have let Carsten run a little bit faster in the beginning.  Them not winning was my fault. I’m looking forward to the up coming season. We have a great team and great sponsors this year. I think we have all the pieces to put together for an eighth state championship.”

The Bancroft-Rosalie Power Drive team had an overall good day, finishing 3^rd this year at the Wayne Fall Rally. The Power Drive team will not have another race until this spring. Thanks for all the support.