Wisconsin-native Rebecca Kasten recently made the 1200-mile trip to New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway’s annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing, competing in Crate Late Models and Super Late Models throughout the nine day event. Kasten ended the week with a seventh-place finish in the Pete Orr Memorial 100, the premier Super Late Model race of the week.
“We had some ups and downs this week, so this was a great way to cap-off Speedweeks,” said Kasten. “It’s nice to have that confidence going forward; hopefully this momentum will carry through the rest of the season.”
Cold and rainy weather threatened racing at the high banked half-mile throughout the week, reducing the scheduled nine nights of racing down to just five. Kasten and the No. 90 team still managed to get plenty of track time throughout the week, running four crate late model events in addition to the Pete Orr Memorial 100.
Kasten qualified third for the Pete Orr Memorial 100, her best qualifying effort of the week, only to have her time disqualified for a technical violation.
“It’s frustrating that the team worked so hard to get the car ready for qualifying only to have to start shotgun on the field,” said Kasten. “Over 15 teams were penalized for the same infraction throughout the week. There’s a lot of grey area with the Florida tire rules, and I guess this time we were the wrong shade of grey. It’s tough, but that’s racing; we accept the penalty and move on.”
Kasten started 26th for the 100-lap race, but was able to work her way through the field and into seventh-place. Kasten’s car was strong throughout the event, but the long green-flag run made it difficult to gain ground on the leaders.
“The last 60 laps of the race were all run under green,” said Kasten. “It would have been nice to have the field bunched up again for another restart. I had a car that was definitely able capable of picking off a few more cars. Nevertheless, it was a great way to end the week.”
Kasten, who was recently announced as a member of the 2010 Drive for Diversity class, will compete with Revolution Racing in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model division for the 2010 season. Kasten will compete at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway, Tri-County Motor Speedway (Hudson, N.C.), Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Caraway Speedway (Asheboro, N.C.) beginning in March.
