THE FINAL THUNDER The last race of the season at Williams Lakes Thunder Mountain Speedway saw the Braman Family Racing Team heading south a day early. Sponsor/employer Johnston Equipment let Terry off work early on Friday to attend the pre-race practice and prepare for a close points race (Tied for first). Hannahs loaner 323 handled well in the first few laps but quickly developed a severe overheating issue. The Mazda was trailered back to team supporter/mother/grandmother Betty Noddins yard for further diagnosis. With a concern about a possible head gasket failure the problem was investigated into the evening. Work continued in the early morning and a problem was found with a recently replaced waterpump. Thanks to weekend support from Williams Lakes B. J. Autowrecking and Taylor Automotive, the car was reassembled and returned to the track with some trepidation. Initial practice was encouraging both with its performance and lack of overheating. Terry put down a good qualifying run but was unfortunately 62/1000th of a second behind the fourth fastest of fourteen cars putting the car into the B Dash with no points available for the B Dash. Hannah wheeled the 323 from the back of the 5 car dash to a 3rd place finish. Terry took the wheel for the A Heat and brought the 1600cc Mazda up to a 2nd place finish behind local Gordon Bettles Nissan 240SX. Gordon would change cars and go on to win the Crash-to-Pass event later on in the evening. A lot was at stake points wise with the very last Main event of the year. With the rookies of the class moved to the back. the green #52 was lined up in eighth position in the outside row for the start. A good clean race ensued and the 323 worked its way through the pack. The 52 was even able to race with the former B.F.R.T. Grand Am (now a red and white #56). Gentleman George Giesbrecht provided a great challenge defending the second position for many laps with his #25 twin-carb Honda. Terry finally gave up on trying to get inside of the Black Honda. While relegating the 323 to work the outside line, George made an uncharacteristic slip up and the Mazda dove to the inside and took Georges line. At the half way crossed flags it was the #90 of Young Gun Sage Howlett that was in the Mazdas sights. Eventually Terry could see the Feel the Heat emblem on the back of the fiery crash survivors Honda. After some good clean racing the #52 eased past the #90 for the win. The day was a great finish to a fun season of racing at Thunder Mountain Speedway and the B.F.R.Team would like to thank Tim Westwick, Lynn Dunford, the rest of the excecutives and members as well as all the volunteers. A shout out to all the racers and congratulations to Shawn Knott on besting the B.F.R.T. by three points and taking the championship. A well deserved effort by Shawn and his crew chief Tuner Tim Taylor and their #10 Mazda MX6.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 14:16:36 +0000