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.
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!