(Bill W) April 14, 2015 – Bryan Clauson and the Matt Wood Racing #17w team had a new look, a new car, and a new crew chief when they pulled into the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa for the FVP National Sprint League opener last Saturday night. At night’s end, they had a new respect from everyone in attendance. The Noblesville, Indiana driver checkered a fourth place finish amongst the stout 40-car field. This weekend the team plans on MOWA action at the Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois before heading north for the season opener at the Knoxville Raceway in Iowa.
Bryan and the team spent several events on the west coast with the World of Outlaws in March. “(Running with the Outlaws) helped us a little bit, but at 34 Raceway we had a totally different car (GF1 chassis), a different shock package and a new crew chief in Shane Bowers,” he says. “We had a totally new team, but getting laps early in the year didn’t hurt either.”
The qualifying draw saw the #17w hit the track 25th in the order. “You always worry about the qualifying order, but I felt like in hot laps, the track was getting faster and faster,” says Bryan. “Looking at times from when the Outlaws were there, it seemed like the track wasn’t quite where it would be. I felt like we were alright out there. It was respectable. I may have left a little out there on the table, but overall, it was a good lap.”
The good lap was good enough for fifth quick, and slotted BC fifth in his heat race. “We had a little bit of luck on our side in the heat race,” he says. “We made a little mistake when we were running fourth and let Danny (Lasoski) get by. Fortunately, we were able to get by (Paul) Nienhiser on the last lap. That was obviously important, because it put us in the redraw.”
Bryan drew the pole for the feature event. “That gave us a little more pressure than we had going into the night,” he says. “Going in, our goal was to run in the top ten. Obviously, it was a stacked group of cars. Coming off a trip to California where we struggled, we felt running in the top ten it would be a successful night. Obviously, when you draw the pole, your goals shift a little bit.”
The added pressure didn’t faze him a bit. “We fell back a little bit early on,” says Bryan. “I was struggling finding the rhythm on my end. About six or eight laps in, we got rolling there. We were working the bottom a little bit. We were moving forward at that time, and in heavy traffic, Terry (McCarl) had his issues. That kind of set us up with Wayne (Johnson).”
Bryan appeared to be gaining on the new leader on the low side, when the caution was displayed on lap 18. “I feel we didn’t need that last yellow,” he says. “It took away that traffic, and gave Wayne some clean air. After the restart, we tried to make something happen on the bottom, and that let Terry get around us there for second. Brad Loyet was able to get by us there on the last lap and we ended up fourth.”
Still, it was a solid run. “Overall, it was a great start to the year for us,” says Bryan. “I was semi-disappointed, because I felt we were better than the fourth place finish, but we’ll take the positives and move on. We definitely have some momentum heading into this weekend.”
Matt Wood Racing would like to thank: Elk Grove Ford, Quick Lane, Fuel Safe, Schoenfeld, Curb Records and Vortex Wings!
To follow the team’s progress online, visit www.ColeWoodRacing.com!
Attached: Bryan battles with Wayne Johnson at 34 Raceway (Rob Kocak Photo)
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