Berkley, MA - (June 15, 2009) – After a one-week layoff, the Mad Dog Motorsports (MDM) team returned to action Saturday night for a 30-lap main event at Seekonk Speedway (MA). Rolling the #28 Eric DeSouza-owned Late Model off in the thirteenth starting position, Jake crossed under the checkers in the tenth finishing position.
After a false start, Jake went to work, quickly clearing the #57 of Colby Fournier and the #80 of Bob Hussey. He then set his eyes on the #87 of Mike Cavallaro and the #47 of Bill Bernard. The three drivers waged a lengthy battle, which Jake appeared to have won, as the halfway signal was displayed to the field.
“The car was much better than it has been in the past few weeks. We worked really hard on the week off to go over the car with a fine-toothed comb. In practice and the heat race it felt like we hadn’t done a thing, but the car was really good in the feature. We found some stuff with the stagger that really helped to tighten the car up,” Jake said after the race.
With ten laps to go in the race, Jake got loose coming off of four allowing Cavallaro to sneak back by. Jake was able to keep Bernard at bay, however. In the waning laps, Jake was unable to reel Cavallaro back in and ended up bringing the car hope with a strong tenth place finish.
“Tonight was a step in the right direction. We really have not spent much time in the Late Models, except for those handful of races in 2007. We basically went right to the Pro Stocks, and these [the Late Models] are definitely not the same as the Pro Stock. So we are still learning and compiling information. I think that we definitely could get this car in the top five when we get all the setup nailed.”
The next race for the MDM team will be Saturday, June 20, 2009 at Seekonk Speedway.