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Kosiski Competes In Yankee Championship Night

Andrew Kosiski and Team 53 made the long trip east to the 300 Raceway - Farley, Iowa Friday for night one of the 43rd Annual Yankee Dirt Track Classic. Kosiski was able to make it through the calamity of the 35 lap main event to finish in sixth position.

Qualifying time trial seen the All Makes Collision Center, Certified Transmission, Kosiski Auto Parts, Super Clean No. 53 lay down the 13th fastest lap out of 50 cars with a time of 16.098. This would line Andrew up on the outside of row two for the heat race where he would jump in the second position on lap one. Kosiski ran in the tire tracks of race leader Corey Dumpert for the first few laps until trying the inside line to make the pass. AK worked on Dumpert’s No. 6 until lap seven when Jason Rauen made an unbelievable run on the top side passing both the front runners. Kosiski would take the checkers in third, thus lining him up fourth row outside in the 35 lap main event.

Lap one, corner one of the A feature was hectic as fifth place starter Dave Eckrich was sent into the spin cycle entering the corner. Andrew’s left side sheet metal would get ripped up in the accident but he would make it through as many cars piled into the wreck. As the race restarted Kosiski settled into the 7th position until the caution flew on lap 6; that ensuing restart would see more trouble for the No. 53 as Jeff Tharp pushed coming off the corner forcing Andrew to make heavy contact with the outside wall. Losing part of the spoiler and quarter panel Kosiski continued on racing in the 7th position; making his way up to 5th due to flat tires by both Tad Pospisil and Andy Eckrich, Andrew stayed in line the rest of the way until the final lap when Ben Schaller was able to sneak by to get the spot, giving Andrew and Team 53 a 6th place finish.

Kosiski rolled into night two of the Yankee Dirt Track Classic with momentum from his 6th place finish Friday night, but a poor qualifying time set the stage for a night that ended with a 24th place finish.

Kosiski opened the evening with a qualifying time of 16.213 seconds which was 23rd fastest overall. With the competitiveness of the Malvern Bank / Hoker Trucking LLC Super Late Model Racing (SLMR) Series a lap two tenths of a second better would have been good enough for a top ten effort, but that result landed Andrew starting outside front row of the heat race.

In the heat race AK jumped to the early lead over Logan Duffy in turns one and two. Kosiski then led the first seven laps until Bill Leighton Jr. found grip in the outside lane on the final corner to edge Andrew at the checkers. Finishing 2nd sent him to the B feature where he would start on the pole and finish runner up to Andy Eckrich to secure the last transfer spot to the main event.

With 50 laps on the board and $10,000 on the line Kosiski had a task at hand. Starting 22nd the race went into a green flag run to start the event. Not gaining any positions and being lapped on lap 12 Andrew retired from the event on lap 14 to save his equipment for the NASCAR Championship Sunday race at I-80 Speedway. Official results gave AK a 24th place finish.

For more results from these events, please visit www.SLMRSeries.com.

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