Hattori Racing Enterprises raced solid at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium in the K&N Pro Series East NASCAR Hall of Fame 150 on Saturday, June 2, 2012 but a last lap spin relegated their finishes to 9th and 19th.
“We had a hard time getting forward bite during practice,”Grimes, IA native, Brett Moffitt explained. “The track was real slick and there was no grip. We made a lot of changes but finally felt like we had a good balance at the end of practice.”
Sergio Pena battled the same condition in his # 1 AISIN AW Toyota.
Their qualifying effort was solid, with Winchester, VA native, Pena qualifying 4th and Moffitt qualifying 7th in the #11 Don Valley North Toyota Dealership Toyota.
“I was happy with that effort, Pena stated. “My sponsor for the race, AISIN AW, has a presence in the Raleigh Durham area and had over 50 people attending the race. I really wanted to do well for them and give them something to be proud of.” Pena continues, “I just wish we could have had a better race.”
The #1 Camry ran well, running as high as 2nd and right around the top-5 for the first 130 laps of the race. A lapped car spun off turn four on lap 41 and Pena had no where to go, he made contact and knocked the hood in pretty bad. The motor continued to get hot until finally, at lap 130 Pena had to give up 3rd position to take his car to the pit area.
“I am disappointed for sure,” said Pena. “We had a top-five car and I felt good in the seat. I hate that the contact happened that damaged the engine, but that is what happens at small bull rings, there is no room when someone gets sideways.”
Moffitt looked to have a solid finish going until turn two of the last lap. Moffitt restarted 3rdwith two laps to go and was able to pass the #18 of Darrell Wallace, Jr. for 2nd After they took the white flag and came off turn two, Wallace, Jr. made contact with the #11 and spun him around. Moffitt was able to keep going, but was relegated from a 2nd place finish to a 9th place finish.
“That was not the finish we wanted,” stated Moffitt. “We had a good car all night, we had a little nose damage from close quarters racing, but had kept the fenders on it and were looking good going into the last lap. I really can’t say what happened except I spun and finished 9th.”
This was the second weekend in a row where Moffitt had a solid run going only to have contact from another car relegate him to a lesser finish.
“I am frustrated,” Shige Hattori, owner of Hattori Racing Enterprises said. “There was no need of the #11 car being spun out on the last lap. He raced the #18 clean all night. There is no excuse. It is so disappointing “
Hattori continues, “I am proud of both Sergio and Brett, they both had good top-five cars today and drove their best. We have had fast race cars everywhere we have been and we will continue to have them. I know we will bounce back next week at Gresham.”
The K&N Pro Series East heads to Jefferson, GA and Gresham Motorsports Park for the Slack Auto Parts 150 on Saturday, June 9th.
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