Top 10 in SpeedFest 2023

Cordele, Georgia | January 29th, 2023

After a weekend plagued by adversity, Brett Suggs and TH Motorsports ended the 100-lap feature with a top-10 run.

Making only his second start in a Pro Late Model, Brett knew the challenges he would face racing against short-track veterans for the season-opening JEGS CRA All Stars Tour race. While the competition was as stiff as ever, TH Motorsports prepared a sharp Port City racecar to make the new learning curve a simple process for him.

SpeedFest marked Brett's first race on the egg-shaped 4/10ths mile of Crisp Motorsports Park. The weekend, which started early Friday morning for Suggs, was consistently an uphill battle. While rolling through practice-day tech inspection, TH Motorsports owner and crew chief Kyle Hood was informed that the motor combination he had selected would have to be altered to fit within the rulebook. However, the rulebook unclearly states how the motor and weight penalty is determined. Ultimately, the team was forced to make a decision across two options: load up and go home or take the 75-pound weight penalty and make the most out of the weekend. The team chose the only logical option after the time, energy, and money invested into that particular weekend.

To get a proper weight balance, TH Motorsports crew of Chelsea, Alex, Tommy, Chris, Marcie, and Kyle went right to work Friday morning after tech in order to optimize weight placement and still have a great-handling racecar. This was a timely process and caused the No.15 car to miss all of 1st practice, but the time was well spent. After only getting 5 laps in practice 2 and 15 laps in practice 3, it was already time to qualify.

In Brett's first Pro Late Model start back in November at Hickory [Motor Speedway], he was selected to roll out first for qualifying. That same case applied at Cordele. With the car being weighed down severely, Brett and Kyle had a goal of where they were expecting to qualify based on the times they ran in practice. Brett shot for a 16.3, and Kyle was hoping

for a top 10. Rolling out first, Brett put down a 16.335, right around where he expected. He held onto the top spot for nearly 10 cars before being dropped down by Caden Kvapil, another Mooresville-based driver. By the end of qualifying, Brett ended 11th overall, beating a few notable names in Pro Late racing.

The day ended with more adversity as the team found a broken part after qualifying, resulting in Kyle and Alex going for a 2-hour drive to find the necessary item they were looking for.

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Saturday was a new day for TH. Everything that stacked against them the day before was now out of mind, and the goals for the day remained. Knowing that they would be at an extreme disadvantage with the overweight car and a stock 604 crate motor, the team decided to salvage what they could and shoot for a top-15 finish.

On the drop of the green flag, live on Racing America, the horsepower deficit was evident. Brett was getting pulled almost a car length down every straightaway while maintaining pace in the corners. The race was filled with long-runs and only two yellow flags around halfway through the race. Brett ran around 10th to 13th for the majority of the race before jumping inside the top-10 around a lap 40 yellow. By rule of the choose cone, Brett elected to use the outside lane for the restart. On that restart, outside of row one spun the tires and created a major check-up where every car in front of Brett collected lots of damage. Somehow, very fortunately, Brett narrowly avoided the wreck and drove away past the incident.

Now, Brett was up to 6th place for the next restart. He fired off strong and peaked inside the top-5, but ultimately got shuffled back as the motor disadvantage caught up to him. He drove the car to the max and held onto a 9th place finish when the checkered flag flew on lap 100. Based on the setbacks faced, everyone at TH Motorsports, including Brett, could not be happier with the result.

"We really had to fight hard for that finish. It was clear from inside the car, as well as from the grandstands, that we were at a huge disadvantage with the motor deal. I would get ate up on restarts with the added weight, but we were very consistent on lap times with the leaders as the run went on and power evened out."

" I really have to give a big Thank You to all the men and women behind TH Motorsports for not giving up on me or the weekend when we were faced with a big obstacle. We got 20 practice laps and still ran with the best, so that just goes to show you a glimpse of what this team is capable of and the effort they put in to bring a fast #15 Chevy."

Brett Suggs

The next race for Brett Suggs and TH Motorsports is still open, but the team is hoping to have an announcement by the end of February. All information for announcements and news can be found on the Brett Suggs Racing Marketing Facebook page.

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