August | 2014 | The Weekly Racer

Monthly Archives: August 2014

#77 Connor Hall – LMSC

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Connor Hall
D.O.B: February 17, 1997
Hometown: Hampton, Va
Hometrack: Langley Speedway
Occupation: Student

Sponsors: Charles Barker Toyota, Townebank, Western Branch Disel, Jarret Bay Boatworks, Bluewater Yacht Sales

Have you earned any nicknames on or off the track?

C2 from when I was the second Connor on a travel soccer team, trouble just from being myself. I get Ricky Bobby a lot from my friends as well as the other great usual nick names from your friends.

Describe yourself in three words or less.

Driven, Social Butterfly.

So everyone has a guilty pleasure, something they like that is not “all that popular.” One of mine is rocking out to some old school N’Sync, What is Connor Hall’s guilty pleasure?

Late night Iracing. Ill stay up all night.

So this is probably going to be a an easy one. What is your favorite video game?

IRACING!!

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Driver Series

Modified Mad House at Langley Speedway

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Newport News, VA – NASCAR’S Whelen Southern Modified Tour rolls back through the small city of Hampton, Virginia this weekend for the Bayport Credit Union 150! This will be the second race this season for the touring division, the first race earlier in the spring. Brunnhoelzl was able to get by current points leader Andy Seuss on lap 85, and besides a late race restart where Seuss got the upper hand in turn one, Brunnhoelzl was able to get out and stay out front. Brunnhoelzl comes into this race looking to be the only driver to sweep Langley Speedway. Ryan Preece, who shattered the track record in April with a 14.675 second lap time, will return to Langley Speedway looking to defend his record.

NASCAR has also released some interesting changes to the race format! In the past there was a halfway break where teams were allowed to make adjustments to their cars. This time around there will be no competition caution, however, teams will be allowed to make one tire change under green flag or yellow flag conditions. Twenty-three cars will be guaranteed a spot on the starting grid with their two-lap qualifying time trials, only three provisional spots will be given to create a maximum starting field of twenty-six cars.

Driver Series: Frank Riegel Tells Us More

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Last weekend we meet Frank Riegel, a truck driver by day and a race car driver by night! What I want to do is take you behind the scenes and let you get to meet Mr. Riegel on a more personal level! I do want to thank Frank for opening up to us, allowing old and new fans a like to learn more about him. It was pretty funny when we got through with our interview he told me, “I’ve never been interviewed for anything other than a job so I hope this is okay!” Not only was I happy with the time-table he got all this done but the content was amazing. Hope all of you enjoy, and maybe find your self at a dirt track rooting for the 10 car.

Frank came to North Carolina at the good ole age of one! “I was born in Kansas and my family moved to NC when I was one. We landed in Newport and ended up in Ayden, [right] next to Grifton.” Riegel was introduced to the racing community at a very young age. His father raced just about everything on wheels out west, from flat track Harley Davidsons to Sprints and Super Modifieds! You know how people will say ‘I grew up at that place’ and what they mean is they have been going so long? Well Frank literally grew up in the pits on some of these dirt tacks on the east coast. “I literally grew up in the pits of dirt tracks all over the east coast but mostly Wilson County Speedway,” Riegel tells us. “My mom has a picture of me playing in the mud in [the] Wilson pits. I was maybe 3, guess you could say its the normal place for me.”

Driver Series

“Make That A Dozen” Matt Waltz said at Langley Speedway

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Hampton, Va – (8-23-14) As we reach the end of yet another interesting racing season at Langley Speedway, the Late Model Stock Cars took to the track for the fifth and fourth final races of their championship campaign. Greg Edwards entered the evening coming off a second place finish the previous weeks winner Matt Waltz, who by the way has been riding a hot streak since the events of the Hampton Heat. Waltz, who has the most wins on the season, entered the evening twenty-four points out of the lead with plans to make is case that he was not out of the hunt.

Seventeen cars piled into the .395-mile flat oval this past Saturday for NAPA Auto Parts Night At The Races. Two new faces were among the entry list; Precision Performance Motorsports (PPM) driver trainee and rookie Cameron Bowmen not only made his Langley Speedway debut but also his first Late Model start. Spencer Gallagher, driver from the Lee Faulk stables, decided to try his might and one of the trickiest tracks on the east coast. Threat of rain in the area for the entire day created for cloudy and cooler conditions then weekends in the past, which means two things, strung out track officials and faster racecars!

The first order of official business was qualifying time trials. Matt Waltz was the ninth car to take the track looking to grab the pole position but had his thunder stolen by “Quick” Nick Smith, Smith earned the pole in the first race on his fast time of 16.047 (88.615 mph). Waltz clocked a time just two thousandths of a second slower than Smith and would start on the outside of row one for race one. All seventeen drivers would have to fight for sixty-four laps to earn their spot in the second race.

Race Recaps

“Back-To-School Night” at East Carolina Motor Speedway

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Robersonville, NC – For what seems to be like the 100th weekend in a row this summer Mother Nature decided she wanted to play her little games again and threaten us race fans with another chance of a weekend wash out. So much of a threat actually one track who will remain nameless in this report… decided to run their program on Friday to have a ran date the following day, but that’s a whole other story for another post. After monitoring local and national radars all morning The Weekly Racer decided to pack their bags and head south and visit John Vick and our friends at East Carolina Motor Speedway for some high-octane Friday night racing!

As we rapidly approach the end of the racing season tracks and local sponsors have started to make things a little bit more interesting so to speak. Two separate cash bounties were on the line in two separate divisions Friday night. The rules were simple, become a first time winner in either the UCAR division or the Limited Late Model division and you had an extra lump of cash heading your way! Actually, with the UCAR division two drivers had the chance to win no less than $250 each on the account we had twin twenty lap features.

Limited Late Models

With out a doubt the largest field for East Carolina Motor Speedway in their Rookie season under the NASCAR banner is arguably the best division currently running at the speedway, with the Street Stock class trying to steal the thunder each week. The car count was just a little off this weekend as football season is starting back up as well as the Watermelon Festival was in town, however 10 LLM took to the track for their 50 lap feature where eight drivers had the chance to take home an extra $500 in cold hard cash. Louis White & Rusty Daniels the only two drivers in the field not eligible for the bounty opened the door slam open for some tough competition.

Taylor Howard of Kinston, North Carolina who also runs at Southern National was quick all afternoon in both practice sessions along with points leader Louis White. When it came time to qualify no car ran faster than Howard’s, awarding him the pole position on the evening with a blistering time of 15.643 (86.301 MPH). Louis White clocked in just a tenth of a second slower with a time of 15.788 (85.508 MPH) to set the front row for the evenings night-cap. Rusty Daniels (15.810), Ryan Haddock (16.009), and Wesley Johnson (16.067) were the remaining cars to set the starting five.
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Race Recaps

Preview: NAPA Auto Parts Night at Langley Speedway

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Hampton, VA – Matt Waltz and Greg Edwards look to continue things where they were left off last week with twin 64 lap features. Greg Edwards comes into the nigh as the current points leader holding onto a twenty four point lead over Matt Waltz. Waltz enters the night coming off back to back wins, where he had to fight his way back the eighth spot after banging wheels with pole sitter Greg Edwards on lap one. Only once this season as a twin race been won by the same driver and that was none other than Matt Waltz. Let’s be blatantly honest here with five races (two twins & one 125 lapper) left on the books Waltz would need some kind of 1980 Winter Olympic ice hockey miracle to happen to cover the points spread in the track championship.

The way these two, Waltz and Edwards, have been running your practically guaranteed at this point these two will finish one and two on the night. A few weeks back I talked to Waltz and he has come to the realization of that and has since been focusing on winning races. To have double digit wins at a track like Langley Speedway is no small feat! Mark Wertz in the #55 Dunkin Donut machine is looking to find himself in victory lane this year as well. Wertz, who in my opinion has had a roller coaster year, running great one week and missing the set up the next. As of late Wertz as been on the upward climb battling with Danny Edwards Jr, Brenden Queen and Connor Hall for a top five position every week.

News Release

LIVE: East Carolina Motor Speedway – 7:15 PM

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Robersonville, NC – Drivers are still pulling into the speedway as the gates have only been open for about an hour. Practice will get underway just around 6 pm for all divisions here. Current condition are partly cloudy with the sun peaking through here and there, still pretty warm. Limited Late Models & UCAR’s will still be running for an extra $500 as long as we have a new winner in each of those divisions. With out the presence of Bradley McCaskill, who will be running at Wake County tonight, so it really opens up the chance for a new winner. So far the UCAR division has seen five different winners this season we are looking to make it six tonight.

Qualifying will begin at 7:30 PM tonight. Street stocks will be given one lap, while the Limited’s and Late Model Stocks get their normal two laps. All other divisions will start by pulling a pill during the drivers meeting. I invite all of you tonight to tune in with us tonight on Twitter (@theweeklyracer) for LIVE updates from all the divisions running tonight.

General Talk

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