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Jason Shank
PITTSBURGH, Penn. (January 27) - Jared Hawkins out of Fairmont, WV had what some would say an, 'up and down' season with the O'Reilly All Star Late Model Series on his way to finishing the season fifth in the Championship Point Standings.
The soft spoken young man that also answers to 'Hawk' turned some heads during the 2009 season with some pretty solid finishes against some very good competition throughout the year. 'Hawk' claimed seven top-ten finishes en route to his top-five finish in the standings.
The 2009 season kicked off at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, PA where Jared's season would get off to a rocky start. A 'DNF' put Hawkins behind the eight-ball early but a solid seventh place finish the next night at Schrader's KC Raceway in Chillicothe, OH moved Jared all the way up to sixth in All Star points to pave the way to the next series event at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, VA. A disappointing 22nd place finish at the Virginia oval fortunately kept Hawkins within striking range of the top-five in points as the series prepared for their second visit to KC Raceway.
The Chillicothe, OH speed plant seemed to be a place of redemption for 'Hawk' as he came home with a sixth place finish to jump up to fourth place in the season standings. 'It seemed as if Jared was poised to make some noise with the series after his run at KC,' Series Director Jason Shank stated, 'he had moved up to fourth in the standings and seemed to have a lot of confidence going into the 'Grizzly' at Central PA Speedway in Clearfield, PA.' But Jared's trend of one disappointing finish followed by a good finish continued with some bad luck. Hawkins was caught with no where to go during his heat race destroying his Rocket Chassis and sidelining him for the night. For the first and only time of the season, Jared did not qualify for the feature event dropping him back down to sixth in the championship point standings.
Jared's unfortunate luck continued when the series traveled into the state of Michigan for events at Hartford Motor Speedway in Hartford, MI and Butler Motor Speedway in Butler, MI . Jared drew the pole position for the 40-lap feature event at Hartford but lost the handle of his mount on a restart of an early caution, collected a slew of other drivers and was scored with a 22nd place finish. The roller coaster ride continued for 'Hawk' at Butler Motor Speedway where finished sixth to start a pretty good string of finishes over the next seven races.
'Hawk' followed his sixth place finish at Butler with a decent 12th place run at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, PA and then it was on to one of Jared's favorite places to race, Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, WV. Tyler County is where Jared cut his teeth and where he not only had hopes for a good finish, but knew he could contend for a win. And contend he did as he battled with fellow All Stars Jared Miley and Coleby Frye for positions two through four from his ninth place starting position. Hawkins crossed the line fifth when the checkered flag fell to garner his best finish with the series up to that point. The series then made their way back to Central PA Speedway for the $10,000 to win 'Yankee Doodle', the place where earlier in the year; 'Hawk' was unable to compete in the 50-lap feature. Jared got a bit of revenge on the speedway as he finished 12th in the A-Main.
Then came the weekend the series visited Indiana, the weekend Hawkins really let it all hang out and proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with. The trip started at Twin Cities Speedway in North Vernon, IN where Jared claimed a seventh place finish before the series' stop at the immaculate Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, IN, just outside of Cincinnati, OH . Hawkins qualified fourth fastest during the SpeedWrapz Time Trials and finished second in his heat race before finishing a season best third behind race winner Chub Frank and runner-up Darrell Lanigan.
The series then returned to the ultra competitive Lernerville Speedway where 'Hawk' captured a 14th place finish before the series returned to KC Raceway where Jared had already chalked up two top-ten finishes. Hawkins continued to be good at the Jeff Schrader owned facility grabbing an eighth place finish which was good enough to move him up to fifth in the championship standings and only four points behind Coleby Frye for fourth. That set up the tour's final event of the season at KC Raceway's $20,000 to win 'Classic'. The weekend got of to an unfortunate start for Hawkins as after qualifying his Cornett Lighting Racing Engine would not fire for his heat race. Luckily, Jared was eligible for a series provisional and was able to start the 100-lap feature event. He started the event but pulled off the racing surface early in the event to collect a 25th place finish and solidify the fifth position in All Star Points.
Points: 2496
Points Position: 5th
Fast Time: 1
A-Main Wins: None
Top 10's: 7
Top 5's: 2
Heat Wins: 1
B-Main Wins: 0
Jared Hawkins ('Hawk') drives a Rocket Chassis with a Cornett Lightning Racing Engine and Hoosier Racing Tires. Sponsors include Melvins Transmissions / Hawkins Wrecker Service / New England Truss & Joint / R&E Industries / Sowers' Preowned Auto / Rider Pharmacy
For more information and to join the O'Reilly All Star Late Model Series mailing list please visit www.allstarlatemodels.com.
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