Wilk Aims To Start New Streak In New Hampshire
Posted by: Team Manager Bob Wilber
Epping, N.H.. (June 9, 2015) -- Tim Wilkerson enters this weekend's NHRA New England Nationals with an 8-8 round record, which is solid enough to allow him to hold onto the ninth spot in the highly contested Mello Yello Funny Car points standings. Five of those eight round wins came in succession, however, with a race victory in Atlanta followed by a first-round "W" in Topeka, and that gaggle of rounds provided the momentum Wilk needed to escape the 12th spot and move into the Top 10. Then came Englishtown.
Wilk might've been thrilled with his 4.005 qualifying time in E-Town had it come just a few races earlier, but in light of the 3.971 he put on the board in Topeka it seemed a disappointment and it landed him eighth on the ladder, creating a match-up with Ron Capps in round one. In that opener, after Wilk pulled ahead to be leading near the 660 mark, tire smoke at the top end created a loss and it rekindled a few memories of other tough losses to Capps, including one from a year ago when Wilk lost by inches to Capps at the same New England Dragway at which he'll be racing this weekend.
"Last year in Epping, we qualified okay with a 4.063 and then we stepped up to a 4.061 in the opening round, which was not just low of the round but low of the day," Wilk said. "I cut my ordinary standard run-of-the-mill .086 light, but Ron left on me by about a hundredth of a second and he squeaked by me. We had just been the runner-up in Bristol the week before, so we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, but that one got away and those are the kinds of rounds that sting a little. If you totally mess up, like if I'd have lost on a hole-shot where Ron left with an .086 and I was asleep at the line, then you're just mad at yourself. When you do everything right and still lose, it stings.
"We've been seeing a little too much of Capps lately, and it's tough when you're outrunning a team that good but they find ways to beat you. We got him in the final round at Atlanta, but he came back to get me in the first round in Englishtown. And let's not even talk about Gainesville where he beat me in the semifinal by one ten-thousandth of a second. How can two cars both be running over 300 mph and one of them wins by an inch? You wouldn't think that's possible, but it happened. No offense to Ron, but maybe we should spend some time racing other people."
This will be the third running of the New England Nationals at historic New England Dragway in Epping, and the first two have been among the most talked-about races on the tour, with huge crowds packing every nook and cranny of the grandstands and pits. Racers and crew members can often have tunnel vision when it comes to the spectator count, focusing solely on their race cars, but it's been impossible to miss in Epping.
"When you look out beyond the ropes from your pit, and all you can see is a sea of people, taking up every square foot of the pit area, you can't help but notice," Wilk said. "It was wall-to-wall, and the people from that part of the country sure let us know how much they wanted an NHRA Mello Yello national event up there in the Boston market.
"It was a bit hard on both the fans and the racers the first year but they figured out some new traffic patterns and it went way better last year, which I think allowed everyone to have a better time. They're great fans, and they often just walk up to say 'Thank you' to us, which is neat, and I'm sure it will be great again this weekend. Now it's up to us to start a new streak and put some more rounds in the 'W' column. It all starts with qualifying, so we'll be focused on that. I'm looking forward to it."
A new streak in New Hampshire would not only be nice, it would also be beneficial in terms of those precious Mello Yello points. And in the big picture, wins are wins, whether or not they come against Ron Capps.
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