X Motorsports - Official Site of Matt Sotomayor

Results from June 26th, 2009

A very promising night for a third straight win seemed possible, but the track just didn't come to us all night long. My uncle Al returned to the track and managed to pick pills 14 and 24 for the X Motorsports cars, the best I've had in a few races. I started on the pole of my heat only to realize that the track wasn't suited for my car. I tried to drive conservatively, only to be pushed into turn 1 and squeezed between a lapped car on the last lap to finish 2nd.

The dash seemed good as well with a pole start, unfortunately the inside line provided nothing and I was freight-trained into a 4th place finish.

I started 3rd in the main event for the 6th time of the season while my uncle started 7th after his 3rd place heat race finish. The #2 of Brandon Leonard and I had a great race, not touching or banging at all. We exchanged the lead a total of 6 times during restarts. The final restart with three laps to go was his and he drove off to his first win. I'm happy with 2nd place considering the track conditions and the clean racing up front. I was in the top 5 along side 4 Acruas which should tell you something about how they react to a dry track compared to the Preludes.

Next race is the Faster Pastor race where the #63x will be featured. I hope the pastors will have fun like they usually do, I know we do watching them.
07/01/2009 @ 3:14PM

Results from June 19th, 2009

It was quite an eventful day for us in the #63 pit. The track was the definition of dry slick from the heats until the main. It was very difficult for me in the heat race, I couldn't go anywhere. Mostly because we had our wet track set up in and I had zero grip. A mid-race yellow helped me secure a spot in the dash.

The dash was a huge disappointment. I had to start 6th because of my normal horrible pill draw of 167. We put our dry track set up together and it worked like a charm, helping me get up to 2nd place. I was trying to run down the #76 of Robert Gallaher when I hit the same turn 3 rut that popped a wheel for me 2 races ago. It ruined my best right front tire which made me a tad nervous going into the main event.

The main was a very odd one. I drove the most conservative race I've ever run because of the track conditions. It was a one-lane race for me, since the dry top-side didn't give me much to work with. Somehow I managed to sneak up to the top spot and held on throughout all the caution flags to get the win.

I have to thank all the fans that showed up last night. It was an amazing sight to see the stands almost overflowing with people. The cheers helped me forget about my pre-race jitters from the ugly dash result. Once again thanks a lot to all and we will see everyone on the 26th so we can do it all over again.

A big shout out to Jerlyn who has been keeping my morale up the past couple weeks along with the victories.
06/20/2009 @ 5:07PM

Results from June 12th, 2009

After a couple bad races, we finally got back on track with win number three. The track has definitely improved in terms of smoothness. There was only one rut that affected us as a class from my perspective, but not too badly.

Once again the 4-Bangers looked like veterans by going flag-to-flag without a single caution. It was a very clean race with little mayhem going on.

This was the first of a three week venture for our class and hopefully the next two will be just as good.

Also, all of us from the #63 pit would like to wish a fast and full recovery to those involved in late model accident.
06/14/2009 @ 12:26AM

Rainy weather doesn't hold us back

This week was cursed with rain at Ocean Speedway, so a few of the locals went off to Chowchilla to exercise our racing demons. We got there a little late and missed pill draw, so had to start in the back of the huge heat (13 cars total). Due to the weather, the track was nice and tacky throughout the night, not to mention very smooth.

I finished 3rd in the heat race which got me into the trophy dash, starting on the outside pole beside Joe Willoughby. The dash probably provided the best racing surface, with some slick spots still on the bottom of the track. After winning the dash, the main came rather quickly.

A few laps of battling in the beginning was fun with Joe Willoughby and Brandon Leonard. I stretched my lead out to about 4-5 car lengths until we all hit lapped traffic. Some of the cars gave the leaders some problems, but most of us came out clean and no yellows flew during the race. The trophy presentation was a bit of a surprise with everyone lining up on the front-stretch afterward and getting interviewed.

Overall Chowchilla was a fun place to race and I didn't feel as if the 4-Bangers were treated any differently than the other divisions which was a nice change. See everyone in 2 weeks at Ocean Speedway.
05/03/2009 @ 1:14PM

Back up

After a web server crash, X Motorsports is back up. I managed to recover most of the site, but was forced to remake many modifications that were made on the server itself without being backed up. Hopefully the full functionality is there and the site will continue to work properly.
04/16/2009 @ 2:34AM

Race 10

July 10, 2009

Ocean Speedway

Faster Pastor Race Twin Lakes Church
Demolition Derby
Ford Focus Midgets
American Stocks
4-Bangers
IMCA Modifieds

Races:	9
Top 5s:	7
Top 10s:	7
Wins:	6


Last Race - 06/26
Heat:	2nd
Dash:	4th
Main:	2nd