Kellen Chadwick Has Tough Weekend In Calistoga
Kellen Chadwick and the crew headed to Calistoga Speedway over Memorial Day weekend to compete at the historic racing facility. On Saturday, Kellen's night ended prematurely, as another drive hit the right rear of his car, sending the rear end airborn in his heat race. After surverying the damage, the team realized that the rear end of the car was bent, in addition to the other damage sustained in the wreck. He would sit out the remainder of the night.
On Sunday, things were looking better. Kellen was able to win his heat race and would start on the pole of the 20 lap feature. Kellen quickly grabbed the lead in the feature and opened a comfortable lead over Nick DeCarlo and great friend Ryan McDaniel. A caution erased his lead and McDaniel was now on his rear bumper. After putting on an exciting battle for the lead over several laps, McDaniel was able to motor by and go on to win. Kellen would end up fourth.
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Kellen interview from DirtCast.com (May 2009)
Kellen Back Home - 2009 Season Over
Kellen returned home after spending nearly 4 weeks on the road. Kellen found some success during the grueling stretch, competing in some of the biggest events of 2009. Things started poorly in New Mexico. Just as Kellen was scheduled to take the track for a preliminary feature (which could have locked him into the $15,000 to win race), the car would not start. He had won his heat in the UMP Modified on Friday and had a good starting spot for the preliminary feature. He missed the start of that race with a defective battery. That put Kellen behind for the remainder of the weekend. He missed Sunday's feature.
Kellen then headed over to Las Vegas for the IMCA Duel In The Desert. With 262 cars on hand, this was the second largest Modified show of the entire year (second only to the Boone Super Nationals). Kellen would face not only a top notch field of competitors, but he was also driving Michael Salazar's brand new car. The car had never been on the track before. There would no time shake down the car and work out the gremlins. Kellen ran well on both of the preliminary nights but had yet to secure a spot in the 24 car field. On the final night, Kellen had to win his 20 car B main in order to make the field. He did that and made the feature. Unfortunately, a flat tire mid-race ended his chance for a win. Just making this race would be comparable to making the feature in Boone. It is a huge accomplishmest to be among the top 10% of such a large field of highly talented drivers. However, Kellen was disappointed. He stated, "I'm here to win."
Kellen remained in Vegas for the following weekend, where he would jump back into his UMP Modified, as well as drive the Super Late Model. Another tough weekend was had, as Kellen blew his primary engine in the Modified. He made the A main in the Late Model and drove to a respectable 10th place finish in a tough field of cars. He managed to get his backup engine in the car for Saturday and drove the Modified to a 9th place finish.
The trip ended in Tucson, Arizona for the $15,000 to win Wes Hurst Memorial. A huge 93 car field of the best UMP and USMTS drivers were on hand to compete. Kellen was running good on Friday, with a chance to lock himself into Sunday's big feature. A broken brake line sent him hard into the wall. Luckily the car was not heavily damaged but he would have a tough road a head to make the feature on Sunday. Kellen continued to battle, making Saturday's preliminary feature but again failed to get into the feature. On Sunday, he had his work cut out for him. He ran a last chance race and transferred to the C main. He made it out of the C main into the B. The weekend, and the nearly 4 week trip, ended when Kellen was caught up in an accident in the B main.
Although the trip was long, Kellen showed that he can compete with the best of the best. He enjoyed going back to the Southwest, where he got to see many old friends who have not seen Kellen since his accident in February 2008. Kellen was disappointed because he wanted to win. But competing at the top levels of the sport can be frustrating because you have no room for error. A couple of mechanical gremlims bit him and he fought through them, still doing very well.
