Elk River, Minnesota (February 10, 2014) – Traffic jams, confusion, and impatient drivers, all the ingredients for a classic New York traffic jam were on display at the ISOC AMSOIL Championship Snocross in Salamanca, New York. In the thick of it, Andrew Carlson battled through for another podium weekend, keeping a firm grasp on the year-end Pro-Lite championship lead.
The Dizzying Track
After overcoming a short and icy track in Deadwood, South Dakota one week previous, Andrew Carlson and Ryan Springer faced another “postage-stamp” track that was surprisingly even shorter and more treacherous at the Seneca Allegany Casino and Hotel. With lap times as quick as 20-seconds, racing was more than a little congested, and lines disappeared almost as fast as they appeared.
Carlson opened the weekend with a pair of solid qualifying runs to gain a spot on the front row of the highly competitive Pro-Lite final. In the main event, Carlson was planted firmly in the top three and looking for more, but a bobble cost him several positions and he never recovered amid the on-track chaos of snow dust, traffic, and sea of yellow flags. “I never found my groove,” said Carlson after crossing the finish line in seventh place. “The small track makes it a real challenge, even if you run a perfect race.”
Never discouraged, Carlson regrouped for day two and he was back to his old ways, with solid qualifying and a holeshot in the main event that rocketed him to the front of the pack. From there he opened up his lead until a series of yellow flags created a virtual no-passing zone on the entire track and a bottleneck of traffic. When the track finally cleared Carlson found himself sitting in third. Despite the questionable position swaps under yellow, Carlson was grateful to find the podium once again and leave New York unscathed.
“I’m just happy to be up here on the box. I’ve never seen race lines disappear on a track so quickly,” said Andrew. “It was the same for all of us, so I’m just happy that we were able to salvage the weekend with a podium. Hopefully we can get back to racing on some larger tracks.”
Springer Pushes for More
Salvaging the weekend was an appropriate term for National Sport rider Ryan Springer this past weekend as well, but unfortunately for wrong reasons. Ryan started the weekend with a pair of crashes that kept him out of Friday’s main event. He looked for redemption on Saturday with a pair of wins in qualifying, giving him top honors coming into the main event. From there it looked as if Ryan was about to cash in on his pledge of redemption as he challenged for the lead, but instead he “crashed-in” as he pushed a bit too hard in a treacherous section of the track and experienced the always disheartening “get-off”. Ryan remounted and finished seventh.
“Ryan has the speed to win every weekend,” said team owner and manager Chris Carlson. “He’s young and still learning the old race adage, you have to go slow to go fast. Right now Springer is all about going fast, sometimes too fast, but we know once he finds that elusive balance he will be nearly unstoppable.”
The AMSOIL Championship Snocross takes a week off before returning to action February 21-22 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. You can catch all the action from New York on the CBS Sports Network, February 23 and March 2 at 10:30am (eastern). Stay abreast of all the happenings at Carlson Motorsports through their website www.carlsonmotorsportsllc.com or following them on Facebook.
Springer pushed to the front of the pack on Saturday, but the icy track pushed back ending his podium hopes.
The podium string continued for Carlson. Only Tucker Hibbert has enjoyed greater podium success than Andrew Carlson this year.
About Carlson Motorsports
Carlson Motorsports is a family of racers, mechanics and sponsors who are proud of our accomplishments on the track and off, and are driven to excellence in everything we do. Our racing organization is driven by a deep-rooted passion for the sport and an operational philosophy grounded in integrity.
To learn more about Carlson Motorsports LLC, and how you can partner and share in their success, visit their website at www.carlsonmotorsportsllc.com