Hirata Motorsports LODRS Div 3 Indy Wrap-up

HIRATA MOTORS TO SEMI FINALS AT INDY DIVISIONAL

For the Dave Hirata A/Fuel Dragster team, the first Lucas Oil Division 3 race of the year was a three round title fight. They first had to contend with Mother Nature. The Lowell, Indiana based team was then inclined to battle the track in qualifying. Finally, in order to seal the deal, they had to conquer some of the best Top Alcohol Dragster teams in the nation in three rounds of eliminations.

Winning two out of three rounds of this battle is not a bad way to start the season. A semi final finish has the team headed in a positive direction.

The Hirata Motorsports team was able to land a flurry of wonderful weather to knock out any issues with Mother Nature. The team then moved onto a test session on Thursday prior to the event, which netted some decent results. Qualifying however, did present a challenge.

“After Q1, we found some bearings we did not like the looks of, so we swapped engines Friday night,” stated Hirata. “Our performance fell so far off on Q2 and Q3 we took everything apart to inspect. The work paid off as we got our qualifying performance back.” The team managed to defeat the track with hard work and qualified their A/Fuel Dragster in the fourth position, running a 5.478 second elapsed time with a speed of 261.47 mph.

The final hurdle between Hirata and a Divisional ‘Wally’ were some of the best racers in the country. They began with a round one victory over Jared Drerer, however the day ended with a 0.0087 second loss in the semi finals versus Artie Allen. “When our car ran it was very consistent- within four hundredth of a second,” recalled Hirata. “That’s a good base to start the season- we just need to step it up about tenth.”


Visit Hirata Motorsports @ http://www.hiratamotorsports.com