Unbelievable weekend at the Big House Crandon Rounds 3 & 4 recap Crandon, WI June 29th and 30th, 2013 Fannin Motorsports and the 804 Chevy team came into the weekend tied for 4th in points in the Super Stock division of the Traxxas TORC series presented by AMSOIL. This is after leaving Bark River with two top 5 finishes two weeks prior. Jeff and the team picked up right where they left; leaving Jeff’s hometown track (Crandon International Off Road Raceway) with two more top 5 finishes including a podium performance with a second place finish on Sunday. Saturday morning saw a very saturated race track due to heavy rains earlier in the week and some light sprinkles that morning. This would cause Saturday mornings practice to be cancelled. So just like in Bark River, Jeff’s first seat time on the track would be in race conditions. Jeff’s first attempt at Crandon’s famous land rush start would land him near the front into turn one. The 804 Chevrolet ran in the top 5 the entire race including a couple jabs at the final podium spot of 3rd while battling with Larry Maciosek. Jeff would fall just short of the podium in the 4th position; keeping him very alive in the point’s battle and Rookie of the year nomination. “Saturday was a good first run for us on our first attempt at Crandon.” Jeff told us. “A 4th is pretty amazing seeing as this is our 3rd race in our young rookie season. It’s funny that we’re in our 3rd race and we’re acting as though a 4th is just mediocre. That’s a good thing I guess. I lost my rear brakes after lap 2 so it was hard to get the truck to rotate into the turns. The J&H Transmission was up to the challenge though as I was using second gear early to get the truck to slow up in the corners. We had a shot at 3rd while battling with Larry but when he pushed in the hair pin turn in the back stretch it caused us to get bumped to the outside and into the deep wet mud; allowing Matt to sneak by us both. It’s fun to get to battle with these guys as a rookie. I’m learning more and more every time I get into the truck.” Saturday night the team took advantage of being so close to home and loaded up the 804 Chevy and went to the shop to fix the brakes and some other cosmetic damage as a result of some tight racing. The team also made some adjustments to the rear shocks that would pay off greatly. Sunday was a day to never forget. Jeff came into Crandon’s famous turn one in the 4th position and was bombarded by trucks going into the Oakley gravel pit turn. Jeff fought off all advances and also was able to gain a position on exit of the turn. Shortly thereafter Jeff would pick off another truck and find himself on the bumper of last year’s class champion, Danny Beauchamp, in the runner up spot. Jeff would run here the majority of the race while fighting off some attempts from the points leader Don Demeny. On the final lap, Jeff closed the gap to the leader and made a run at the win but would run out of time and finish 2nd. “Unbelievable!!!” Jeff stated “That’s all I can say is unbelievable. To come to my home track in our 4th race and run with the two names that are most synonymous with this class in Beauchamp and Demeny is crazy. I was getting really excited in the truck because I thought I could see spots where I could make an attempt at Danny but couldn’t quite pull them off. On the final lap I drove the truck deep into the gravel pit and used the berm to keep my momentum up to try and make a final run at him coming around the timing shack. It worked great but there’s a reason Danny is last year’s class champ as he held bottom perfectly when I tried to square the turn off early and outside- in him. The changes we made to the shocks were definitely in the right direction. I forgot to mention a few guys on the podium and I feel terrible about it, but being my first podium my emotions got the best of me. These guys are Billy Gryczkowski and Bill Palubicki. Billy has been in the shop for many late nights while I’ve been away from home at work and Bill did all the electrical wiring as well as put or rear gear together. I can’t wait for Chicago.” Jeff and the 804 Fannin Motorsports team head into Chicago on July 19th and 20th sitting in the 2nd position in the championship points standings. All of us at Fannin Motorsports are very proud to announce the arrival of the next generation of the racing family. On July 3rd at 4:42 am Chase Jeffrey Fannin was born in Marshfield, WI. He is the son of driver Jeff Fannin and his wife Lindsey.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 05:27:25 +0000
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