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 IRVINE,
CALIFORNIA (JULY 2, 2011)
– After having to withdraw from
the starting line up with mechanical woes at the Bullring at Vegas
earlier this month, Lakeport's Derek Thorn is ready to get back on
track with the competitive NASCAR K&N Pro Series West this Saturday
in Irwindale, California. The event is the Toyota Dealers of
Southern California 200 presented by King Taco at the famed Toyota
Speedway, a facility where Thorn made a name for himself in this
series back in January at the Toyota All Star Showdown.
Thorn will be behind the
wheel of the Byron Campbell Racing #44 Chevrolet that carries
primary sponsorship from Four Star Fruit with additional support
from Superior Crankshaft and Hronis Racing. This will be Thorn's
third actual start of the year in the series that features the
future stars of NASCAR. Coming off his second win of the season this
past Saturday in the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Series, Thorn hopes
his recent success will carry into the K&N Pro Series in the form of
momentum at the track where he performed so well earlier this
season.
"Our win at Madera is a
huge confidence booster for everyone, especially returning to Toyota
Speedway after we had such good success there at the Showdown," said
Thorn. "The group of guys we've got working on our equipment is top
notch and almost all of them that work on our SRL program work on
the NASCAR West program also. Byron Campbell and Four Star Fruit
have had a great group assembled from the start and it has allowed
us a lot of success together."
Earlier this month,
Thorn was prepared to return to action in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series
West at the Bullring at Vegas. After qualifying third in the field,
the team made the decision to withdraw from the line up as they
continued to struggle with a mechanical issue on the car. Thorn is a
competitive driver who enters every race with the goal of winning.
In Vegas, knowing the car was handicapped before the green flag even
waved Thorn, Joiner and the Campbell team made the wise decision to
park the car for the night.
“It was hard parking our
Fourstar Fruit, Hronis Racing Chevy at Vegas. Especially after
qualifying third, “said Thorn.”But that's the great thing about this
team. With our limited schedule we show up for one reason and
that's to win. We felt with the problems we were having with the car
exceeded the risk of us causing problems for other cars on the
track. It was a hard pill to swallow but we felt in the long run it
would only help our program especially with how much equipment gets
tore up at those short tracks."
Back in January at
Toyota Speedway Thorn made his start in the Byron Campbell owned #44
with veteran crew chief Junior Joiner as his lead wrench. It was at
this track that the 25-year old Lakeport resident caught the
attention of many as he earned the pole position for the high
profile NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown in Irwindale.
After earning that pole
position, Thorn continued to show he was born to race at the NASCAR
level, leading the first 100 laps of the event. After falling back
to fourth he advanced back into second place late in the running and
challenged for the lead when contact occurred with the leader and
resulted in NASCAR making the decision to place him at the rear of
the field. Despite the setback, Thorn once again proved what he was
made of as he rallied back hard to finish an impressive seventh
place finish.
Continuing with the
series in February at Phoenix, Thorn again showed a strong
performance behind the wheel of Campbell's #44 Chevrolet. Thorn
drove to fifth place in qualifying. When the checkered flag waved,
Thorn posted a third place finish on one of the tour's largest
tracks, rallying back after falling to fifth place with 20-laps to
go when he missed a shift while charging to the green flag restart.
Derek Thorn is proud to
carry the sponsorship of Four Star Fruits and Hronis Racing in the
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Additionally Thorn has a number of
marketing partners and associate sponsors supporting his efforts in
this tour. Among the sponsors are: Eibach Springs, Joiner Race Cars,
Superior Crankshaft, JRI Shocks, Joe's Racing Products, NEO, Finishline
Signs, Sigma Engineering and Fastenal.
"I can’t thank Byron
Campbell with Four Star Fruit, Hronis Racing, and Superior
Crankshaft enough for there awesome support in the West series. I
owe a lot to Mike Keen, Dan Smith, and Junior Joiner for keeping
everything organized within the operation, these guys work their
butts off to make sure we've got the equipment to make it happen,"
adds Thorn. “My crew guys and Four Star Fruits crew have been
putting in the overtime as this is the fourth week in a row we have
been racing in two different series not to mention the testing we
have been doing. For them to give the commitment to make it to all
of these races just shows the caliber and loyalty of the crew we
have behind us. I feel honored to be driving for this entire group."
To learn more
about this talented young driver visit Derek Thorn's personal
website at
www.derekthorn.com.
Further information can also be found at the site of one of his
title sponsors,
www.superiorcrankshaftracing.com.
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