Pollard Fights Tough Luck in Five Flags – Gresham Double Header

Flat Tire at Five Flags Derails Dominating Performance and Engine Woes Defeats GMP Race

Bubba Pollard took on a stout double-header this past weekend.  Pollard hit the Five Flags Speedway Allen Turner Hyundai 100 on Friday night and the Gresham Motorsports Park US Auto Sales 100 on Saturday night.  Unfortunately bad luck struck Pollard and his Atlanta Thrifty Nickel machine in both Pro Late Model events.

On Friday night, at Five Flags Speedway, a flat tire shortened Pollard’s dominating performance.  Although he rebounded from going two laps down to race his way back up to the fifth spot, he wasn’t able to make it back up to the front to regain the lead, which is where he believes his Ronnie Sanders #18 should have been.

“The motor was running hot, so I had to keep it cool under caution,” said Pollard.  “I wasn’t able to keep the tires clean or even dodge some of the wrecks and then we just had a flat (tire).  It’s just a part of racing.  Overall we had a really fast racecar tonight, by far one of the best Pro (LM) cars we’ve had in a while.  So even though we struggled, we are getting better here. 

We were leading the race with 30-to-go and just had a flat tire; I guess we ran over some debris on the racetrack.  I think that pretty much did us in because then we had to make up two laps.  We got the two laps back and we had a real good car to come back and finish fifth, but we just didn’t have the time to get back up front.”

On Saturday night at Gresham Motorsports Park, after starting on the pole and leading early, engine issues ended Pollard’s night early in his #08 Pro Late Model.

“Again, more bad luck tonight,” said Pollard.  “I had a really good car and we just we were just riding.  The other guys up front wanted to go a little harder than I did that early in the race so I was just taking it easy and then on the restart the spark plug wire melted on the header and shortened our night.”

This weekend Pollard will head back to the Gulf Coast of the US for the Pro Late Model 100 at Mobile International Speedway (AL) on Saturday night, April 30th.