(Steve Lafond - Tear-Off Heaven Fotos)
(Bill W) March 29, 2016 – Bryan Clauson and the Matt Wood Racing #17w team rounded out their west coast trip with the World of Outlaws with another top ten finish. Last Wednesday, the Noblesville, Indiana driver came home ninth at Placerville Speedway in California. The team returns to the Midwest this week, and will be heading to the Randolph County Raceway near Moberly, Missouri for the $7,500 to win NSL National 360 event there.
Bryan qualified twelfth quick on a track that he had been to many times in his youth, but had never raced at. “As we branch out, we continue to see places for the first time with the Outlaws,” he says. “Technically, Placerville is a place I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime watching my Dad growing up, but I’d never raced there. Not racing at these tracks before puts you a half-step behind, but our team has done a great job of consistently rolling out great racecars.”
After finishing third in his heat, Bryan started outside row six in the feature before advancing to ninth. “I felt like we had a podium car Wednesday, or at least a top five car,” he says. “A couple little gremlins made it tougher for us, and things didn’t shake out for us at the end of the race. We certainly had really good speed.”
He knows that it can be the little things that are the difference between landing on the podium and finishing a little bit further back in the field. “It was a little frustrating, because we felt we were better than where we finished,” says Bryan. “But at the same time, to have hiccups, and still run in the top ten with the shows our growth as a team.”
Bryan and the #17w team have the confidence needed to win. “We really are at a point where we go into every night expecting to run up front,” he says. “Our focus is getting better every night. The more we run up front with those guys, the more confidence it gives us.”
Originally, the next few weeks were going to see a lot of travel back and forth to the west coast, but the team is picking some shows in the Midwest. Following Moberly this weekend, the team will hit shows in Granite City, Illinois, Knoxville, Iowa and Sedalia, Missouri later in April. “We got to looking at our schedule, and I was going to be going to California the next couple of weeks for one night,” says Bryan. “It makes more sense for us to get back to the Midwest and get to Knoxville an extra time and get a few more races in. Being at Knoxville is going to help us down the road.”
Bryan finished second in the National Sprint League event in Moberly in 2015. “Obviously, it’s a big race there this weekend,” he says. “We ran well there last fall with the 410. We have some confidence heading into that race. Our 360 program has been pretty good when we’ve rolled it out.”
Matt Wood Racing would like to thank: Elk Grove Ford, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality and Restaurant Group, America’s Best Value Inn, Quick Lane and Impact Signs, Awnings & Wraps!
To follow the Matt Wood Racing’s progress online, visit www.ColeWoodRacing.com!
(Steve Lafond – Tear-Off Heaven Fotos)
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