ARCA Trucks: Broken piston early at Eldora places Chakat Blizzardmane last for the first time in hir career

Chakat Blizzardmane picked up the 1st last place finish of hir SCRL ARCA Truck Series career in Sunday's Season 2 Dirt Derby 50 at the Eldora Speedway when hir #8 Gearheart Timber Management Chevrolet fell out with piston problems after completing 9 of the 20 laps.

The finish came in hir 9th start. In the SCRL ARCA Truck Series, it's the 2nd for truck #8 and the 2nd for piston issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 20th for the #8 and the 11th for piston issues. 

Chakat Blizzardmane

Blizzardmane is the 6th chakat to ever compete in the SCRL and had some big paws to fill after Whitelion has scored over thirty wins and won six championships. Blizzardmane signed on to compete in the ARCA's division second highest series despite having never made a single start in racing as shi would place 16th in hir debut at Toledo. A 5th at Kil-Kare, 25th at Nashville, 22nd at Lanier, 25th at Flat Rock before in just hir 6th career start at Salem, Blizzardmane scored hir first career win. A 8th place in the next round at Oxford Plains proved the win was not a fluke before shi would struggle to a 19th in the last round at Toledo.

In qualifying, Chakat Whitelion won hir second pole of the season with a time of 21.630 seconds, while Blizzardmane would struggle posting a time of 22.389, 0.759 seconds behind Whitelion's pole winning time, placing Blizzardmane 23rd on the grid while starting last was the #81 unsponsored Chevrolet of Jordan McKee, 0.921 seconds behind Whitelion's pole time.

When the race started, McKee quickly would start to lose ground to the truck in front of him, that being the unsponsored #30 of Alexander Jones, by the end of the first lap, and then nearly a full second behind after the completion of Lap 2. At that time, Blizzardmane made a trip to pit road, reporting of engine problems, as the crew looked under the hood to try and find the problem, dropping back to last on Lap 3. Blizzardmand would lose only one lap before shi was sent back out on the track to try and nurse the truck home, never losing another lap to the leaders until on Lap 9, shi begin to slow entering Turn 1 and coasted on the lower part of the track to prevent any oil getting in the racing groove and would pull behind the wall, hir day done after competing nine laps while McKee was unable to gain anymore spots and finished 25th.

The remaining Bottom Five were: 24th was Flat Rock last-place finisher the unsponsored #18 Ford of Dain Martin, 23rd was Kil-Kare last-place finisher the #54 Mansfield Welding Service Chevrolet of Leonard Pearson and 22nd was the #30 unsponsored Ford of Alexander Jones.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #8 has finished last at Eldora.
*This marked only the second time in series the #8 has finished last; the only other time that it happened was in the Season 1 ARCATRUCKRacing.com 100 at the Winchester Speedway when Zach Borgerding completed all 20 laps under power; 12 races ago.
*This also marked only the second ever time a driver has trailed due to piston problems; the only other time that it happened was in the Georgia 50 Presented by Jani-King at the Lanier National Speedway when Nick Productions's unsponsored #77 Chevrolet fell out with piston problems without completing any of the 9 laps; 5 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
26) #8-Chakat Blizzardmane / 9 laps / piston
25) #81-Jordan McKee / 20 lap / running
24) #18-Dain Martin / 20 laps / running
23) #54-Leonard Pearson / 20 laps / running
22) #30-Alexander Jones / 20 laps / running