First FMSC Win at Columbia Motorsports For Chris Zimmerman
By Rick Warren
Fifteen year old Chris Zimmerman
Sometimes things just work out right. Bad luck for one young racer turned into good fortune for another. The Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series was at Columbia Motorsports Park for a scheduled 50 lap feature. The field of cars was smaller than expected, for reasons unknown. Due to the short field, the race was shortened to 25 laps.
The car of Dustin Perez was the fast qualifier with a lap of 19.035 seconds, followed closely by Robbie Storer with a lap of 19.051 seconds. After the draw for inversion, Cody Blair was on the pole for the start of the race, with Robbie Storer on the outside. Dustin Perez and James Ellis filled the second row, while Chris Zimmerman and Lalo Leal filled row 3.
When the green flag waved to start the race, Cody Blair powered to the lead followed by Storer. The start of the race was short lived however, as several cars got together exiting turn 4, with James Ellis hitting the inside wall very hard. Ellis has had nothing but horrendously bad luck this season with his new car. Race 1 saw Ellis sidelined with motor problems, very early in the race. Race 2 at Orlando had Ellis involved in a big crash in turn 3 at the start of the race, severely damaging the racecar.
Ellis showed up at Columbia Motorsports for race 3 with the car looking brand new again, and running well. Unfortunately, first lap problems finished his night once again.
James is a good racer, with lots of determination, and will not let this run of misfortune deter him from having more great races in the future.
On lining up for the Delaware style double file restart, Blair got everyones attention when he opted to restart from the outside line. Blair had it figured out, however, as he powered to the front again, followed by Storer and Perez. The lead was however short lived as Blair got loose exiting turn 4, and Storer and Perez both were able to drive by and take over first and second position. Blair quickly recovered, and was in hot pursuit of the two leaders, never letting them get a lead.
As the leaders encountered lapped traffic, Storer and Perez got together on the back straight, along with Rex Christensen, bringing out the yellow flag. All 3 cars were able to continue, although they were restarting from the rear of the field, and Storer’s racecar had a lot of body damage. The field lined up with 2 Young men out front, Blair in the lead, followed by Zimmerman.
As the racers took the green flag for the start, Blair’s race car suffered transmission problems, and would not accelerate, allowing Zimmerman to blast to the lead. Blair was through for the evening, taking his wounded racer to the pit. Storer was able to drive back to the front of the pack, but had very little chance of catching the car of Zimmerman, who looked to be on rails, as he ran lap after lap, not slipping, not making any mistakes. Zimmerman was not challenged as he motored to the win, while Storer followed the youngster to the flag.
Final Results 04/21/2007 Columbia Motorsports Park
50 laps Florida Mini Stock Challenge.
1. #3 Chris Zimmerman Largo, Fl. 2. #9 Robbie Storer Zephyrhills, Fl. 3. #26 Lalo Leal Corpus Christi, Tx. 4. #V3 Rex Christensen Port Orange, Fl. 5. #11 Jessie Sandoval Corpus Christi, Tx. 6. #22 Harry Osburn Jr. Corpus Christi, Tx. 7. #62 Dustin Perez Tampa, Fl. 8. #81 Cody Blair Winter Park, Fl. 9. #98 James Ellis Brooksville, Fl. 10. #68 Mike Birk Jr. Pinellas Park, Fl. DNS #23 Jesse Henley Homosassa, Fl.
