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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Deac McCaskill Returns to Victory Lane at Southern National; Christopher Bell Also Wins

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Deac McCaskill (left) and his mother, Kay (right), who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, celebrate in victory lane after Deac’s triumph in the 125-lap CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car race. (Photo credit: Andy Marquis/RACE22.com for Southern National Motorsports Park)

LUCAMA, NC – Four-time Southern National Motorsports Park track champion Deac McCaskill scored his first win at Southern National Motorsports Park since 2013, leading wire-to-wire to score an emotional victory in Saturday night’s CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car feature race.

McCaskill’s victory was his first at Southern National Motorsports Park since September 14, 2013, when he clinched his record-tying fourth track championship, and his first win of any kind in the 2015 season. It comes two months after finishing second in the CARS Tour season opener, which was held at Southern National, back on March 28th. But the win has even more sentimental value to McCaskill because his mother, Kay, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was so focused on those lapped cars, I didn’t know that was the end of the race,” McCaskill said in victory lane after his triumph in the 125 lap race. “They said ‘checkered flag’ and I busted into tears. I cried the whole way around. I had to do a Polish Victory Lap to get myself together. It’s been a rough couple weeks for this family. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer but sometimes God puts things in your life. You’ve just got to hope and pray for the best and things happen for a reason. We’re strongly behind her, we’re supporting her and hopefully we can raise awareness for breast cancer.”

McCaskill has scored countless wins at Southern National and four track championships, but his win on Saturday is one of the most memorable wins for the 38-year-old veteran from Raleigh, North Carolina.

“This ranks right up there with the Thanksgiving Classic back [in 2006] when I raced with Denny Hamlin,” McCaskill remarked. “To still get emotional about it, that’s really cool. I’m just real proud to be standing here in victory lane. That’s awesome.”

CARS Tour

Driver Series: S02E10 Sammy Gaita Looking For Repeat Success

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Sammy Gaita
Newport News, VA
DOB: June 30, 1978
Hometown: Hampton, VA
Education: Degree in Network Engineering
Occupation: Owner of Gaita Graphics & Frontline Vapes

Sponsors: Brian Grilli (country musician), 7 Cities Vapes, Shawn Havron Tattoo, AMSOIL – East Coast Synthetics, Berge’s Lawn Care, AYSO Region 1310, Gaita Graphics, Bay Custom Auto, Sherwin Williams Automotive Paints, Erin Goodman Photography, Tony Spivey Engines, Gene Nichols, Doug Sample, Randy Sample.

You know it seems like a common theme in this crazy sport we call auto racing is to have the “love of the game” so to speak handed down to you. I guess this is a good example on why hand me downs, or family traditions aren’t such a bad thing. Our next driver, as we have mentioned above, is no different. When we talked with Sammy during this interview he told us that racing had always been apart of his life. “I can’t remember a time without racing in my life,” Gaita said. “My family has always done it.”

Growing up he ran karts for a bit but spent most of his time in the garage helping out his uncle and his father! Sammy didn’t get behind the wheel much until about 2008 when the family got a UCAR. “That was a disaster,” explained Gaita. “So we built another one our selves and ran decent with that one until we moved up to Super Streets.” Gaita would actually go on to win the 2014 Super Street Track Championship at Langley Speedway. He has since returned to the track looking to make it a repeat. So far the team has had moderate success and have been battling with what I can hear over the radio, a loose car.

The season is still young and we have not seen the end of Sammy’s hunt to return to victory lane. We were however, able to chat a little bit to find out more about the man behind the driver suite bellow!

Driver Series

Balluzzo & Babb Split First Twin Night At Langley Speedway

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Hampton, VA – With the Late Models off this past weekend all eyes turned to the modified division. 2014 track champion Shawn Balluzzo had won the previous two features with the chance to take home two more trophies. First time of the 2015 season the IMCA style modifieds had twin races as well as a brand new winner! The pole was set earlier in the afternoon with a time of 16.321 (88.23 MPH), a time that really came out of nowhere from the #48 car, seeing’s how he only ran a 16.6 in the first lap.

Robbie Babb, who in my opinion has really been the Achilles Heel to Balluzzo over the years had the pole for a while but would have to start second on the night. Semi rookie – I call him semi rookie because he ran just enough races last year to take away his rookie stripe – had the third fastest time during time trials. Evan Horne and Darrell Vance would end up rounding out your Larry King Law Starting Five!

I saw things going one of two ways, 1. The first race is a bore and drivers save their stuff for the second race, or 2. All hell breaks loose, as drivers know they only have thirty laps to get their work done. I was right in my first guess! Race number one for the lack of better terms was a bit of a snooze fest. Balluzzo and Babb jumped out to a pretty decent lead and would play cat and mouse with each other. Maybe just trying to see what the car would do under certain situations, maybe even trying to make the other burn their equipment up. Jon Largena completed all thirty laps in the third spot, slowly losing ground on the leaders but at the same time pulling away from the rest of the pack. We had a few swaps of the fifth spot on the track between a few drivers but other than that, Balluzzo would drive away to lead wire to wire in a caution free feature.

Modified

Langley Speedway: 4CDL.com TNCC Night – LIVE on Twitter (@theweeklyracer)

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Hampton, VA – With the Late Model’s off this weekend we will turn most of our attention to the rumbling , ground pounding sound of the modifieds. Running their first set of twins this season 7-time track champ, Shawn Balluzzo, will look to extend his dominance on the season. Balluzzo told us earlier this season they are really hunting for that Div. II National Title so every win will count. Balluzzo has really taken to the road this season to help his chances, running at South Boston and East Carolina in addition to his home track. Being blatantly honest here the 48 team has struggle some kind of bad at SoBo somehow always running into either motor or distributor troubles.

However, the past is the past right? Balluzzo is coming into this weekend with two victories on the road sweeping the twin bill down at East Carolina and looking to do the same tonight. He will have to be on is toes as Jon Largena – who only ran a very limited schedule last year – has really started to get a handle on these much more powerful machines. Watch out for the black and white number 4 to be up there in contention for the win.

General Talk

Driver Series: S02E09 Mike Perkins Juggles ODU, Internships, and A Race Car But Fulfills His Passion For Racing

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Justin Kern Leave a comment

Michael Perkins
DOB: September 14, 1993
Hometown: Chesapeake, VA
Hometrack: Langley Speedway
Occupation: Student (ODU ’15) and Clark Nexsen (mechanical engineering intern)

Sponsors: Still searching

Website: www.mikeperkinsracing.com

Getting introduced much later to the racing community than most, Michael Perkins has not let that slow him down in the chase of a dream. “I got my start helping Bill Eaker in 2013, driver of the #22 Super Street,” Perkins said. “I ran in the UCAR division a bit last year and will do so again this year.” An ODU student and intern at a local A&E firm Perkins told us that he has always had a passion for racing and he is excited to finally be able to live out that dream.

“I’ve been really busy,” said Perkins. “Between finishing up my degree at ODU, interning and racing, there really isn’t much time for anything else. Its all worth it though because racing is what I have always wanted to do.” Looking to learn as much as he can in the support divisions at Langley Speedway he hopes to be able to move up the ladder as far as his talent and wallet will let him.

Michael is currently sitting second in the point’s standings at Langley Speedway with nothing but top five finishes, few top three finishes as well. He is also currently looking for sponsorship help this season to help this streak going, please make sure you check him out with the links provided above, hope you enjoy the rest of this interview.