(Photo by Seth Lacewell)
Inside Line Promotions – WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. (May 5, 2015) – Derek Hagar had high expectations entering the Eagle Motorsports Rock ‘N Roll 50 Presented by MyRacePass last Saturday at Riverside International Speedway.
Those expectations were boosted after he powered from seventh to win a Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour heat race, locking him into the feature redraw as the highest points earner.
“It started out great,” he said. “Last year we won the Rock ‘N Roll 50 and it was my first career ASCS National Tour win. We went into Saturday’s race with a lot of confidence and it showed in the heat race.”
Hagar’s heat race was his best outing of the rain-shortened season thus far and it put him in a good position entering the 50-lap feature.
“We got a car right at the start of the heat,” he said. “The track was pretty slick in turns one and two and was pretty good in turns three and four. Then (Johnny) Herrera got loose and collected AG Rains. It ended up spinning Herrera out and knocked the front wing off AG’s car. I started doing some power slide jobs the rest of the race and it ended up working.”
Unfortunately, Hagar pulled the highest number – eight – during the feature redraw to start on the outside of the fourth row for the main event.
“I felt very confident about it,” he said. “We backed up right there at the beginning. About 10 laps in the car started coming to me and I changed my line. We got up to fifth and we had a caution and the tires sealed over. I was in search mode trying to find a way to get more track position after that.”
Hagar battled just outside the top five for most of the race before a late caution bunched the field together.
“With about 10 laps to go we had a caution and guys started having flats,” he said. “Herrera was one of them. He was using up the whole race track. After the restart we were three wide going down the front straightaway. He came down from the fence and hit me in the right front. It pushed me into (Zach) Pringle and then his right rear jumped my left front and he went to flipping. It was something that could have been prevented. It was pretty disheartening.”
Hagar restarted at the back and managed a 16th-place result.
He is slated to compete with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour this Thursday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., for the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic and Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark.
QUICK RESULTS –
May 2 – Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark. – Heat race: 1 (7); Feature: 16 (8).
SEASON STATS –
7 races, 0 wins, 1 top five, 2 top 10s, 2 top 15s, 4 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Thursday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., for the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic and Saturday at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.DerekHagarRacing.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HagarDerek
LIVE COVERAGE –
To keep up to speed with Hagar at every Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event, visit http://www.RacinBoys.com for free, live audio. Additionally, RacinBoys will provide live Pay-Per-View video at select races.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – FSR Radiators
Located in Gallaway, Tenn., FSR Radiators has been supplying high-performance, all-aluminum radiators to the racing community for many years. For more information, visit http://www.FSRProducts.com.
“FSR Radiators make the best radiators to keep your motor as cool as it possibly can be,” Hagar said. “I’d definitely recommend them to any racer.”
Hagar would also like to thank Dynotech Performance, J&J Auto Racing, Xtreme Race Graphics, Fragola Performance Systems, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Hinchman Racewear, FK Rod Ends, R.E. Enterprises, Ti64 and B&D Towing for their continued support.
INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –
Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.
To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.
