The beautiful 1,5 mile Kansas Speedway was the stage for the final
SilverCrown race of the 2006 season. It was also the opportunity for
the championship battle and the young hopefuls to perform in front of
the NASCAR circus.
"Buddy Kaeding and Brian Tyler are deciding the Championship but we
are all deciding our plans and investing in our future" said Thiago
Medeiros "and there is no better place than this beautiful track and
fantastic audience at both sides of the oval to do that"
The first and only test showed that the smooth and long Kansas
Speedway would be a challenge for the setup of the cars.
The tests
Both PDM Racing Cars the #26 of Aaron Pierce and #18 of Thiago
Medeiros, spent most of the allocated one hour time on Friday,
concerned about tire consumption and looking to have the cars better
suited for the long 100 mile race of Saturday. "We gain more working
with the solutions for the long race than looking just for speed in
two qualifying laps" said Thiago, that together with his chief
mechanic Jimmy Drinan managed to climb form 9th to 5th fastest by the
time of qualifying. "The 165mph plus lap of Thiago is a proof that we
are in the right direction," said Jimmy, before adding, "we have a
very constant car perfectly suited for the long race"
Another top 5 finish
Aaron Pierce won the battle for the second time in the year, repeating
his long oval victory in Chicago and showing that PDM is a strong
force to be recognized for next year's Championship. Thiago had a poor
start and dropped to 12th place "I still need to sort out better the
starting procedure" said the Brazilian in the end. But another
spirited drive, with some very straightforward overtaking on turn 1,
brought him to 4th place in the end. "I even managed to have a
fantastic battle with the crowned champion Buddy passed and opened
some distance to him but lost some time behind a back marker and was
overtaken again" completed Medeiros that raised more than one eyebrow
among the spectators.
The SilverCrown next year
After this first year under new rules, the Silver Crwon series proved
to be a welcomed contribution for what is already perceived as the
"NASCAR Package" that will give young drivers a very straightforward
break at the most successful form of Motor Racing in the World.
