The final weekend of the 2020 IRA season may not have reflected Sean Rayhall’s improvement and overall pace over the season, but it did close the door on an impressive debut 410 Sprint Car season for the Georgia Native.
The Sippel Racin’ 14R would never really get up to full chat over the two-race weekend, with motor issues on the horsepower dependent half mile at the Dodge County Fairgrounds on Friday resulting in a DNF, and was mired in deep mid-field traffic at Plymouth on Saturday and was unable to march to the front on the tight, ⅓-mile bullring, but still brought the car home in one piece in 15th place.
However, a lackluster final weekend should not take anything away from Rayhall’s accomplishments this season. From struggling last year in limited competition, to fighting for top 10’s, heat race wins, and winning 2 preliminary features by the end of this 2020 campaign. All of this added up to a clear and concise victory for Rayhall in the Sage Fruit Top Apple Rookie of the Year Award points chase, beating fellow Rookie Jack Routson by over 500 points.
Here are some of Rayhall’s numbers from a stellar IRA Rookie season: (OVERALL)
Features Made: 17/22 (23)
Quick Times: 2 (2)
Top 15’s: 13 (15)
Top 10’s: 3 (4)
B Main Wins: 2 (2)
IRA Final Points Standing: 6th 2138 Points
Those are decent results for any driver in any series, let alone a rookie 410 Driver in only their 2nd year on dirt. Rayhall made massive strides over the course of the season in terms of learning and overall pace, and yet was also consistent, with an average finish of 10.7 across the 20 IRA Features run (excluding events at Park Jefferson and Jackson where Rayhall was a DNS in both features due to issues). A fantastic showing in a series where the top 10 drivers regularly took the fight to visiting National Level series and fought tooth and nail every night to dethrone now 10x Champion Bill Balog.
Over the IRA Season, the Bigg Golf/Big Machine Vodka 14R also picked up several outside shows. Running 2 Sprint Invaders 360 events, a Midwest Power Series 360 race while the IRA was at Cedar Lake, a Knoxville Weekly 410 Show, and several MSA 360 Sprints events as well. Along those lines, the Sippel Racin crew now looks south to USCS 360 competition to gain more seat/track time at some new facilities, and finish out 2020 on a high note.
“I’m extremely proud of my team and grateful for everyone involved with our program to capture Rookie of the Year in our first ever year of 410 competition.” Rayhall said. “The learning curve with switching to dirt, especially at this level of competition, is just massive. We definitely had our peaks and valleys this year but I think both our team and our partners have a lot to hold their heads high about. I can’t wait to continue our season in 2 weeks down south in USCS competition!”
As Sean said, the team now looks to the USCS 360 series in the southern United States to finish off their 2020 campaign. A quartet of weekends stretching from October to mid-November and from West Memphis, Arkansas to the USCS finale in Hendry, Florida will send the Sippel Racin’ 14R team to new tracks and new competition, but hopes are high for the crew as the 2020 racing season comes to a close.
Sean Rayhall Race Results
9/25 Dodge Co. Fairgrounds
Qualifying: 14th (out of 25 Cars)
Heat: S/5, F/6
Feature: S/16, F/22(DNF)
9/26 Plymouth Dirt Track
Qualifying: 13th (out of 29 Cars)
Heat: S/5, F/5
Feature: S/14, F/15
NEXT RACE:
October 9th, Riverside Int’l Speedway, West Memphis, AR, USCS 360 Sprints
Σχόλια