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2011 News

September 10th, 2011

Matthew only practiced his Legend car for a few laps.  We continued to work to find the cause of the vibration and finally did.  With that out of the way, Matthew practiced his Super Late Model.  He was on very old tires in the first session and said the car seemed fine and that it just needed new tires to be fast as it was handling fine.  We put on the last race day tires (we didn't buy any new tires for this race) and Matthew ended up 2nd quick in practice.

Matthew would once again qualify 2nd in his Legends car to Brent.  We taped up the Super Late Model and Matthew qualified 2nd to Steven Peace who was on four new tires.  The pill draw was a 3 for the Super Late Models so Matthew would start outside of the front row in that race.  The Legends race was straight up so Matthew would start outside the front row in that race also.  

Matthew gave Brent a run for his money as Matthew and Brent ran nose to tail all 30 laps.  With just a few laps to go Matthew closed in on Brent but was unable to make a pass for the win.  He settled for 2nd and WON the 2011 Orange Show Speedway Legends car championship. Matthew would finish the 10 race season with four wins, four 2nd place finishes, a 3rd and a 13th.  It was an exciting night for Matthew and his team.  He had come up short in different classes at several race tracks finishing as the runner up three times and in the top five several other times  Next up was the Super Late Model race.

Just like several weeks before, our starter failed us again.  It had worked fine all day but as Matthew was starting the car to enter the track for the main event it failed again.  Now Matthew had to start 13th.  He made his way past some of the slower cars before a yellow came out.  Then he used the cone rule to his advantage and moved up to 4th.  After passing one car the yellow came out again and now Matthew used the cone to take his original starting position, outside the front row on the restart.  Matthew complained the car was tight from the start of the race and he was only able to hold Steven Peace off until about half way through the race.  Steven made a good pass on Matthew (the only time Matthew was passed this year) and Matthew settled into 3rd place.  The leader, Steven and Matthew ran within a car length of each other the rest of the race.  They lapped the 4th place car.  Matthew would finish 3rd.  Steven never was able to make the pass for the lead.  

It was a good year for Matthew as he had 6 wins at Orange Show Speedway in both classes he raced.  MATTHEW WAS THE ONLY SUPER LATE MODEL DRIVER TO WIN A RACE FROM OTHER THAN THE FRONT ROW IN 2011.  MATTHEW QUALIFIED 1ST FIVE TIMES IN THE SUPER LATE MODEL AND WAS 2ND THE OTHER TWO RACES.  Even though Matthew missed two races he finished 3rd in the championship points as only two cars ran every race in the Super Late Models.   Congratulations to Dee Cable for finishing 2nd in the championship points.  

September 9th, 2011

Matthew headed up to Orange Show one last time in 2011 for a chance to win his first Championship.  He took the Legend car off the trailer and went out for the first practice.  He had a horrible vibration.  Once the rest of his crew arrived with the Super Late Model and tools, all four family members went to work.  We changed the gear after borrowing one from the 98 team of Brent Scheidmantle. In a little less than 30 minutes we got Matthew out to qualify.  He qualified 2nd to Brent who killed the track record by two tenths of a second.  Matthew had ran a fast lap but Brent was very fast. 

The vibration was still there so Matthew didn't run the car too hard in the race.  He finished 2nd to Brent but ahead of Ryan who was chasing him for the championship.  

August 25th, 26th 2011

Matthew would take his Legend car up to Orange Show on this weekend while his Super Late Model was still locked up in the race trailer.  Matthew had a comfortable 34 point lead going into Friday night's race.  He ran on last years tires trying to save his newer tires in hopes that they will finish out the season.  Last year's tires were very hard and Matthew said he had no grip with them.  He got up to the track late because of his work schedule so his first laps on the track was qualifying.  There were several Las Vegas cars and others that showed up this weekend because the Saturday night race would be a National Qualifier.  Matthew qualified 3rd on the old tires.  He would finish Friday's race in 3rd.  

Saturday he bolted back on his newer race tires.  This made a big difference.  He only qualified 2nd but was .009 from fast time just like his Super Late Model the race weekend before.  The race was run with no invert.  Matthew got a decent start but after only a few laps he started getting oil on his helmet shield.  Next he lost his muffler as the mount broke off.  He pulled off the track and finished dead last, 14th.  Not a good night as the young man who's 2nd in points finished 3rd and picked up 22 points on Matthew.  Matthew had gained only 2 points on him in Friday's race.

As soon as we unloaded the Legend when Matthew got home we found the upper end oiler T fitting had broken.  It was a good thing he pulled off and saved the motor.  We'll get the car fixed and have him ready for the final two Legend races September 9th and 10th.  Matthew has a slim 14 point lead and needs two good finishes to win the Legends championship.

As a side note, we are readying the Super Late Model for a return to Irwindale Speedway.  Keep checking back for updates.

August 6th, 2011

Matthew had a typical day going as he was fastest in practice again.  When he went out to qualify the starter wouldn't work. The track called us over to the scales for tech prior to qualifying so we pushed the car over and informed the head tech that the starter was acting up and we would need a push to get it going. We scaled the car and got a push start.  Matthew was a little upset by the situation and went out and spun the tires out of turn 4 on his fast lap and lost fast time by .009.  He ended up qualifying 2nd for only the second time this year in 7 races.  Starter was broken, no replacement so we went home without racing. We didn't want the broken starter to engage and cause other engine damage or a fire.

July 16th, 2011

Well because of the two tire rule we tried to run the left side tires one too many races.  Although Matthew was the fastest in practice he fell to 2nd in qualifying to a car with 4 new tires.  The fast qualifier ran 13.03 and Matthew went 13.05.  So for the first time this year Matthew didn't get to set the field with the pea draw.  A 3 was drawn which put Matthew on the outside of the front row with point leader Mark Shackleford on the pole with his four new tires.  It wasn't much of a race.  Mark dominated us on this night.  Matthew would settle for 2nd again for the second race in a row.  Manke would finish 3rd. 

All in all not a bad race weekend.  Two wins and a 2nd place.  We'll be on four new tires for the next race so we'll see how it goes.  See you on August 6th at OSS.

July 15th, 2011

Matthew would race his Legends car Friday night and qualify 1st, start 6th and win again. He said the car was ok but even though a new driveshaft was put in his Legends car, he still had a vibration.  He made some brake bias adjustments during the race which allowed him to catch the leader Ryan Cansdale and pass him with just a few laps to go.  

July 2nd, 2011

One word summed up this race day, HOT! 104 degrees on our motor home thermometer.  We showed up with the Super Late Model ready to go.  

We told Matthew he would only get a few laps in the Legends car for practice for fear the drive shaft might get worse before we could get it fixed. He did a few practice laps then qualified it 2nd. The Legends race was a great race from start to finish.  Matthew took the lead on lap one and lead all 35 laps for the win in the 12 car field.  He said it was a fun race since many of his buddies and multi-time champions Darren Amidon and Chad Shug along with Brent Scheidmantle all battled for the win.  

He went out for both sessions in the Super Late Model and he said the car was great both times.  With only two new right side tires, he once again was fast qualifier in the Super Late Model.  Both Manke and Shackleford were on four new tires.  He pulled a 3 pea and again put Manke on the pole.  

The race was a 3 car duel. Manke, starting from the pole for the 3rd time this season because of Matthew's pea draws, lead all 50 laps as Matthew tried several times to get under him but each time Manke closed the door. There were a few close calls but a good short track race was seen by all in attendance.  Matthew made it close taking the checkers as he pulled along side of Manke at the start finish line but settled for 2nd only .07 back.  Shackleford finished 3rd.

July 1st, 2011

Matthew would race his Legends car Friday night and finish 2nd.  He said the car was ok but he had a bad vibration again and he thought he might have an unbalanced driveshaft (turned out he was right). 

June 18th, 2011

We took the Super Late Model to Orange Show for round 4 of the Super Late season.  Matthew was once again the fastest car of the weekend. He was the fastest car in practice, set fast time for the 4th straight week and won the main event.  

The car wasn't as fast as he hoped in the first practice session on two-race old tires. We had hoped we could race with the prior race weekend tires now that the track has instituted a two tire per race rule. So we went out in the first session on two-race old tires that had over 150 laps on them combined from racing and practices.  Matthew didn't want to change the setup as he stated he might be a little rusty because he had raced his Legends car twice since his last Super Late Model race and he thought he might need to get re-acclimated to the Super Late model driving style.

We put on the prior race tires and sent him back out fir the second practice session. He said it was much better but he wasn't comfortable still. He asked for a new set of tires to see if that was why he wasn't feeling like the car was as fast as it could be. We put on new tires and he picked up a lot of speed and said the prior race tires were just a little too worn out.  So we taped up the car for qualifying and sent him out. Once again, for the 4th straight race, Matthew set fast time.  He was two tenths faster than 2nd place.  Matthew finally had a little luck on his side as he drew the pea for the invert. He drew the number 1. No invert on this race night.  Matthew would start on the pole.

Matthew got a great start and immediately pulled away. He went lap after lap slowly pulling away from 2nd place.  After about 24 laps a caution came out.  We had no idea what the caution was for until the track said there was some possible debris on the track.  This bunched the field back up and point leader Mark Shackelford went to the outside of Matthew by using the cone rule.  Mark put up a great fight for the lead for the next 3 laps as the race went back green.  Once Matthew was able to clear Mark, once again he pulled away.  Matthew ended up winning by about 8 car lengths.  It was a great night for the Matthew Hicks Racing Team.  

Our next race is July 1st for the Legends car and July 2nd for the Legends car and the Super Late Model at Orange Show Speedway.  We now get two free tickets for each race so if anyone is interested just fire off and email to us and the first one to contact us gets those free tickets to the next race.  Thanks for stopping by. 

May 7th, 2011

We took the Super Late to Orange Show for round 3 of the Super Late season.  Matthew stayed at a friends house by the track with the Legend car Friday night.  He would be pulling double duty on this Saturday night.  Matthew was fastest in the first practice for the Super Late. We put the new tires on for the second session and actually weren't any faster than we were with our last weeks race tires.  We ended up 2nd fast.  Matthew was 2nd fast in the only practice session he went out in his Legend car after we put the new coupler on.

Matthew would once again qualify 1st in the Super Late for the third straight week.  He was fastest in his legend car until the last car went out and bumped him to 2nd by a few thousands of a second.  Matthew would start 3rd in the Super Late race and 2nd in the Legend car race.

The Legend race was first.  Matthew started on the outside of the front row but stated after the race there was no grip up there in the Legend car.  He got a good start but couldn't quite take the lead from the outside so he tried to drop into 2nd but the 98 car (the fast qualifier) was bumper to bumper with the leader so he ended up dropping to 3rd.  The 98 car ended up getting together with the leader and the leader spun. They put both of them to the rear (only 7 cars unfortunately) so Matthew inherited the lead. He went on to lead over half the race but the 98 car was the class of the field on this night. He made a hard charge into turn 3 on Matthew and Matthew knew he wasn't the fastest car so he just gave up the lead and dropped into 2nd. That's where he would finish the Legend race.  Matthew stated the Legend car was just a little too tight on this night.  Next up the Super Late Model main event.

Matthew would start the main event behind John Manke, the two time track champ. Rob Kiemele would start outside the front row.  On the start, Rob got a better start than John and took the lead. We dropped in behind John and just ran there for about 25 laps until a yellow came out.  With the cone rule, Matthew decided to try the high line. It paid off.  Matthew got a great jump on Rob and took the lead. Unfortunately, Rob's car didn't handle well after Matthew passed him because on the next lap Rob drove straight into Matthew punting him high out of the top groove (Matthew didn't think he was completely clear of Rob so he left the bottom open) and Matthew was completely sideways. This allowed not only Rob but John to also pass Matthew. In fact, Rob was so sideways from hitting Matthew that John took the lead from 3rd.  Now Matthew raced Rob clean knowing he had the better car but Rob decided to pinch Matthew off going into turn 3.  Matthew touched Rob and he spun out but got going again.  The track was ok with Rob punting us out of the lead because Matthew was able to hang on and not spin but when he touched Rob, they black flagged Matthew.  Because of no caution flag, they got on the radio and told us to drop behind the car in 6th place (the last car on the lead lap they said) so Matthew did.  He then started to make his way back forward and made it to fourth.  They came back on the radio and then told us to again drop back behind Rob. We refused because they told us where to go, we did, moved back forward and because Rob could make up any ground they felt we needed to be behind Rob so they scored us in 6th place even though we finished 4th.  Rob came over after the race, apologized to us, went to the officials and stated the entire incident was his fault and not ours but they still left us in 6th place...

May6th  2011

Matthew went to Orange Show Friday night with his Legend car by himself. With very little practice, he developed a bad vibration.  Turned out his drive shaft coupler on the engine came loose but Matthew didn't have the tools necessary to fix it Friday night because the tools were still at home in his Super Late trailer. He went ahead and raced the car in the main event and won the main event with the vibration.  It made a mess for us to fix it on Saturday morning but the win was worth it.

April 23rd, 2011

We headed back to the Orange Show Speedway for the second race of the season. It started just as the first race day did. Matthew was fastest in both practice sessions and qualified fastest again on this date with a 12.98. 2nd fast time and main event winner Rob Kiemele ran a 13.25. As you can see we had the field covered again and we only bought right side tires. Kiemele was on 4 new tires. Matthew drew the 5 pea again so he would start inside of row 3 for this nights main event.

Matthew got a good start in the main event and would make his way to the 2nd spot by lap three.  He ran down two time Orange Show Super Late Model Champion and front row starter John Manke by lap 6 after Manke jumped out to an 8 car length lead. Matthew hit Manke coming out of turn 4 harder than he wanted to and Manke got completely sideways. Matthew let Manke gather it up and get going straight again before accelerating down the front stretch side by side with him. Matthew made the pass going deep into turn one on the outside.  Manke, who admitted to us after the race he was a little upset about the hard hit, drove it in a little too deep and hit Matthew's left rear tire with the nose of his car, spinning Matthew out. Manke and Matthew were sent to the rear of the field.  

Matthew now had to fight his way forward from the next to last position. Matthew made it to 6th place where he then had to get by a team mate and car owned by eventual winner, Kiemele. Matthew went lap after lap ducking under the driver who was driving down the middle of this two groove race track. Finally Matthew got inside and got to the driver's front fender going into turn one. The other driver did his best to pin Matthew to the inside curb but they got together and the track felt Matthew spun the driver out so once again Matthew was sent to the rear of the field. This time he was in last place.  

Well the laps were counting down and Matthew now was a little upset at the situation but he got on the radio and said to his spotter, "I need to calm down, my car is still really good and I can win this race still."  Matthew methodically worked his way forward. He picked cars off one by one, fist the team mate to Kiemele who once Matthew got around, pulled off the track.  Next was a few regulars from Orange Show, then Manke who knew Matthew was faster than he was so he moved up high in turn 3 and let Matthew go this time. Now Matthew had to get by last years champion David Ross, a 7 time winner in 2010.  David fought off Matthew for so many laps that once Matthew was able to get around him (he didn't want to get together with Ross and get sent back to the rear) so he just waited for a small bobble on David's part and dove under him to make the pass. Unfortunately there were only a few laps left and Kiemele was a full half lap ahead of Matthew because it took so long to get around Ross.  

Well, Matthew would settle for 3rd on this night. Not a bad night but it could have been much better. The good news was Matthew still ran the fastest lap of the race by almost 2 tenths of a second over the winner. We'll get the car ready for the next race on May 7th and hopefully put it back into victory circle. As a side note, there will be a Legend race both May 6th and May 7th. Matthew plans on racing both the Legend and Super Late Model on the 7th. 

 Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you all there. 

April 9th, 2011

We decided to race for the championship at Orange Show Speedway this year in the Super Late Model. To say that opening night was anything but a dominating performance would be an understatement.

Matthew took his Victory Circle Super Late Model out on the green race track and took it easy the first couple of laps because it had rained the prior day. After a few easy laps on this very cold day, he got the tires warm and then went after it hard. It wasn't long before the #28 was at the top of the board. Matthew wasn't exactly happy with the track conditions as it had no grip at all but he knew once we bolted the new tires on he would have the grip he needed to have a winning car. We put the new tires on for the second and final practice and ran several laps. He was again on top of the board as the fastest car.

We taped up for qualifying and didn't make any changes to the car. Matthew then went out and set fast time by two and a half tenths.  He drew the number 5 for the invert so he would start the main event inside the 3rd row.  They added 10 laps to the main event for a total of 60 laps. Matthew was happy for the extra laps as there were no heat races on opening night.

Matthew got a good start and was in 3rd after just a couple laps. After about 10 laps he was up to 2nd. It wasn't until about lap 26 when he made a great move to pass the multi-time champion, Mark Shakleford for the lead.  Matthew then put a huge distance on Mark then set a steady pace to maintain that distance. Matthew clicked lap after lap off until he was a half lap ahead of 2nd place, now former two time Orange Show Speedway Champion John Manke.  He lead the rest of the way for the win. It was Matthew's first Super Late Model win at Orange Show Speedway.  He's had many wins in his Legend car there but this was a sweet win for him and his Matthew Hicks Racing team.

Matthew would like to thank his only sponsor, Lyle Hunter, of Lyle Hunter Tax Service for his great engine and continued support. If you're a Super Late Model racer, you need one of his engines. And yes, our tax man is also our engine builder.

The Matthew Hicks Racing team would also like you to visit http://www.operationamericacares.org/. An organization we fully support and hope you will too. 

March 18,19th 2011

Matthew loaded up his Legend car and headed to Blythe California to the 1/4 mile bullring known as I-10 Speedway.

Matthew had one of those race weekends that makes you realize why you work so hard on your race equipment. He swept the entire weekend. Set fast time both nights. Won the only trophy dash for the Legends then went on to win both main events. 

Matthew had never won at I-10 Speedway before. 2nd was his best finish at the little bullring prior to this weekend. It's another track he can check off his list as places he's won races.

Next up is opening night at Orange Show Speedway in his Super Late Model.

January 29th, 2011

Matthew was asked to drive Dean Kuhn's Late Model for the 2011 NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown. Matthew grew up watching Dean dominate several series during his driving career. When Dean called and asked him to drive his new Late Model for the Showdown, he jumped at the chance.

Practice was ok as Matthew was getting used to the way the Late Model handled. He was always in the top ten in practice but he would show his skill when it came to qualifying. Matthew ended up laying down the 5th fastest lap in qualifying. Not bad considering he was the only rookie in the top five.

The 20 lap heat race to determine the starting line up for the main event kind of bit him. The car starting directly in front of Matthew spun his tires and Matthew ran up under the car, shoving the hood up so high he couldn't see in front of his car. Matthew raced the entire heat race looking out the driver side window. He finished 5th even with the handicap.  This meant he would start the main event 10th.

Matthew started behind the same driver in the main event and once again the driver spun his tires. This time Matthew laid back on the start which saved his car but he fell to 14th place going into turn one on the green flag lap. 

Matthew would methodically make his way forward and made it all the way to 4th place but fell to 5th with 2 laps to go and ended up finishing right there. 5th place, not bad for the biggest race of the year for the NASCAR Late Models.  

It was a pleasure getting to race Dean's car. His entire team worked hard to get Matthew comfortable racing the new car.

January 1st, 2011

Matthew needed to put the past two years of bad luck racing behind him. His luck changed on the first day and the first race of 2011. He took his Legends Car back to Havasu95 Speedway where just two months before in his first race ever at the race track finished 3rd.  He wanted something more and he got it. He went out on new tires and was the fastest car on the track in the first session. He stayed right at or near the top of the board in all the practice sessions.  A new track record had been set the race before and he wanted to beat it. 

Matthew was one of the early qualifiers. This didn't faze him at all. Matthew went out and broke the track record and of course ended up the fast qualifier. He rolled a 5 on the dice so he would start the main event 5th.  The race was only going to be 20 laps so he knew he had to move quick but he also knew he had the fastest car at the track on this day.  Matthew took his time and methodically moved his way forward. His great friend, Las Vegas Motor Speedway multi-time Super Late Model and Legends Car champion and former Legends Young Lion National Champion Dustin Ash, was the last car Matthew needed to pass to win the first race of 2011. Matthew rode behind Dustin (who started on the outside of the front row) for about five laps before making his move.  There was only two laps left remaining at this point and Matthew knew it was time to go. Matthew put his bumper to Dustin because Dustin wasn't going to make a mistake.  Matthew made the pass but it turned out he made it too early. Dustin returned the favor after taking the white flag going into turn one. Dustin made the pass but they ran nose to tail going into turn three. Matthew was able to get along side Dustin as they took the checkered flag but Dustin was able to edge him out for the win. The crowd stood and cheered as they watched the best race of the day. The tracks announcer stated that was the best race he had witnessed in the last three years.  Both Matthew and Dustin got out their cars at the tech area and shook hands while congratulating each other on a great race. 

The next race for the Havasu95 season series is February 26th.  Matthew and Dustin are currently tied for the points championship. It looks to go down to the wire between these two great friends and friendly competitors.