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After a solid 2006 campaign which included one win, ten top 5’s and twenty top 10’s in just 29 super late model starts, Matt Lux decided to hit the road in 2007 and follow the Mid-Atlantic Championship Series. Lux, from Franklin, PA had one goal in mind when he decided to follow the MACS tour, win the Rookie of the Year title. Matt used strong, consistent finishes all season to reach his goal of winning the rookie title as well as finishing the 2007 MACS tour fifth in the championship standings.
“We are very pleased with winning the Rookie of the Year,” quipped Lux. “The traveling was a big deal but we are getting used to it. We were at a lot of new tracks that we have never been to but one of the great things I noticed about the guys that run with this series; everyone is pretty helpful.”
Matt started his 2007 MACS season by setting the 11th quickest time in time trials at the tour’s opening event at Skyline Speedway in Stewart, OH. After a second place run in his heat and a third place finish in the dash, Lux started the first MACS event of 2007 in the third slot. Unfortunately Matt missed the setup in the main event but still crossed the finish line 12th. The following night the tour made their first of three appearances at the Coleman Family’s Portsmouth Raceway Park in Portsmouth, OH. Lux had a little misfortune early in the evening when in practice Matt hit a large hunk of clay damaging the front of his race car enough that his ‘M3’ Autosports team was forced to bring out their back-up car. A disappointing qualifying run led to a seventh place finish in his heat setting him up for the B-Main. Lux won his first B-Main of the year putting him in the 17th starting position for the feature event. Matt maneuvered his way as far up as 11th in the running order until a flat tire sent him to the pits. Lux returned to the event and fought his way to a 13th place finish.
The final race of the tour’s opening weekend was at Dan Russell’s Central PA Speedway in Clearfield, PA. Matt led a majority of his heat only to lose the lead to Gettysburg, PA’s Jeremy Miller on the final circuit to finish second and line him up 12th for the $5,000 to win main event. Lux missed the setup in the A-Main and settled for a solid 11th place finish. ‘The Franklin Flyer’ ended the first weekend of MACS competition 7th in the championship standings and led the MACS Rookie of the Year standings.
The series made their way north to Bobby Rohrer’s Eriez Speedway in Hammett, PA for the tour’s next stop. Matt qualified strong and finished third in his heat putting him eighth in feature event’s starting lineup. Lux ran the preferred bottom line the entire 50-lap race and came home with what would be his best MACS finish of the season, sixth. “We were very happy to leave Eriez with a sixth place finish, said the happy racer, “We’ll take it!” Two weeks later the MACS series visited the Keifer Motorsports operated Bedford Speedway in Bedford, PA. Matt would start 11th in his first visit to the speedway and finish a very respectable seventh place catapulting him to the fourth position in the MACS championship point standings and a 150 point lead over Dan Stone in the rookie point’s battle.
After some motor problems in a few non-sanctioned events Matt and team made the seven hour drive from Franklin, PA to Jamaica, VA for the MACS sanctioned ‘USA 100TM’ at Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway. Lux started his 25-lap qualifier on the outside pole and jumped out to the early lead. However, Matt’s Rocket Chassis got worse throughout the event and Lux was relegated to a eighth place finish. In the A-Main Matt struggled but did move up one spot to 14th at the finish. Strong finishes by Mike Balzano and Jim Bernheisel dropped Matt from fourth in the championship standings to sixth heading into the series’ next stop, Don Martin’s Lernerville Speedway. “We were pretty disappointed with our showing at VMS,” commented Lux. “We qualified well, had a good starting spot in the qualifier, but just couldn’t get it done.”
The ‘M3’ Autosports team had high hopes for the tour’s next event as Lux has a few wins under his belt at ‘The Action Track’ in Sarver, PA but a poor qualifying run put Matt behind the eight-ball all evening. Matt was able to win his B-Main to transfer to the main event but finished a disappointing 15th at his home track. The tour then headed south for two more events at Portsmouth Raceway Park in Portsmouth, OH. Matt finished an impressive third in a stout heat to transfer him to the first A-Main of the weekend. Lux was competitive all night and came home eighth; his third top-ten finish of the season and sliding him back up to fourth in the championship standings and 425 points ahead of Stone in rookie points. The following night Matt found trouble in his heat forcing him to use a series provisional to get into the $10,000 to win feature event. Lux was again strong as he battled his way to a 14th place finish from his 23rd starting spot keeping him in the fourth slot in the point standings.
The next two MACS events were at Jeff Norris’ Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, OH and Billy Jarrell’s Skyline Speedway in Stewart, OH. Matt ran into trouble at both facilities coming home a 21st place finish at Hilltop and 17th place finish at Skyline dropping him to fifth in the championship standings.
Matt finished his first full year with the MACS at the Oval Track Promotions’ ‘The Rock’ Allegany County Speedway in Cumberland, MD. Matt’s first ‘Big Kahuna’ experience started off with an accident in his heat race that forced him to pull out his backup car. With no time to make adjustments on the backup car, Lux used a provisional for the A-Main. Matt struggled throughout the event to finish 17th. The following night was much better for the ‘M3’ Autosports team as Lux qualified 11th and finished 2nd in his heat race. Matt muscled his way from his 13th starting position to finish seventh in the feature clinching not only fifth in the championship standings but also the 2007 Rookie of the Year title over Chuck Clise, Stone, and Jared Teegarden.
“I really need to thank AlturnaMats, Equipment World, DICA, Gierlach Crushing and Contracting, Maloney Tool and Mold, Fame RV Center, and Hilltop Beverage. Without these sponsors we wouldn’t have been able to go out on the road and be competitive.” Matt graciously added, “I can’t forget about all the guys that helped out this year. Mike (Geirlach), Dave (Lux), Brad (Lux), and everyone else who gave us a hand this year.”
“Right now our plans are to run the MACS deal again in ’08,” stated Lux. “We enjoyed racing with these guys this year, like I said, everyone is helpful and the Geesey’s and the whole MACS staff are some of the best people in the business. We are going to hit a few more shows here in 2007, try to finish the year strong and go into 2008 with some momentum to challenge for the championship.”
2007 FINAL Mid-Atlantic Championship Series Point Standings:
1. #43A – Jason Covert 3,595 pts.
2. #71R – Rod Conley 3,435 pts.
3. #E1 – Mike Balzano 3,340 pts.
4. #12D – Doug Drown 3,200 pts.
5. #21 – Matt Lux 3,170 pts.
6. #W11 – Rob Blair 2,865 pts.
7. #14P – Jack Pencil 2,430 pts.
8. #5 – Chuck Clise 2,310 pts.
9. #119 – Jim Bernheisel 1,970 pts.
10. #21D – Dan Stone 1,585 pts.
2007 FINAL Mid-Atlantic Championship Series Rookie of the Year Standings
1. # 21 – Matt Lux 3,170 pts.
2. #5 – Chuck Clise 2,310 pts.
3. #21D – Dan Stone 1585 pts
4. #72* - Jared Teegarden 437 pts
Additional information on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Series can be found on www.macsracing.com.
Thank you for your continued support of the series, host facilities, drivers, and sponsors.
Andy Geesey – President – (724) 549-1480
Matt Geesey - Vice President – (724) 465-4282
Jeff Geesey - Secretary/Treasurer – (724) 465-2222
Email - macs1@verizon.net
Written and Distributed by:
Jason Shank – JNJ Motorsports Media / Mid-Atlantic Championship Series
www.jnjmotorsports.com, www.macsracing.com |
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