NASCAR WWEST: Woodside Sees Opportunity in Sandia Motorsports Park's Inaugural Southwest Series Race
9 August 2000
August 8, 2000 (Palmdale, Calif.) - Sean Woodside, driver of the REF Motorsport s #4 Pontiac in the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring, and the REF team see this Saturday's inaugural Southwest Series race at Sandia Motorsports Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as an opportunity to take over second place in the 2000 season's championship race. With just six points between Woodside's third place in the point standings and fellow competitor Doug McCoun's second place, the team will place a high priority on running a smart race and strengthening its points position. This Saturday's 125-lap event at Sandia Motorsports' new .45-mile banked oval is the 12th of 19 events on the 2000 Southwest Series schedule. "Even though we haven't competed at Sandia before, we can transfer our short-track history and experience," Woodside said. "We ran very well in our last race under similar conditions, and we feel that we can expect to run at least that well again this weekend." Woodside qualified and finished in third place in his most recent Southwest Series effort on July 29th at Irwindale Speedway. Sandia Motorsports Park is typical of the tracks on which the Southwest Series most commonly competes. Most events are contested on paved ovals that measure one-half mile or less, with the exception of Phoenix International Raceway (one-mile) and two road-courses, Sears Point Raceway and the Ford Los Angeles Street Race. Team owner Bob Farmer commented, "We look forward to running at this new track. It's always nice to visit a new city and a new track. We feel that we will have a strong run. The REF team has really had the car running good the last couple of races, and think that we will be strong the rest of the year." For more information, see REF Motorsports' official Web site at http://www.refm otorsports.com. Bob Farmer, owner of REF Motorsports, owns and operates the No. 4 Stick Only Transmissions, Maropulos Racing Engines, Speedway Engineering, Hoosier Pontiac in the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring with Sean Woodside as driver. Woodside won the 1999 NASCAR Winston West series championship after finishing second in the point standings in the series in 1997 and 1998. REF Motorsports finished 6th in the Southwest Series points standings in 1999, with six top five and seven top ten finishes during the season. The team is currently third in the point standings in the Featherlite Southwest Series, NASCAR Touring, with one win, four top five and six top ten finishes.