PR- Eric LaFleche
Photo – Sharlene Myers
(Epping, NH) – Derek Griffith went into the 100-lap event at Star Speedway on Saturday with the hopes of grabbing another victory. The last time the Granite State Pro Stock Series (GSPSS) visited the Epping, NH ¼-mile oval, Griffith came out the victor.
This time however, the strategy became simply to-be-able to drive the car into the trailer at the end of the race. The 23-car field started the event with several cautions in the early going and it ended the same fashion.
Derek and the No. 12 Hitman Industries/Provencher Insurance Toyota Camry rolled off in the 3rd starting position with the hopes of being able to put some */s+9ort of race plan together. Unfortunately, caution after caution negated any *\rt of race plan.
One of the largest starting fields in recent GSPSS memory, the Pro Stock drivers seemed to show very little patience, Griffith was an exception to that and quickly moved his way to grab the lead in the early going.
A caution on lap-25 brought the action to a halt, on the restart, Derek must have driven over a piece of debris as the right-front tire suffered a blow-out, his second flat tire of the night.
After pitting and changing the tire, then starting on the tail-end of the field on the restart, Griffith quickly moved from 23rd and ended up in a solid 7th place. Griffith remarks, “There were people crashing into each other under caution, I know Granite State is better than that, it wasn’t a fun night unfortunately.”
The next race for the Derek Griffith race team is up at Beech Ridge with the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) as part of the Beech Ridge 500 weekend, the event is slated for September 15-18. Griffith is competing full-time on the PASS tour and currently sits sixth in the season-long points battle.
You can follow Derek on his Social Media on Facebook at Facebook.com/derekgriffth18 or Twitter at Twitter.com/derekgriffith12 and by going to his website at derekgriffith.com