June 16, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

 

Fourth-String Powerplant Carries Mike Knight To Top-Five IRS Finish At Portsmouth Raceway Park

RIPLEY, NY – Mike Knight’s fourth-string engine served him well.

Forced to use his oldest powerplant in recent weeks after having his primary pieces sidelined with problems, the young lion from Ripley, N.Y., put together a series of quality starts that culminated with a fifth-place finish last Saturday night (June 14) in the 50-lap Independent Racing Series (IRS) event at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park.

Knight, 21, charged from the 16th starting spot to score his top-five finish at Portsmouth. He felt his result could have been even better if his tired motor had not finally succumbed to the punishment it has been taking.

“I got up to fifth running the cushion and was pressuring (Donnie) Moran for fourth when I felt the motor start to lose power,” said Knight, an IRS rookie who had transferred to the feature with a fourth-place finish in his heat despite racing most of the prelim’s distance without power steering. “Something went wrong and we were lucky to hold on to fifth.”

According to Knight, pushing the underpowered, nine-year-old engine to the limit for several weeks finally caught up to it. He tried to run Sunday night’s regular Super Late Model show at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa., with the engine, but terminal problems that he discovered after a second-place heat-race finish forced him to scratch from the 25-lap feature, which he was scheduled to start from the outside pole.

“I was hoping the motor would hold out through the weekend, but it didn’t make it,” said Knight, who has a repaired engine ready to go for his next action. “But it definitely didn’t let us down. We made some money using that thing the last few weeks – a fourth at Sharon (on May 31), a third at Eriez (on June 8) and a fifth at Portsmouth.

“We needed some good finishes to get our season turned around and we got ‘em.”

Knight, who moved up to sixth in the IRS points standings, is heading into a busy stretch of racing with his family-owned equipment. He’s planning a trip across the border on Thursday night (June 19) to run the World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Ohsweken (Ont.) Speedway, and then he’ll return to the states for an IRS doubleheader on Friday night (June 20) at Elkins (W.Va.) Speedway and Saturday night (June 21) at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., as well as a regular Sunday-night (June 22) program at Eriez Speedway.

Knight plans to close the month with two more WoO LMS starts – on Tues., June 25, at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Speedway and the second annual Firecracker 100 presented by gottarace.com on June 27-28 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa.

An up-and-coming dirt Late Model driver whose breakout 2007 season was highlighted by a points title at Eriez Speedway, Knight has an ambitious schedule of 70-plus races across the region planned with his family-owned team in 2008. His operation carries sponsorship from Arrowhead Wine Cellars, Mobilia Fruit Farm, Ottawaya’s Auto Body, Knight Farms, RJB Construction, Chessa’ Pizza, NYPenn Surveying, TeCulver Contracting, Genesis Shocks, Slavic Custom Racing Shirts and American Racing Tires.

For more information on Mike Knight, visit www.mikeknight9k.com.

MKR PR.