7September 20-22/24 - Velocity 250 weekend
The 2024 season for Kendra Adams Motorsports has come to an end. This season was an incredible one with a lot of learning and even more growing.
I've been racing full time at Sunset Speedway for 12 seasons now, 2024 has been the highest points finish that we've had so far. We finished 3rd in points behind 2 past track champions, both who have a lot of accomplishments in short track racing. Our best finish this year was a fourth place finish, so close to capturing that podium on our championship night!
The final race of the year was a 100 lap special event, the Velocity 250 was a busy weekend for us as we ran the Bone Stock ringer race for Lusk Motorsports in Aundrea's No. 17 car! This was a fun thing to participate in and I believe after tech we scored a 4th place finish. Thank you again to Bill, Lisa and Aundrea for letting me run the car and I hope to again in the future!
Sunday we prepared to finish out our season on a high note, unfortunately my dad was going to have to leave early to go away for work! I was lucky enough to have him there with me until after qualifying, it was definitely hard to run without him in my ear but Cameron McGlashan stepped up to help out while Jake and Paul were pit side in case I needed any mechanical help!
We qualified 7th and then there was an invert where young fans came down with a random number and chose a driver to give it to, lucky for us we got the fan with the furthest back number, 8. lol
We started in the outside row in 8th position and were determined to move forward from there. In the first lap the 16 car would go three wide on the row in front of us and there would be some contact between the 51 and 10, sending the 10 towards the outside turn 4 wall. I slammed on the brakes in order to avoid contact and 7 cars passed us in the mean time.
We fell back to 15 from 8th, with no caution we made out way up through the field back into the 9th position until the first caution came out for a solo spin further in the field.
We would restart in the 7th position because of the choose cone and would ride there for the majority of the race, the 10 and 51 were battling hard for the remainder of the race and the 41 and I would be following single file behind them. After the caution the rear tires got too cold and seemed to glaze over, I had honestly thought we had a LR flat with how poor the car was handling all of a sudden after the caution. This was very disappointing as Jake gave me a great car to race the 100 laps, sadly sometimes things happen out of our control.
As the race went on I would finally get inside the 41 car and we would come up on a lapped car, I backed off to go around with the pack in front of me. The lapped car would end up getting black flagged after about 4 laps of me being behind them. After this we were unable to get back to the bumper of the 41 car and would settle into 8th position and finish the race here.
It was awesome to get to pass so many cars after the race situation early on to gain some confidence and see how well our car really was.
Regardless of our finish I'm very happy with how we performed in our last event and I'm already looking forward to rebuilding the car and getting back to the track in 2025!
Thank you to everyone who supported me as a fan in 2024 and to all my family and friends.
Thanks to my main crew my Dad Brendan, Boyfriend Jake, and newest member Paul as well as my mom Kelly, best friend Brooklyn and great family friend Randal, for their help each week. As well as the crew who I was able to borrow from time to time: Nick, Ron, Aiden, Mike, Liam, Jordy, Cameron and others - thank you.
Thank you to our sponsors for getting us through our first Pro Late Model season:
Mobil 1
Connell's Construction
Steve Burton Contracting
Orillia Metal Fabrication
Pinnacle Advanced Driving Academy
You can watch the race below!
The 2024 season for Kendra Adams Motorsports has come to an end. This season was an incredible one with a lot of learning and even more growing.
I've been racing full time at Sunset Speedway for 12 seasons now, 2024 has been the highest points finish that we've had so far. We finished 3rd in points behind 2 past track champions, both who have a lot of accomplishments in short track racing. Our best finish this year was a fourth place finish, so close to capturing that podium on our championship night!
The final race of the year was a 100 lap special event, the Velocity 250 was a busy weekend for us as we ran the Bone Stock ringer race for Lusk Motorsports in Aundrea's No. 17 car! This was a fun thing to participate in and I believe after tech we scored a 4th place finish. Thank you again to Bill, Lisa and Aundrea for letting me run the car and I hope to again in the future!
Sunday we prepared to finish out our season on a high note, unfortunately my dad was going to have to leave early to go away for work! I was lucky enough to have him there with me until after qualifying, it was definitely hard to run without him in my ear but Cameron McGlashan stepped up to help out while Jake and Paul were pit side in case I needed any mechanical help!
We qualified 7th and then there was an invert where young fans came down with a random number and chose a driver to give it to, lucky for us we got the fan with the furthest back number, 8. lol
We started in the outside row in 8th position and were determined to move forward from there. In the first lap the 16 car would go three wide on the row in front of us and there would be some contact between the 51 and 10, sending the 10 towards the outside turn 4 wall. I slammed on the brakes in order to avoid contact and 7 cars passed us in the mean time.
We fell back to 15 from 8th, with no caution we made out way up through the field back into the 9th position until the first caution came out for a solo spin further in the field.
We would restart in the 7th position because of the choose cone and would ride there for the majority of the race, the 10 and 51 were battling hard for the remainder of the race and the 41 and I would be following single file behind them. After the caution the rear tires got too cold and seemed to glaze over, I had honestly thought we had a LR flat with how poor the car was handling all of a sudden after the caution. This was very disappointing as Jake gave me a great car to race the 100 laps, sadly sometimes things happen out of our control.
As the race went on I would finally get inside the 41 car and we would come up on a lapped car, I backed off to go around with the pack in front of me. The lapped car would end up getting black flagged after about 4 laps of me being behind them. After this we were unable to get back to the bumper of the 41 car and would settle into 8th position and finish the race here.
It was awesome to get to pass so many cars after the race situation early on to gain some confidence and see how well our car really was.
Regardless of our finish I'm very happy with how we performed in our last event and I'm already looking forward to rebuilding the car and getting back to the track in 2025!
Thank you to everyone who supported me as a fan in 2024 and to all my family and friends.
Thanks to my main crew my Dad Brendan, Boyfriend Jake, and newest member Paul as well as my mom Kelly, best friend Brooklyn and great family friend Randal, for their help each week. As well as the crew who I was able to borrow from time to time: Nick, Ron, Aiden, Mike, Liam, Jordy, Cameron and others - thank you.
Thank you to our sponsors for getting us through our first Pro Late Model season:
Mobil 1
Connell's Construction
Steve Burton Contracting
Orillia Metal Fabrication
Pinnacle Advanced Driving Academy
You can watch the race below!
September 14/24
Last points race of the year- and it sure will be one to remember!
We decided to have a food drive to give away Kendra Adams Motorsports t-shirts all while supporting the local community! This was a huge hit as we raised 215 pounds of food and $770 for the Innisfil food bank, we also were so thankful to have our sponsor Orillia Metal Fabrication match this donation! So $1540 was donated to the local food bank and will help families in need. I can't express my gratitude, to the people who supported this cause, enough.
Both of our practice sessions were terrible as for some reason our tires would not stagger up the way we needed them too so we remained very tight.
We hoped that our race tires would be the fix we needed and it was! We qualified 4th behind the 8, 41 and 48 - and that's where we would start the feature.
We quickly got away from the remainder of the field and stayed with the cars in front of us. It was probably the best car we've had so far this year.
The car was just a touch tight late centre and we weren't able to turn as much as we'd like in order to make a pass on the 48 car!
With only one caution early on we settled in and pushed to make our way to the top three, we fell just shy of our first podium in the pro late and crossed the line inside the 48 car with our nose at his door! A battle to remind me why I love racing.
We ended the points season 3rd in points in our rookie season as a Pro Late Model driver, behind the 8 and 10 car. Both previous Sunset Track Champions.
This is our best points finish in 12 years of racing and to say we're happy is an understatement. This season has been filled with learning and heartbreak. 2024 was the best year of racing as I learned the most about myself as a driver and know now where I need to be, and a little more about how to get there!
2025 we'll focus on inching our way closer to our first Pro Late Model win.
Thank you again to everyone who was a part of this season with me.
To my dad, thank you as always for being an integral part of the race team. Having you in my corner is all I'll ever need each time I attend a short track, your help, knowledge and the confidence you instill in me will forever stay with me.
To Jake and the whole SSR team - thank you for teaching me more about racecars than I ever thought I'd understand and for allowing me to grow and feel confident in making those decisions for myself. Telling me to trust what I'm thinking in the car and to keep developing as a driver. Also thanks to the team for bouncing back and forth between the 2 and 52!
To Paul, thank you for joining our team this year! We wouldn't have been able to pay as much attention to the set up this year if it wasn't for your helping hand changing tires, setting pressures and everything in between. You've been a perfect addition to the 2 team!
To my Mom and best friend Brooklyn, thank you for tying up all the loose ends each Saturday, feeding us, making sure we have everything we need and taking some awesome video content.
To Randy and Em, thank you for being a constant presence in my racing program and supporting me in and out each weekend both at the track and away from it. For the last 12 years you have always been there to watch me learn, fail and grow without judgement.
To Ben Stott Photography thanks for the photos of memories I'll always cherish between our team.
To all my sponsors, David and Margaret from Mobil 1, Kurtis at Connell's Construction, Steve and the Burton family with Steve Burton Contracting, Bill and Lisa from Orillia Metal Fabrication, Michael at AutoTrim Barrie and Jay with Pinnacle Driving Academy;
This year would not have been possible without you. The purchase of our new car and the trial and error of our first season in a pro late model have been made a reality because of your generosity.
And of course thank you to the rest of my family, friends and fans who are the reason I continue to love the sport.
If you wish to watch the race, you can find it HERE
Thank you and I'm excited for one final run in 2024- see you all Sunday!
Last points race of the year- and it sure will be one to remember!
We decided to have a food drive to give away Kendra Adams Motorsports t-shirts all while supporting the local community! This was a huge hit as we raised 215 pounds of food and $770 for the Innisfil food bank, we also were so thankful to have our sponsor Orillia Metal Fabrication match this donation! So $1540 was donated to the local food bank and will help families in need. I can't express my gratitude, to the people who supported this cause, enough.
Both of our practice sessions were terrible as for some reason our tires would not stagger up the way we needed them too so we remained very tight.
We hoped that our race tires would be the fix we needed and it was! We qualified 4th behind the 8, 41 and 48 - and that's where we would start the feature.
We quickly got away from the remainder of the field and stayed with the cars in front of us. It was probably the best car we've had so far this year.
The car was just a touch tight late centre and we weren't able to turn as much as we'd like in order to make a pass on the 48 car!
With only one caution early on we settled in and pushed to make our way to the top three, we fell just shy of our first podium in the pro late and crossed the line inside the 48 car with our nose at his door! A battle to remind me why I love racing.
We ended the points season 3rd in points in our rookie season as a Pro Late Model driver, behind the 8 and 10 car. Both previous Sunset Track Champions.
This is our best points finish in 12 years of racing and to say we're happy is an understatement. This season has been filled with learning and heartbreak. 2024 was the best year of racing as I learned the most about myself as a driver and know now where I need to be, and a little more about how to get there!
2025 we'll focus on inching our way closer to our first Pro Late Model win.
Thank you again to everyone who was a part of this season with me.
To my dad, thank you as always for being an integral part of the race team. Having you in my corner is all I'll ever need each time I attend a short track, your help, knowledge and the confidence you instill in me will forever stay with me.
To Jake and the whole SSR team - thank you for teaching me more about racecars than I ever thought I'd understand and for allowing me to grow and feel confident in making those decisions for myself. Telling me to trust what I'm thinking in the car and to keep developing as a driver. Also thanks to the team for bouncing back and forth between the 2 and 52!
To Paul, thank you for joining our team this year! We wouldn't have been able to pay as much attention to the set up this year if it wasn't for your helping hand changing tires, setting pressures and everything in between. You've been a perfect addition to the 2 team!
To my Mom and best friend Brooklyn, thank you for tying up all the loose ends each Saturday, feeding us, making sure we have everything we need and taking some awesome video content.
To Randy and Em, thank you for being a constant presence in my racing program and supporting me in and out each weekend both at the track and away from it. For the last 12 years you have always been there to watch me learn, fail and grow without judgement.
To Ben Stott Photography thanks for the photos of memories I'll always cherish between our team.
To all my sponsors, David and Margaret from Mobil 1, Kurtis at Connell's Construction, Steve and the Burton family with Steve Burton Contracting, Bill and Lisa from Orillia Metal Fabrication, Michael at AutoTrim Barrie and Jay with Pinnacle Driving Academy;
This year would not have been possible without you. The purchase of our new car and the trial and error of our first season in a pro late model have been made a reality because of your generosity.
And of course thank you to the rest of my family, friends and fans who are the reason I continue to love the sport.
If you wish to watch the race, you can find it HERE
Thank you and I'm excited for one final run in 2024- see you all Sunday!
August 31st and September 1st
A double header weekend to remember, partially. I haven't had a double header event in a while so this was definitely interesting.
Day one was a make up date for a rain out earlier in the year, we were very happy with our car that day both in practice and in the race. Our team ended up with our best finish yet in a Pro Late Model - 4th!
In practice the track was a bit warm so we made some adjustments in order to hopefully be good in qualifying, which paid off! We qualified 4th which was one of the better qualifying runs that we had, followed by a feature finish of 4th, which again, was our best finish so far this year.
We worked on the car the past few weeks chasing a brake issue where we found a crack in a seal in the right front caliper. That was so taxing on my car over the past few weeks and a great reminder how important all the maintenance is in this division.
We started 4th and quickly made our way to 3rd, which we held on to for about 10 laps, when we were passed back by the same car and we would stay here for the remainder of the caution free 50 lap race. The car felt the exact same handling wise for 40 laps and didn't fall off at all until the very last few laps I felt a small difference in the handling, which made me very excited for the second day.
Day 2 was the Allan Lankin Cup for the mini stocks, its awesome to be able to race on a day in memory of my late friend Allan. This was a matinee race which... have not been kind to us. We have struggled in the day time races and this weekend made that very clear. We were told in the drivers meeting that all season we had only 2 cautions total which, apparently, that was a challenge to all the racers lol.
We qualified and started 8th, lap one we would have 2 cautions. The first caution, the 16 car would spin the 48 in turn 1 and 2, and then after that the 8 car was spun, and for some reason the 51 car, who was inside me, was put to the back- however the 8 started in the 9th position so I'm not sure how this was determined. None the less, we re-started 7th after that caution.
By lap 20 I was 11th which felt shocking, I felt like the car was handling well and we had speed but I was getting passed like I was standing still!
Around Lap 37 the 70 of Hanley and 8 of Howse made contact and ended up in the turn 3,4 wall! The 70 then backed up and drove back into the 8 car. He was black flagged as it was deemed to be intentional - clearly based on the further contact.
The race played out for another 13 laps and we finished 8th, like we ran all race.
We will see you back for 50 laps on Championship night on September 14th, 2024! Until then we will be attending Drive Festival Presented by Mobil 1 this upcoming weekend, the event runs Friday September 6th-8th at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. Hope to see you there!
We also have the link to the race if you'd like to watch! Thanks to Ontario Street Outlaws -
August 10/24 - APC Series Stewart’s/Kubota 200
This weekend we would race for the second time with the APC Series. Our first event with them was in May and my race ended early when the alternator went on the car. Our goal tonight was to finish the race, stay on the lead lap and keep it clean.
We qualified 16th and would start in that position. On the initial start, the car was fast and we immediately started picking up spots on the outside. We were up to 13th by lap 4.
At that time, there was a car ahead of us that slowed the progress and we couldn’t move up any further on the outside and the inside lane was starting to move ahead now so we fell back and dropped in where we could and then just settled in to 17th to ride out some laps. Passed the 97 car and about 10 laps later, the 10 car went for a solo spin to bring out the caution on 74.
We would pit under this caution and make a small air pressure adjustment. I was having brake issues, other than that, the car felt good.
They threw the caution at lap 102 for the halfway break. I would restart the race in 7th after some of the field pitted. I was excited for this big jump up as, although I was struggling with the brakes, I had been really easy on the tires and felt that I could at least hold on to a top 10. We started on the inside row and immediately the 18 car thought it was time to make up spots, so I was put three wide, in a tight pack, first lap of the restart. Generally I’d give it a few laps before making aggressive moves mid pack- but that's just me! I fell back to 11th after a ton of aggressive moves made by the next few people behind me, then fell back to about 16th.
Although the car felt good, had great drive off the corner, having brake issue wasn’t helping and making it a long race!
At lap 147 I would lose one of my first goals and be put a lap down by the leader, the 17. I raced the leaders respectfully and moved over as each approached me, It was tough to even continue racing as the pack was spread out pretty evenly so it felt like I rarely left the inside lane of the racetrack.
After the race, we found the brake issue. I am happy with our effort, even though I’m hungry for more. This was our teams second APC race and first time doing 200 laps, with this field being this stout and finishing the race with a clean car- I’m happy.
I was very blessed to have all the support I do, I had David and Margaret from Mobil 1 and Steve Burton From Steve Burton Contracting and his kids as well as Bill and Lisa with Orillia Metal Fabrication there to watch. I also had my boy friend Jake and his family and crew supporting our program from the infield during the race as they had motor issues and weren’t able to race. Also had our Family Friends Randal and Em supporting us. Plus our Crew Member Paul brought an absolute BBQ Feast for all of our team- thanks to everyone who has been supporting me through the whole process of learning a new car. We are excited for fan appreciation this weekend!
Congrats the Josh Stade on the win.
This weekend we would race for the second time with the APC Series. Our first event with them was in May and my race ended early when the alternator went on the car. Our goal tonight was to finish the race, stay on the lead lap and keep it clean.
We qualified 16th and would start in that position. On the initial start, the car was fast and we immediately started picking up spots on the outside. We were up to 13th by lap 4.
At that time, there was a car ahead of us that slowed the progress and we couldn’t move up any further on the outside and the inside lane was starting to move ahead now so we fell back and dropped in where we could and then just settled in to 17th to ride out some laps. Passed the 97 car and about 10 laps later, the 10 car went for a solo spin to bring out the caution on 74.
We would pit under this caution and make a small air pressure adjustment. I was having brake issues, other than that, the car felt good.
They threw the caution at lap 102 for the halfway break. I would restart the race in 7th after some of the field pitted. I was excited for this big jump up as, although I was struggling with the brakes, I had been really easy on the tires and felt that I could at least hold on to a top 10. We started on the inside row and immediately the 18 car thought it was time to make up spots, so I was put three wide, in a tight pack, first lap of the restart. Generally I’d give it a few laps before making aggressive moves mid pack- but that's just me! I fell back to 11th after a ton of aggressive moves made by the next few people behind me, then fell back to about 16th.
Although the car felt good, had great drive off the corner, having brake issue wasn’t helping and making it a long race!
At lap 147 I would lose one of my first goals and be put a lap down by the leader, the 17. I raced the leaders respectfully and moved over as each approached me, It was tough to even continue racing as the pack was spread out pretty evenly so it felt like I rarely left the inside lane of the racetrack.
After the race, we found the brake issue. I am happy with our effort, even though I’m hungry for more. This was our teams second APC race and first time doing 200 laps, with this field being this stout and finishing the race with a clean car- I’m happy.
I was very blessed to have all the support I do, I had David and Margaret from Mobil 1 and Steve Burton From Steve Burton Contracting and his kids as well as Bill and Lisa with Orillia Metal Fabrication there to watch. I also had my boy friend Jake and his family and crew supporting our program from the infield during the race as they had motor issues and weren’t able to race. Also had our Family Friends Randal and Em supporting us. Plus our Crew Member Paul brought an absolute BBQ Feast for all of our team- thanks to everyone who has been supporting me through the whole process of learning a new car. We are excited for fan appreciation this weekend!
Congrats the Josh Stade on the win.
Photo by Ben Stott Photography
August 4/24 - Flying Frank 49
Running a Saturday night show with a tire rule and having to figure out a race strategy can be challenging. Especially after I lost a tire a couple weeks ago on track when we were hit in the LR, essentially shredding the tire. At this point in the season we’re really needing to think about how our inventory will last the remainder of the year, we pulled out the best 4 we could find and crossed our fingers. The car was all over the place during practice and really tough to figure out what we would need come feature time- I think we did a decent job at that but with the older tires we were just not as fast as we needed it to be.
We started 10th and on the start I immediately fell back to 12th. Over the next 8 laps, I moved back up to 11. The race ran green until lap 41. The 16 car was trying to make a pass for the lead. The 82 was outside of the 14 car and the 16 tried to go underneath both of them and ended up spinning the lapped 14 car. They would send the 16 to the rear of the field, but he opted to end his day and he want to the pits. The 60, 23, 39 and 14 would all pit.
The 10 would try to make a fight for the win, attempting to pass the 82 on the restart, but the top 3 all touched a bit (as it looked from my seat) which allowed the 82 to shoot out to the lead. I was actually pretty happy with the car until the caution other than I did feel the brakes were really going away. I fell back 2 spots during this and would finish the race with no brakes and an 8th place finish.
Congrats to Samantha Shaw on her dominating night, winning both the pole and her first late model feature race.
Next week, I am back at Sunset Speedway with the APC racing series for 200 laps.
Running a Saturday night show with a tire rule and having to figure out a race strategy can be challenging. Especially after I lost a tire a couple weeks ago on track when we were hit in the LR, essentially shredding the tire. At this point in the season we’re really needing to think about how our inventory will last the remainder of the year, we pulled out the best 4 we could find and crossed our fingers. The car was all over the place during practice and really tough to figure out what we would need come feature time- I think we did a decent job at that but with the older tires we were just not as fast as we needed it to be.
We started 10th and on the start I immediately fell back to 12th. Over the next 8 laps, I moved back up to 11. The race ran green until lap 41. The 16 car was trying to make a pass for the lead. The 82 was outside of the 14 car and the 16 tried to go underneath both of them and ended up spinning the lapped 14 car. They would send the 16 to the rear of the field, but he opted to end his day and he want to the pits. The 60, 23, 39 and 14 would all pit.
The 10 would try to make a fight for the win, attempting to pass the 82 on the restart, but the top 3 all touched a bit (as it looked from my seat) which allowed the 82 to shoot out to the lead. I was actually pretty happy with the car until the caution other than I did feel the brakes were really going away. I fell back 2 spots during this and would finish the race with no brakes and an 8th place finish.
Congrats to Samantha Shaw on her dominating night, winning both the pole and her first late model feature race.
Next week, I am back at Sunset Speedway with the APC racing series for 200 laps.
Photo by Ben Stott Photography
July 27/24 - Jr Hanley Classic
Our car was a lot better in practice than it may have showed since we were on quite old tires but I couldn't help but think there was just something missing.
Practice showed us last, so we were in the first group for qualifying. We would go out with Holdaway, Shepherd and Bentley and manage fast time with a 14.727 lap. The second qualifying group was Hallyburton, Timm, Hanley and Lawrence, and we managed to stay on the pole until the last lap of this group, when Jo Lawrence would bump with me a lap of 14.653. After all groups were done, we would fall to 10th, with Jake Sheridan taking the pole for the night. Jakes pole time was 14.552 and we were 14.727 in 10th, a difference of 0.175 seconds. We have a lot of room to grow with this car, but I feel we are making gains with the new car every week and we've been better in our qualifying efforts this season!
We started the race in 10th and the outside lane didn’t go very well and we fell back to 13th by lap 4. Over the next 5 laps we would race between 11th and 12th. My car was not great so, fortunately for me, when Holdaway spun off corner 2 to bring out the caution on lap 47 we were able to come into the pits and after an air pressure adjustment and came out of the pits in 9th.
The first half of the race had a ton of really close, door to door racing. I fell back to 12th place, shortly after that, Howse and Maltese touch on the front straight and Maltese has a flat, bringing out the next caution. We’d get back to racing and not long after, on lap 59, Zardo would get into Shaw and spin her in corner 1. Spencer-Walt would go to the pits at this time, giving up he lead. He would barely make it back out of the pits before the green flew.
I restarted 9th again and quickly fell back to 13th, by lap 90, we were back up to 10th. We had the competition Caution and with 72 laps to go and the 41, 23, 10 and 17 went to pits. Some cars stopped for fuel, but we did not need to, so we lined back up 10th on the outside. In hindsight, I should have taken the inside. I ended up getting passed by Spencer-Walt and then passed Timm again, to end the race in 9th. Top five were Howse, Lawrence, Baker, Sheridan and Spencer-Walt.
This was the longest race I have completed and felt good after the race. We are learning what adjustments to make on this car and feel we are improving each week. In the field we run in, a top ten is great at this point. Looking forward to the Frank Davey Memorial race Sunday August 2nd and then we will be out with the APC series at Sunset Speedway on August 10th for another 200 lap feature.
For those that couldn’t make it, Petal Power was on scene to film the race, when you can view below. Enjoy!
Our car was a lot better in practice than it may have showed since we were on quite old tires but I couldn't help but think there was just something missing.
Practice showed us last, so we were in the first group for qualifying. We would go out with Holdaway, Shepherd and Bentley and manage fast time with a 14.727 lap. The second qualifying group was Hallyburton, Timm, Hanley and Lawrence, and we managed to stay on the pole until the last lap of this group, when Jo Lawrence would bump with me a lap of 14.653. After all groups were done, we would fall to 10th, with Jake Sheridan taking the pole for the night. Jakes pole time was 14.552 and we were 14.727 in 10th, a difference of 0.175 seconds. We have a lot of room to grow with this car, but I feel we are making gains with the new car every week and we've been better in our qualifying efforts this season!
We started the race in 10th and the outside lane didn’t go very well and we fell back to 13th by lap 4. Over the next 5 laps we would race between 11th and 12th. My car was not great so, fortunately for me, when Holdaway spun off corner 2 to bring out the caution on lap 47 we were able to come into the pits and after an air pressure adjustment and came out of the pits in 9th.
The first half of the race had a ton of really close, door to door racing. I fell back to 12th place, shortly after that, Howse and Maltese touch on the front straight and Maltese has a flat, bringing out the next caution. We’d get back to racing and not long after, on lap 59, Zardo would get into Shaw and spin her in corner 1. Spencer-Walt would go to the pits at this time, giving up he lead. He would barely make it back out of the pits before the green flew.
I restarted 9th again and quickly fell back to 13th, by lap 90, we were back up to 10th. We had the competition Caution and with 72 laps to go and the 41, 23, 10 and 17 went to pits. Some cars stopped for fuel, but we did not need to, so we lined back up 10th on the outside. In hindsight, I should have taken the inside. I ended up getting passed by Spencer-Walt and then passed Timm again, to end the race in 9th. Top five were Howse, Lawrence, Baker, Sheridan and Spencer-Walt.
This was the longest race I have completed and felt good after the race. We are learning what adjustments to make on this car and feel we are improving each week. In the field we run in, a top ten is great at this point. Looking forward to the Frank Davey Memorial race Sunday August 2nd and then we will be out with the APC series at Sunset Speedway on August 10th for another 200 lap feature.
For those that couldn’t make it, Petal Power was on scene to film the race, when you can view below. Enjoy!
July 20.24 - Speed is Forever
The weekend started out great. We started a new marketing partnership and are happy to have Connell’s Construction, from Peterborough, on board for the remainder of the 2024 season. Will be fun having Kurtis with us!
We were running on older tires this week and weren’t sure how qualifying would go, but surprisingly, we were still able to pull off the 5th quickest time and then started 4th in the feature.
Unfortunately the outside line would fall back in the opening laps and I would drop back to 6th or 7th early. Over the first 27 laps, I would make my way back up to 5th, battle with a couple people and fall back to 7th when the caution came out for the spinning 71 car. The 71 and 8 would go to the back for being involved cars. The 31, 71, 8 and 39 had been battling for a number of laps, 3 and 4 wide at times and eventually the caution came out.
I would restart in 5th. I battled with the 23 for a number of laps before dropping back to 6th. The 8 car would pass me next putting me back to 7th.
With 8 laps to go, the 71 dove inside and my left rear tire and his right front tire locked, it shredded my tire, but we did manage to get separated. I’m honestly not sure how the next events unfolded but after slowing down and becoming disconnected the 71 ended up flying up and over the left front fender, as shown in the great photos captured by Ashley McCubbin. Our car was towed off and we were expecting a lot of damage, but it looked good, the front end was taped up and we changed the tire and went back on track to finish the race 10th.
The driver of the 71 was injured, suffering a broken back, and will be out for the rest of the season. Cory is a great competitor and friend and we hope he has a speedy recovery and is back at the track soon. He also supports short track racing over so many divisions and it will be a bummer to lose him for the remainder of the season, however he’s made plans for his OSS car to have a substitute driver for the remainder of the year- hopefully he’s able to do that for the late model as well!
Coming up is the 172 lap JR Hanley Classic this coming weekend. It should be a huge show with tons of great racing! Really looking forward to having the car back together and hopefully even quicker than it’s been the last few weeks!
Thanks again to everyone who asked if I was okay and to the teams that helped in the pits!
July 20.24 - Speed is Forever
The weekend started out great. We started a new marketing partnership and are happy to have Connell’s Construction, from Peterborough, on board for the remainder of the 2024 season. Will be fun having Kurtis with us!
We were running on older tires this week and weren’t sure how qualifying would go, but surprisingly, we were still able to pull off the 5th quickest time and then started 4th in the feature.
Unfortunately the outside line would fall back in the opening laps and I would drop back to 6th or 7th early. Over the first 27 laps, I would make my way back up to 5th, battle with a couple people and fall back to 7th when the caution came out for the spinning 71 car. The 71 and 8 would go to the back for being involved cars. The 31, 71, 8 and 39 had been battling for a number of laps, 3 and 4 wide at times and eventually the caution came out.
I would restart in 5th. I battled with the 23 for a number of laps before dropping back to 6th. The 8 car would pass me next putting me back to 7th.
With 8 laps to go, the 71 dove inside and my left rear tire and his right front tire locked, it shredded my tire, but we did manage to get separated. I’m honestly not sure how the next events unfolded but after slowing down and becoming disconnected the 71 ended up flying up and over the left front fender, as shown in the great photos captured by Ashley McCubbin. Our car was towed off and we were expecting a lot of damage, but it looked good, the front end was taped up and we changed the tire and went back on track to finish the race 10th.
The driver of the 71 was injured, suffering a broken back, and will be out for the rest of the season. Cory is a great competitor and friend and we hope he has a speedy recovery and is back at the track soon. He also supports short track racing over so many divisions and it will be a bummer to lose him for the remainder of the season, however he’s made plans for his OSS car to have a substitute driver for the remainder of the year- hopefully he’s able to do that for the late model as well!
Coming up is the 172 lap JR Hanley Classic this coming weekend. It should be a huge show with tons of great racing! Really looking forward to having the car back together and hopefully even quicker than it’s been the last few weeks!
Thanks again to everyone who asked if I was okay and to the teams that helped in the pits!
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July 6/24 - Fight under the Lights
W
Well, this was officially our 3rd race and it went pretty well! Having 3 rain outs this year and not finishing the APC race means we haven’t really raced that much!
Practice went decent but I really wasn’t sure what changes to make on the car as it was one of those days where nothing helped. I was fighting a loose in and tight middle race car.
This was a 50 lap event where we qualified 3rd out of 15 cars which we were very happy with, then during the feature we ran the second fastest lap of the race, the only faster lap than us was put down by the winner so that’s also an accomplishment for our books!
When it came down to the feature my start was off, so I fell back about a car length immediately and fell to fourth. Over the next few laps I would get passed by 2 more cars, the 46 and 10. Here I would run for the remainder of the race about 6 car lengths back from those 2 cars battling! As the race progressed caution free the two drivers ahead of me fighting really hard for the fourth spot I gained on them lap after lap until I was racing right with them.
About 7 to go is when I started battling with them and crossed the line barely in sixth after a clean race side by side with the 10. I’ll call that a successful night for our team!
We’re back July 20 for another 50 lap event! Hope to see you there.
W
Well, this was officially our 3rd race and it went pretty well! Having 3 rain outs this year and not finishing the APC race means we haven’t really raced that much!
Practice went decent but I really wasn’t sure what changes to make on the car as it was one of those days where nothing helped. I was fighting a loose in and tight middle race car.
This was a 50 lap event where we qualified 3rd out of 15 cars which we were very happy with, then during the feature we ran the second fastest lap of the race, the only faster lap than us was put down by the winner so that’s also an accomplishment for our books!
When it came down to the feature my start was off, so I fell back about a car length immediately and fell to fourth. Over the next few laps I would get passed by 2 more cars, the 46 and 10. Here I would run for the remainder of the race about 6 car lengths back from those 2 cars battling! As the race progressed caution free the two drivers ahead of me fighting really hard for the fourth spot I gained on them lap after lap until I was racing right with them.
About 7 to go is when I started battling with them and crossed the line barely in sixth after a clean race side by side with the 10. I’ll call that a successful night for our team!
We’re back July 20 for another 50 lap event! Hope to see you there.
May 18, 2024 - APC Debut - Spring Velocity - Dayco 100
It’s been quite a month for us as May was super busy with racing, work and family - so here is the update from our APC United Racing Series debut on the May long weekend at Sunset Speedway.
The event was a big change from what we were used to, with the pre-practice and qualifying tech, body templates and such we were busy all day! The event also had 1 long practice session which I enjoyed so we could try a lot of different things and tweak the car slightly to get it where we wanted to.
After practice we were really happy with the car and headed out to qualify, which as to be expected with the APC Series, was tight!
We ended up qualifying 15th out of 19 cars and at first I wasn't too happy with our qualifying attempt, but after taking a closer look and noticing we were less than 2 tenths of a second off the pole and less than half a tenth out of the top ten… there wasn't much more we could expect. Especially because I felt like we did have a really great car!
Heading into the feature, it was definitely more rough than a normal Saturday night, but it wasn't malicious, just 20 people wanting the same spot on the race track! It was a really fun and exciting 40 laps before I had to pull off due to a loss of power. After diagnosing our car at the track post race we deemed it to be both the battery and the alternator that were having issues - those 2 things together unfortunately ended our APC debut. I feel confident in saying that we had a great long run car as the car was only handling better as the laps ticked away.
Congratulations to JR Farrelly on his first APC win, it was an epic battle to the end of the Dayco 100 so if I was out of the car for half the race, at least this was a great race to watch!
We’re looking forward to heading back to Sunset on June 22nd for our next event, as May 25th was rained out for us as well.
If you are a fan of my Pro Late Model racing, I'm sure you will continue to follow the APC United Racing Series - so if you aren't able to make the events live keep following us as Kendra Adams Motorsports will be giving away a link to one follower each week in order to watch the APC event FREE on Racing America
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Season Opener - Steve Slaughter Classic - May 4/24
This weekend was the season opener for Sunset Speedway, and I have to say the Steve Slaughter classic was a shock for our team, in the best way possible, I couldn't have hoped for a better run than we had!
In qualifying we were the first team to roll out and stayed within the top five until the last session, ending with a 6th place qualifying run - watching all the groups of cars roll out and seeing our team stay near the top of the leader board until the very last lap of the last session was not on my list of expected things to happen opening night. Prior to qualifying I stood at the edge of my trailer and said to my dad - "There isn't one car I can see right now who I would feel confident saying i'm going to beat them tonight." Wow, did qualifying ever shake that feeling up for me!!
The feature started straight up, so we rolled off 6th outside of Kyle Steckly. On lap 12 there was a caution brought out by a spin of the 71 car, here i would make my first mistake.
Every car ahead of me and myself chose our running order for position when it came to the choose cone, so i would be outside the 22 again. Coming to the start finish line to take the green flag, the caution lights flashed instead of going straight to green, so I slowed up. Unfortunately this allowed 2 cars to pass me on the inside lane and I would fall back to the 8th position.
About halfway through the race Jason Hathaway would make quick work passing us, knocking us back to the 9th spot, and shortly after that Gord Shepherd would do the same.
With 30 to go there would be some door to door contact between the 16 and I, and a lap or so later heavy contact with him and my rear bumper, I gathered the car after being sideways out of turn 4 and would run in the 11th position for the remainder of the race.
With only 1 caution early on most of the field was single file and spread out, i would get lapped by the top 2 with 20 laps to go. My second mistake of the night would be getting into turn 1 a little too hard and making contact with the 8 of Howse while he was lapping me. Thanks for accepting my apology!!
I was exhausted after a long green flag run and quickly realized, wow, these pro late models are a lot harder to drive as the race goes on, compared to the limited late model. The fall off on the tires (due to so much more power) was insane, and made the handling much different.
Finishing just outside the top 10 in our first event which had 23 cars in attendance far exceeded my expectations. I'm extremely excited to head back to Sunset Speedway this weekend for a regular Saturday night show, 50 laps coming up this weekend May 11th, 2024. We have a few notes that should help us in the next event, and we're excited to do it again!
If you read this weekends blog post - Like the post of this link and send me a DM on Kendra Adams Motorsports Facebook! We're going to be giving away some Mobil 1 swag to a random lucky reader!
If you missed the race, you can watch the video on youtube. You can find a link to the video, shared by StrawnC077 on the race video page HERE.
Pre-Race Season
We are excited for the 2024 Season!! It's going to be an amazing year with the new car, it's Mobil 1's 50th anniversary and it is my 10th anniversary with Mobil 1 as my sponsor.
With the quick sale of my limited late model and a whole lot of sponsorship help, we were able to buy a new to us McColl pro late model!
We are really looking forward to driving this car, by far the nicest car I've ever owned. It will be a learning curve in the beginning as it is different than what I am used to, but we'll figure it out.
We have sponsorship to get us halfway through the season and are therefore currently looking for some new Marketing Partners to help take us to the end of the season. If you are interested, or know anyone that would like to be a part of our team, please do not hesitate to contact us.
2024 is the 50th anniversary for Mobil 1, and I am excited to announce that Mobil 1 is back in 2024 as my primary sponsor, making this our 10th anniversary together as well. Its a big year for us, together!
Mobil 1 sponsorship is a big part of why we were able to upgrade our car this year to a Pro Late Model. They have been so supportive over the years, so easy to work with, and the cliche statement, they have become family to me. I walk into 2024 hoping to provide Mobil 1 and all my sponsors with a great year. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to continue this journey. We’ll have some fun things planned to celebrate this year with these two anniversaries.
Mobil 1 sponsorship is a big part of why we were able to upgrade our car this year to a Pro Late Model. They have been so supportive over the years, so easy to work with, and the cliche statement, they have become family to me. I walk into 2024 hoping to provide Mobil 1 and all my sponsors with a great year. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to continue this journey. We’ll have some fun things planned to celebrate this year with these two anniversaries.
