Brian Henderson and Dillon Bassett Exceed Expectations in the ComServe Wireless Memorial Day Classic

Precision Performance Motorsports (PPM) headed to Dominion Raceway over the Memorial Day holiday for a weekend of firsts. Rookie Brian Henderson returned to compete in his first-ever K&N Pro Series oval-track race, while Dillon Bassett joined PPM after a fire destroyed the Bassett Racing shop late Friday night on May 20th. An exciting race ensued with PPM partner Comserve Wireless serving as title sponsor of the ComServe Wireless Memorial Day Classic.

K&N Pro Series East teams arrived Saturday to the Spotsylvania, VA track for a three-hour test session. Both Bassett and Henderson spent the afternoon getting acclimated to their new cars and the track and arrived Sunday ready to make the most of practice and qualifying day. Unfortunately, rain moved in to the area and practice was shortened, but not before Henderson and Bassett posted the third and fourth fastest lap times, respectively.

 

With a tropical storm looming off the east coast, the K&N Pro Series East was forced to consolidate final practice, qualifying, and the race into Monday’s schedule. By the start of the race, Henderson was lined up in the 20th position and Bassett in the 21st. After the green flag flew, the pair began to advance positions. Bassett took advantage of each restart, cracking the top 10 by Lap 70 and the top five by Lap 132.

As the laps wound down, Bassett was poised for his best finish of the season, potentially a win. A late-race caution lined him up in the fourth position with ten laps to go. Unfortunately, a multi-car incident as the green flag flew ended the race early for him, relegating him to a 22nd-place finish. Henderson continued to advance his position in the second half of the race solidly into the top-15. He finished the 150-lap event in the 14th position.

 

“My crew chief and all of the guys at Precision Performance Motorsports and Bassett Racing gave me an unbelievably fast race car. To start 21st in a K&N East race and make it to fourth is almost unheard of. It is unfortunate that we couldn’t finish the race, but we’ll take it and look forward to what is next for us.”

“Our first oval-track K&N race was overall a good success for me and the team. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. The car was decent in the first half of the race and got a lot better after the adjustments we made during the mid-race break. I started getting in a rhythm and we began picking up a lot of spots as the laps wound down. It was an awesome race and I am really thankful for everyone at Precision Performance Motorsports for all of their hard work this weekend.”

PPM PR