The best thing that's happened to Jay Lere early this season has been buddy Shayne Laske driving his race car into a tree.
Since Laske's mishap in Lere's car on May 11 at Buffalo River Race Park, Lere has driven the car to a trio top three finishes in his last four races.
"The motor was missing really badly, and we wanted to see if he could get it handling a little better," Lere said. "We decided just to let him jump in it that night."
Lere's car was having some trouble handling, and Laske found out first hand exactly how much trouble.
On the final lap of the feature at BRRP's opening night, Laske lost control of the car when the throttle stuck going into the final turn. He zipped off the track and wound up stuck in a tree.
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They got the car unstuck, and went to work over the next three days.
"He just wanted me to get into it to see what I could do, and we changed some stuff to try and make it run better," Laske said. "I was happy to help him, because I want him to run well, too."
Lere also got help from Harwood, N.D., drivers Curt Tvedt and Cory Ohnstad. Having resources like that are a luxury, Lere said.
"There are lots of people willing to help, and I'm more than happy to use it," Lere said. "I think it's great that there are that many people around here willing to help anybody out."
Lere has seemingly left his earlier problems in the dust. Following the adjustments, the Moorhead driver took second at Norman County Raceway on Thursday and third at Red River Valley Speedway on Friday.
At BRRP's two-day Spring Jamboree, he suffered a flat tire on Saturday, but took the checkered flag in Sunday's feature.
"Tyler Larson and Corry VanMil got into each other, and Tyler had a nasty rollover," Lere said. "If he doesn't wreck, I might have had a problem."
Larson wound up on his roof after the wreck, but he didn't hit a tree. The Pennock, Minn., native is second in points at BRRP, so maybe tough luck is the best kind at the Glyndon, Minn., track.
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Schatz in third
Fargo's Donny Schatz is in third place in the World of Outlaws Sprint car standings, but he's not that far out of the top spot.
He sits just seven points behind leader Jason Meyers' 1,301 points in a tight three-man race. Craig Dollansky is in second with 1,296 points.
Schatz has won just one feature through the first nine events season. He won 19 features last season, winning his second straight points title.
Hot laps
Derik Eiter isn't unbeatable at Buffalo River Race Park, but he's close. The Fargo driver won last year's Pure Stocks points title at the Glyndon, Minn., track, and he won features both nights of the Spring Jamboree at BRRP last weekend.... James Cooper of Mahnomen, Minn., also picked up a pair of feature wins at the Jamboree, taking first both nights in the Hornets class.
Readers can reach Forum sports writer Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548.
Collins' prep sports blog can be found at www.areavoices.com
