Sarah Cornett-Ching: Many Reasons To Excel At The Tricky Triangle

Sarah Cornett-Ching: Many Reasons To Excel At The Tricky Triangle

Topics: Sarah Cornett-Ching, Pocono ARCA 200

Sarah Cornett-Ching: Many Reasons To Excel At The Tricky Triangle

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
June 6, 2015

POCONO, Pennsylvania (June 6,2015) - - Fresh off her second top-10 finish in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards at the New Jersey Motorsports Park two weeks ago, SCOTT Rookie of the Year contender Sarah Cornett-Ching takes the momentum of her road course success to Pocono’s “Tricky Triangle.”

Of course, Cornett-Ching has spent much of the year familiarizing herself with many of the tracks she’ll experience first-hand with the iRacing computer simulation program, but as the freshman driver experienced first-hand Wednesday, there’s nothing like the real thing.

Steady rain earlier in the week forced Wednesday’s open-test session at the 2.5-mile speedway to be delayed to an afternoon session only. But, once the track was dry, Cornett-Ching was among one of several players on the tour to kick it in high gear for nearly four and a half hours.

“Pocono is unique, that’s for sure,” said Cornett-Ching Wednesday. “It’s a cool place, but I’m still getting used to it. For sure, any track time was better than none and we can take practice on Friday to improve even more.”

Describing the tunnel turn as one of the most difficult to negotiate of the track’s three turns, Cornett-Ching reiterated that practice makes perfect.

“The tunnel turn doesn’t allow much room for error,” she added. “We saw that during the test and I’ve heard about it from Tony (Blanchard, owner, mentor and coach). It’s something that I had to continue to work on Wednesday and no doubt I will get better through there as I go.”

Cornett-Ching’s team brought two cars to Wednesday’s test session and while the cars were extremely close in performance. After discussion with Blanchard they have decided to utilize her primary car for Saturday’s Pocono ARCA 200 (1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2).

“The cars were pretty close, but our primary car seemed to handle a little bit better and handling will play a huge part in Saturday's race,” sounded Cornett-Ching. “For our team, we need to throw everything we have to keep ourselves gaining momentum. Not only are we after strong finishes, but we need to make gains in the point standings. Overall, it’s been a great season with a few bumps. Ideally, this is the same car we want to run in August, so hopefully we can continue to make gains with it and with a good finish on

Saturday we will be looking for even more when we come back in early August.”

The Summerland, British Columbia native will tell you that a vibrant finish and decreasing the margin for the championship run are important, but the popular driver is also focused on giving some spotlight to Liam’s Lighthouse Foundation.

The Liam’s Lighthouse Foundation is dedicated to advancing research, awareness and support for Hemophagoctic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and Histiocytic disorders.

Michelle Schulze started the foundation after her year and a half old son lost his battle with HLH. Shulze says that most physicians are not familiar with HLH, many of which have never heard of the disease. She also stated that HLH is further going undiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to its rapid, fatal nature.

Through education, determination and Liam’s Lighthouse Foundation, she is committed to helping find a cure, while also serving as an advocate for early detection and survival to other parents.

“Words cannot describe what it means to me to be able to do a little by helping bring awareness to Liam’s Lighthouse Foundation and the wonderful things it does,” says Cornett-Ching. “The more that we can share Liam’s story and explain to other what his mother Michelle is trying to do, the better impact we can try to make.”

"There is a local couple who lost their son Levi (#TeamLevi) at three (3) days old because he went undiagnosed. That is so sad, we have his family here this weekend and he will be riding on the hood with us at Pocono."

Finishing inside the top-10 in the eighth race of the season provides an opportunity for Cornett-Ching to not only meet her on-track goals, but do so much more.

“Helping people is what it’s all about, especially when you try and make a difference,” she said. “That’s the mold we’ve lived by and we hope we can show that this weekend.”

Friday, Cornett-Ching placed a respectable 18th in the lone practice session in Long Pond.

The Pocono ARCA 200 (80 Laps / 200 Miles) is the eighth of 20 races on the 2015 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. Menards pole group qualifying presented by Ansell is set for race day, June 6 at 10:05 a.m. The event will take the green flag just after 1:00 p.m. The event will be televised on FOX Sports 2 with additional coverage, including live timing and scoring at ARCARacing.com. All times are local (Eastern).

Follow Sarah Cornett-Ching on Twitter @scornettching.

Like her on Facebook by clicking here.

Visit her website at sccracing.com.

PHOTO CAPTION: SCOTT Rookie of the Year candidate Sarah Cornett-Ching, driver of the No. 2 RACE 101 Chevrolet for owner Tony Blanchard in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.

Contact:
Tony Blanchard
Tonybrace101@gmail.com

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