Last weekend, Sarah Cornett-Ching left her Summerland, British Columbia home after a full day at work, and made the long eight hour trek across the province to Williams Lake, BC for her first ever appearance at Thunder Mountain Speedway for the Heartland Toyota 100 lap ARCA West Series event.
After arriving at the track early on Saturday morning, Cornett-Ching walked the tricky, 3/8th mile looking for the fastest way around the track that is known for its distinctive 50 feet wide corners that are banked 12 degrees with 3.5 degree banking on the straights and is shaped to provide a longer straight away between turns three and four than turns one and two.
With no experience at the track at all, Sarah Cornett-Ching had a tough time finding the fast lane around the track in the first practice session especially in turn three and four. The more laps she turned in the first practice the car felt faster, but the lap times were still showing that she was a full second off the fastest time as she turned a lap of 16.9. In the second session, with new tires on the car, she was able to shave 3 tenths of a second off her time.
“Just before qualifying, I was able to talk to Korbin Thomas, who is a three time series champion, and offered up some great advice on how to drive the track”, says Cornett-Ching. “He was able to help by guiding me to what line to run on the track”.
As she lined up for qualifying, Cornett-Ching was anxious to put her advice from Korbin Thomas to the test. Although the car was loose in the corners due to low air pressures, she still managed to shave nearly four tenths of a second off her lap times by running a 16.217, and was now just three tenths of a second off the fast time.
Despite the track having no top groove at all, Cornett-Ching was able to move up through her 15 lap qualifying heat, and at the checkered flag, she had moved up to fifth place.
“It was a pretty tough race with no top lane at all. I pretty much had to wait for someone to make a mistake and slide up the track, or move them out of the way”, comments Cornett-Ching after the qualifier.
Up next was the Heartland Toyota 100 ARCA West Series main event, and for Cornett-Ching, she was looking to gain some valuable experience at the track, and bring the car home in one piece. Unfortunately, trouble started early as a slower car virtually come to a stop right in the middle of the groove and she got in the back of the car, the race stayed green, but only for a few moments later, when another car made contact with her, causing him to get a right front flat, lose control and hit the front straightaway wall. Cornett-Ching was sideways in the grass, but managed to gather the car back up after the contact was made. Without a completed lap yet, they restarted the race, but the troubles continued, as another car came down across the nose of her car forcing her to the bottom of the track. As this happened, the car hit the bumps on the inside of the corner and the back end came around and she was tagged in the left front, again in the right front and right side door. The crash ended her day early.
“We broke the left front tie rod on the first hit, and tore up the rest of the front end with the hit to the right front”, says a disappointed Cornett-Ching. “We have a lot of work to do before the next race”.
After a lot of hard work in the race shop, Sarah Cornett-Ching will be back at the track this coming Saturday, June 4th, as she makes her ASA Racing debut at the Motoplex in Vernon, BC.
Sarah Cornett-Ching began racing at the age of 12 at Penticton Speedway in British Columbia. She was first introduced to the sport while crewing for her Dad's sportsman car at 10 years old. She got her first racecar, (a 1989 Cavalier) which she raced for 3 years at Penticton Speedway winning two championships.
Sarah was then offered sponsorship by Aaron’s to run in the NASCAR Whelen All American Street Stock Series in Vernon, B.C. After running her first year, Sarah was given an opportunity to drive the Finish Line Race Products house car for the 2009 West Coast Sportsman Series season, she finished 6th overall in the series and won Rookie of the Year. By 2010 Sarah had been running a Street Stock and Sportsman car every race night.
This season, Sarah Cornett-Ching is planning to run the full ARCA West Regional traveling series in British Columbia as well as trying to find sponsorship to run in the NASCAR Canadian Tire series events in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Vernon, BC later this year.
Since 2005, Cornett-Ching has racked up a pile of awards, including Most Aspiring driver as well as Champion in her division that year. Two years later, after moving up a class, she claimed the championship again. In 2008 she claimed her first ever top five finish in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series, and the following year she finished third overall in the series points standings. In addition to here third place in points, she also claimed awards for Most Improved driver, Most Dedicated to the Sport and West Coast Sportsman Rookie of the Year Award. Last season she claimed fifth place in points in both the Okanagen Street Stock Series and the West Coast Sportsman Series. She was also named Most Improved Driver and Most Dedicated Driver of the West Coast Sportsman Series.
For more information on Sarah Cornett-Ching and to follow her racing accomplishments, please visit her website, www.sccracing.com or visit her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sccracing.
Sarah Cornett-Ching, of Summerland, BC is hoping to secure sponsorship to run the two NASCAR Canadian Tire Series events later this year in Western Canada. (SCCRacing Photos).
From Craig Revelle – Finish Line Web Design
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