The True Value Modified Racing Series 2006 Rookie of the Year, Bobby Grigas III, returned to the ranks of the series to compete in the 100 lap race at Seekonk Speedway on Saturday, June 13th. Young Bobby Grigas had one of the top cars in practice and went on to win the first heat race. Starting on the pole, Grigas led the first 28 laps, but his car started to fade as the laps clicked on.
“We started on the front row a bunch of times here and I only finished fifth once,” said Grigas. “Now I got a sixth with this brand new team. That is phenomenal. Everybody is working hard and everybody is working together. If all goes well we are going to go to Thompson on Thursday. Hopefully we can do a lot better there. We did a great job here. I had fun and the car is in one piece. I did not break anything and did not hit the wall.”
“I had a lot of fun. We still have some work to do to the car, but all and all we made leaps and bounds of progress.”
This year the #09 race team has some new faces on their crew, but they worked like clockwork to get the car ready for racing and the tough competition that followed.
“I think that the team is working better and did a good job. Everybody is starting to gel more and they did an awesome job.”
After starting on the pole, Grigas started to back up on the track as his car got loose.
“The car just got super loose on me. It was kind of like just ride it out and hold on for dear life. All and all the car was not really bad. Was it a car to win? No”
As the end of the race zeroed in, Grigas made a move to pass for a top five finish but his car was not dialed in enough.
“I wish that I got that fifth. I tried driving around on the outside of the 82 car (Dave Berghman), but I was just as loose as he was so I could not really do much. Then at the end, Dachenhausen slammed it in there, but I ended up beating him out at the line. He came over and said that he was sorry. That he went for broke it was the last lap and it was a points thing. No harm, no foul. I am not going to be upset because these guys are racing for points. I am just glad that he did not wipe us out.”
After Thursday's TVMRS race at Thompson will Bobby Grigas run any more TVMRS races? “It is to be determined. Probably…actually, most likely. I really enjoyed myself here and the whole team enjoyed themselves. There was some pressure because you come here to win, but it is more of an enjoyable race. There was not a point battle. You come here to win, but sixth is not too shabby either.
After the race the team was taking notes from the day's lesson learned in hopes of returning to capture the $10,000 purse at Seekonk's July 1st race.
"If I could have added some more forward bite, we would have had a pretty good car. I think that was all that we lacked was a forward bite. We have what we came here with. We know what the car can do from lap 1 to 100, so if we could fix that problem for the next race, I think that we should have an awesome car to win. I think with the team and everybody working together we will have an awesome shot at the win.
“Half of my normal team is here. The other half is working and doing their family things. I have some good players and I am excited. Yes we had all the right people here for today. Today just was not our day. It is better than we had been doing."
