Photo – Derek Griffith’s Facebook Page
Thompson, CT – 18 year-old Hudson, NH native Derek Griffith had a plan for the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP) Icebreaker. The plan was to feel good enough in his Pro Stock to compete for the win at the 5/8th mile, high-banked oval.
His plan almost can to a realization as he ended up with a runner-up finish in the 40-lap Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS) season opening event.
Griffith, who is racing a freshly overhauled Toyota Camry stated he felt good in Saturday’s heat race until he started having stagger issues with the tires. “We were having a good heat, until for some reason we started having stagger issues and the handling went away quickly. We got it dialed in for the feature.”
Derek rolled off in the 10th starting position on the 17-car GSPSS field, Griffith talks about the beginning stages of the feature, “Our MOM’s of Manchester/LCM Racing Toyota seemed good to go for the feature and we were in the seventh or eighth spot for the first 15 laps or so and we were good until a caution came out for the Todd [Stone] spin. Then we lost all of our stagger and the car started pushing real bad but we were still fast.”
Griffith’s car was one of the fastest on the track and was tracking down race leader No. 5 Dillion Moltz but simply ran out of laps and came home with a clean car and a second-place finish.
The Granite State Pro Stocks are back in action at Claremont Speedway in Claremont, New Hampshire on April 24th for a 125-lap feature event.
Follow Derek on Social Media at Facebook.com/derekgriffith18 and Twitter at twitter.com/derekgriffith12.