{"id":10493,"date":"2012-08-05T16:24:58","date_gmt":"2012-08-05T20:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=10493"},"modified":"2012-08-05T18:26:08","modified_gmt":"2012-08-05T22:26:08","slug":"hattori-racing-brett-moffitt-scores-two-top-5-finishes-and-makes-history-at-iowa-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/hattori-racing-brett-moffitt-scores-two-top-5-finishes-and-makes-history-at-iowa-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"Hattori Racing Brett Moffitt Scores Two Top-5 Finishes and Makes History at Iowa Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NASCAR<\/a>Hattori Racing Enterprises drivers Sergio Pena and Brett Moffitt both scored top-five finishes in the Pork Be Inspired! 150 at Iowa Speedway on Friday, August 3, 2012.<\/p>\n

Sergio Pena qualified and finished the #1 Don Valley North Toyota Camry in the 3rd position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pretty happy with our finish,\u201d Pena said. \u201cWe were loose in qualifying but I knew the track would tighten up and we would be good.\u201d Pena continues,
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were still free at the half way break running 6th but my guys worked on it, made the right adjustments and we went to the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brett Moffitt, a Grimes, Iowa native finished 5th at his hometown track. He qualified the #11 AISIN Toyota Camry 6th and was ready for the 150-lap event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were loose in qualifying and this track tends to tighten up,\u201d Moffitt explained. \u201cSo I wasn\u2019t real worried about our race set up. I was good but not where I needed to be to win the race.\u201d Moffitt continues, \u201cWe made some adjustments at the half-way break and I took the lead right on the initial restart, but I could not hang on to the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moffitt led three laps but gained a precious bonus point for his efforts. His 5th place finish kept him in Championship contention and he leaves Iowa with a 20-point lead over the second place driver.<\/p>\n

HRE made history at Iowa Speedway as well with their third entry, the #01 Toyota Technical College Camry. Matt DiBenedetto drove the car and raced as high as 7th position until being caught up in a late race incident and finishing 30th. What makes the event historic is that 13 of the school\u2019s students were on hand from Japan, they worked on the car all week at the race shop, they learned how to change tires and practiced all week. At the track they crewed the car and pitted the entry at the half-way break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really proud of the students form TTCT,\u201d stated Shige Hattori, owner of HRE. \u201cThey did a really good job and enjoyed the experience. The language barrier and different culture were obstacles, but they integrated well and the program was a success.\u201d Hattori continues, \u201cSpecial thanks to NASCAR Technical Institute for allowing them to attend classes and practice pit stops while in the United States and Mooresville (North Carolina).\u201d<\/p>\n

The HRE team will enjoy three weeks off before their next event, the Greenville 140 at historic Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, SC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hattori Racing Enterprises drivers Sergio Pena and Brett Moffitt both scored top-five finishes in the Pork Be Inspired! 150 at Iowa Speedway on Friday, August 3, 2012. Sergio Pena qualified and finished the #1 Don Valley North Toyota Camry in the 3rd position. \u201cI am pretty happy with our finish,\u201d Pena said. \u201cWe were loose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45,4456,14972],"tags":[31,15002],"class_list":["post-10493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-nascar-kn-pro-series","category-touring-series-news","tag-brett-moffitt","tag-hattori-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}