By: Chris Santos
11/16/22…Roseburg Oregon: On Thursday Night, Casey Schmitz & his team would make the trip to Roseburg Oregon to run in the 2022 Timber 50. A strong field of 48 Open 500 Outlaw Karts would be in the pit area on Thursday Night, with a chance to lock into the Saturday show.
He would start his night out in qualifying where he would go out in the 1st of two groups. He would be the 7th car out and he looked to lay down a solid lap. However, he would only end up 14th quick out of the 24 Open 500 Outlaw Karts in his group.
The heat race would see him roll off from the 5th position on the inside of row 3. He would end up going forward in the heat race as after starting 5th, he would gain 1 spot and finish in the 5th position in his heat.
Casey would then start in the 6th spot in his qualifier as he would need to gain spots to put himself into a good spot to make the feature. He would end up finishing where he started in the 6th spot & put himself in the B-main.
In the B-main, Casey would roll off from the inside of row 6 in the 11th spot. Starting 11th, he would make moves. Casey would get himself into a transfer spot as he would battle up to 2nd where he would finish. However he would end up having issues and being a DNS for the feature.
Friday Night, Casey would return to the Roseburg Indoor as he would look to improve off of his Thursday Night effort. Another solid field of 46 Open 500 Outlaw Karts would be in attendance as they looked to better themselves in night 2.
This time he would be one of the very last cars out in the first group. He would end up improving a lot from his Thursday Night qualifying. This time Casey would end up 6th out of the 23 Open 500 Outlaw Karts that were in his group.
His heat race would see him start on the inside of the 2nd row in the 3rd starting spot. Starting 3rd, he would end up finishing where he started in the 3rd spot and he would move on to his qualifier.
Casey would roll off from the 4th position on the outside of row number 2. Starting 4th, he would end up having issues in his qualifier. Unfortunately his issues would bring the qualifier to an end and his night to an end.
Saturday Night, Casey would return for the final night of the 2022 Timber 50. This time there would be no qualifying or heat races as they would get straight into the qualifiers.
He would start off from the 3rd spot on the inside of row 2 in his qualifier, as he would need to advance as much spots as possible to put himself in a solid spot. He would end up finishing where he started in the 3rd spot and heading to the B-main.
Only 4 cars would transfer from the B-main event and Casey had work to do rolling off from 9th. Starting 9th, he would start moving, as he would quickly find himself in a transfer. He would grab the lead & go on to win the B-main event and transfer to the feature.
The feature would have Casey starting on the inside of row 7 in the 13th spot. Starting 13th, he would speed his speed in the feature. By the halfway point he would find himself in the 5th spot. Casey would go on to hold on & finish in the 5th position.
Overall it was a great way to end the weekend for Casey. He would grab a top-5 in one of the biggest Outlaw Kart races on the west coast. Casey showed speed all weekend & ended his night on a high note.
Next Race: TBA