Meyers Looks to Repeat at Castrol Raceway in the Oil City Cup: Geared up for Stretch Run of Season
Jason Meyers and his team will go back to square one this weekend at Castrol Raceway as he looks to repeat in Edmonton.
Courtesy: World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Media Relations
Edmonton, AB—Jason Meyers begins the stretch run of the 2009 World of Outlaws season in a very similar position to where he was last year, and that is in the second spot in the series championship standings chasing three-time and defending series champion Donny Schatz. Last year he cut nearly 100 points off Schatz’s lead during the Gold Rush Tour and currently is just 92 markers out of the top spot with 10 nights of racing on tap over the course of the next 16 days, beginning with the third annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29.
Meyers was victorious in the finale of the Oil City Cup last season, taking the lead from 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser on the 15th lap of the 35-lap contest. For Meyers it was his first career win in Canada, making it the third country he has won a sprint car race in along with Australia and the United States. He picked up his second career win north of the border last month at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario.
In four career starts at Castrol Raceway, Meyers has finished in the Top-Five each and every time aboard the GLR Investments KPC. He was fourth fastest in time trials both nights last season at the 3/8-mile and raced his way into the Crane Cams Dash in both of those events to earn Top-10 starting spots in the pair of A-Feature events. All of that success has him excited to head back to the track located in Edmonton.
“Last year it was a great race track with a couple of grooves and the race car really rolled around there pretty good,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the trip. The weather is always nice up there and the racing is good. Hopefully we can go up there and repeat what we did last year.”
The Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway will be the second and final stop of the season for the World of Outlaws in Canada and their only trip to the western half of the country before heading to the always scenic Pacific Northwest and then down the coast to California as the 2009 Gold Rush Tour continues.
“That’s the neat thing about going up there is that you see a group of fans that you only see once a year,” noted Meyers, who hails from Clovis, California. “They absolutely love the racing and it’s always fun for us to go to places like that, where you have great fans that are excited about what you are doing and that haven’t seen you for a year. You get to hang out and catch up and hopefully put on a good show for them.”
Meyers heads to Castrol Raceway fresh off a third-place performance at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, North Dakota last Saturday night. That came on the heels of him getting upside after being caught up in someone else’s accident on the opening lap at River Cities Speedway last Friday night while running fourth. His crew spent last Saturday morning building a brand new race car and that paid off as he remained second in the series championship standings after the podium finish at Dacotah Speedway. Meyers is looking for not only his first World of Outlaws title, but he is seeking to become the first driver from the Golden State to accomplish that feat.
“With 20 races left, every night is going to count,” shared Meyers. “Nights like that one (August 21 at River Cities Speedway) hurt us. You just have to make every night count and get every point that you can. We pushed off with a car that we should not have fired, but to get two points is important. We’re going to keep doing things like that and staying in the races and finishing races. We can’t be falling out of races. We just have to be consistent and try to get our share of the wins. Hopefully we’ll be able to run Donny (Schatz) down, but it’s not going to be an easy task.”
Meyers and his team will go back to square one this weekend at Castrol Raceway as he looks to repeat at the track in Edmonton. Just like every other night, it takes a combination of a fast race car, a hard working team and also a little luck. Meyers is currently tied for the series lead with 40 Top-10 finishes in 50 races, with 21 of those being Top-Five performances. He is one of just three drivers that has led more than 200 laps of feature racing competition this season and he has stopped the clocks first on five occasions in time trials. He also is tied for the series lead with seven wins in the Crane Cams Dash to earn pole positions.
“It’s hard to run off your notes this year, because the cars are much different than last year,” he explained. “We’ll go up there and take it like any other race track. You go with your starting set-up and hope a few things go your way with the pill draws and make it happen.”
