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Canyon Speedway Park 6-14-08 PDF Print E-mail
Tuesday, 17 June 2008 03:40

    Ryan Racing happily returned to Canyon Speedway for Father's Day weekend to obtain their second top 10 finish of the season. Ryan would fight a tacky one groove race track that rubbered up and continued to remain an extremely fast one groove race track through the night..

    Kelley came upon his heat race where he would start in 7th position. The green flag flew and Ryan followed two cars in front of them who were working hard to not take each other out. Kelley held his position and let the two get sorted out after Ken Young in the 12 car finally spun and Kelley picked up the spot to take 6th position. Unfortunately due to  the extremely tacky track and slightly skewed set up in Kelley's car, Kelley and the rest of the field held their positions through out the race. Ryan held 6th position, one spot away from making the main. Kelley commented "The track was really fast and we were really fast but we just didn't have enough of an advantage to make a pass and nobody else did either. We'll have to put some cross into the car to help tighten the car coming off and we should be good to go for the night" Kelley hit the set up right on as he came into the semi with extremely fast lap times. Ryan started on the pole in the semi but quickly lost the position after being jumped on the start by #55 Nick Gann. Kelley continued to follow Gann through the semi and after trying some different lines to look for the fastest way back to the front Ryan quickly realized the track was only getting faster in the only groove there was. Kelley quickly corrected for this and made some in-car adjustments to catch back up to Gann.  Kelley made the ground up on Gann and started pulling away from the field when the checkered flag flew. Ryan also posted some incredible lap times in the super-fast Semii-Main event. Kelley posted a lap time of 15.80, which puts these little cars ahead of the full size 750 hp modifieds. Averaging around 85 mph Kelley was most likely hitting a top-speed of 115-120 mph on this little track.

    Ryan made it into the main event through the semi, but now had to work his way to the front from the back of the field. Trouble immediately followed as Kelley narrowly missed the opening lap front stretch crash. The track came to a Red Flag and proceeded with a long green flag run. Ryan had 15 laps to make up his ground and he brought the car home to 8th position before the night was over.  The team was happy to miss the front stretch wreck and bring the car home in one piece so they could continue to improve on the set up rather then fixing race cars. Kelley was content with the night and commennted that "We're happy with our finish considering the ground we made and the fast laps we put on the board, we just need to be able to finish further up front in our heats so we can get a good shot at winning the main." The team certainly will put better heat races on the board as they continue to put faster laps on the board throughout the year.

 
 
Manzanita Speedway 5-30-08 PDF Print E-mail
Saturday, 31 May 2008 21:24

ManzanitaPhoenix, Arizona-The Ryan Racing team came upon a new adventure as they entered the legendary Manzanita Speedway. With over 50 years of racing history and alot of today's top drivers racing there, the track has proven to be legendary for aspiring drivers. Kelley dialed into the track quickly but couldn't quite make it happen for the night.
After a late start in Kelley's heat race, Kelley was forced to make alot of passes in his 10 car field. Ryan quickly forced his way up to fight for the 5th place transfer spot for the Main. Ryan was hungry for the well deserved position and pushed the car a little to far causing him to bump the wall coming off of turn 4. Ryan quickly made his way to the pits to ensure that everything was ok and with a lap to go entered back into the race and finished 8th.

Ryan was now in the thick of the heat where he would have to make up his lost time from the back of a 15 car Semi. Ryan quickly made his way past the slower cars in the back of the field, but even at that rate Ryan was almost a half lap behind the field. Ryan quickly made up the half lap on the field and caught up to the pack when the checkered flag flew. Ryan ended up finishing 8th in the Semi 3 spots away from the transfer.

It was definitely a tough night for the team. Kelley commented, "We came here with a fast top-5 car for sure, we just couldn't make it happen, we pushed the car to it's limits and found out what the car would and wouldn't do, after starting in the back of the field in the Heat and Semi we just couldn't get back to the front in time for the main, it was a disappointing night, but I'm glad to see that we definitely will be a contender here next time around." Ryan will definately be a contender for sure, only time will tell what the team will bring to the track for the field next time around.

 

Stay tuned as the team heads off to Canyon Speedway on June 14th!

 
Canyon Speedway 3-1-08 PDF Print E-mail
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 17:49

The opening race for the South West Modlite division fielded 30 top-notch cars at Canyon raceway. Big names like Terry Belcher, and Patrick Stevens have made their way into modlites to compete in this extrememly competitive devision. Kelley was going up against drivers even his dad had raced against when he was 16.

Canyon Speedway park has done a tremendous job preparing the track and has even added 400lbs of clay making a tacky track for the night. “A tacky tracks makes everyone fast” Kelley noted. “The key will be to getting used to racing on these track conditions and finding the constantly changing groove”. In Kelley’s heat he finished 6th, 1 spot away from making the transfer to the main.

With a little more seat time in place Kelley made a good finish in the semi. Kelley made his way up to second where he was battling Anthony Platt. Kelley quickly took the high line to make up ground on Anthony. Kelley came up on Platt and dove down to make the pass, igniting the crowd, and levaving Kelley and Patt side by side down the back straight away. Kelley took the low line to leave Platt with room taking him out of the groove where Anthony made his way back by.

After 3 attempts to get by Platt, Kelley decided to assume his position and be sure to make it to the main. Holding 2nd place position Bill Mcdowell made several hit and run attempts when he finally made it by leaving Kelley with 3rd for the semi.

Kelley made it to the main event where he had one goal, to finish the hectic race for the night. Kelley made plenty of passes and finished 16th in the main. Kelley commented “I was happy to be able to make the main tonight. Making the main is more luck then anything, even some of the best drivers don’t make the main everynight. My goal was to take it easy tonight and leave out the agression for now and learn alot which i certainly did. After all you have to finish a race before you can win one!”

Stayed tuned as the team competes at Canyon Speedway once again April 5th!
 
Making Progress PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 04 May 2008 00:00
Suprise, Arizona- Kelley Ryan entered the night at Canyon Speedway Park with a spectacular heat race finish to set him up for an 8th place start in the main. As Kelley came down for the restart in the 2nd heat of the night, Kelley made his move to pass two cars coming down the front straight away. Kelley took 2nd position where he would finish the heat.

The track went dry-slick for the main and Kelley immediately realized the potential for numerous driver errors as the night would go on. Kelley took off and made evasous actions as the accidents unfolded in front of him. After battling for 6th place with Anthony Platt, Kelley was froced to go off the track to avoid the wreck right in front of him with one lap to go. Kelley came back onto the track only to find that his 7th place spot would not be handed back to him and he would have to invert to the back of the field. With 1 lap to go Kelley still managed to pilot the #00 car to a solid 10th place finish.

After the race Kelley said with a sigh of relief “I’m just glad we made it throught the race and finished a good top 10, alot of drivers were not expecting the track to go dry which resulted in alot of accidents, we’ll hope for a better track next time and go for a top 5 for sure”.

Stay Tuned as the Team heads out to the legendary Manzanita Speedway May 30th!
 
Kick off to the 2008 Season! PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 11 February 2008 00:00

Ryan Racing proudly announced Saturday afternoon that Kelley Ryan would be piloting the 00 car for the 2008 season. Everyone was excited to see Kelley in a winning car and looked forward to seeing him race.Saturday would be Kelley’s first time ever driving this car. The team was treating this Winter Race as a practice session and a chance for Kelley to get some seat time and a feel for the new car.

Getting ready 2-9-08

Kelley hit hot laps for the first time in the new car and paced around the track with other top drivers such as Tony Martin and Art Garcia. The heat race set in and Kelley finished 3rd in this brand new car.

Kelley’s 3rd place in the heat earned him a 6th place spot in the main. The cars fired up and the main was on its way. The team started pacing their way on the one groove dry slick track and followed a pack of cars. Kelley was especially fast in the middle but couldn’t use this fast line due to other drivers in front of him. Kelley quickly moved to th bottom where he progressively started making his way to 4th . A yellow flag flew putting a halt to Kelley’s 4th place grab and he missed a shift in the new car under the restart. Kelley eager to catch back up with the group spun the car in turn 3 with one to go. Kelley quickly made his way back up to 7th before the checkered flag flew.

Kelley was really happy with how the day went and how much he learned. When asked about how the day went he said “it was a really good day to get to know the car and it’s boundaries, Im really looking forward to the 08 season because we have a fast car, I just wanted to take it easy today and treat it as a learning session”.

Kelley is driving his dad’s car this year: 4th place points finisher and 2 modlite wins for 2008, Mike Ryan is taking a break this year. Mike chuckled “it was alot of fun watching Kelley race, it sure is nerve racking, but at the same time it’s nice to trade the steering wheel in for a wrench and some drinks”. Mike looks forward to helping Kelley advance in the 2008 season and possibly running a few races with Kelley in a different car.

The team would like to give a special thanks to their home track Canyon Speedway Park for putting on an excellent show.

Stay tuned for the teams first race March 1st at Canyon Speedway Park!
 
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