Johanna Long Steadily Improving After Slow Start to 2010
Pensacola Youngster Ready for Return to Florida Panhandle
“We got things off on the right foot with a really good qualifying run,” said Long. “We had been struggling with that recently. I had a little mishap on the start and I finally got up to eighth and we were just working our way forward and we just got dumped. It’s frustrating because we had made some gains this week and were running good when we had our trouble.”
Long’s shot at a good finish ended when she made contact with Ryan Crane in turn four and slid down the front stretch before getting part of the nose ripped off by another car. She managed to make laps after the incident, but was not up to full speed.
“We are going to take a few weeks off and regroup as we prepare for the Blizzard Series opener at Five Flags Speedway,” said Long.
Long will be looking to defend her Blizzard Series title and her Gulf Coast Series title beginning on April 9th at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
2009 was an amazing year for Johanna Long. Winning multiple championships and races in her first full season of Super Late Model competition had the eyes of the short track racing world looking in her direction. By comparison, 2010 has been a bit sluggish out of the gates early on, but improvement was found in her first trip to the new Gresham Motorsports Park (GA) this past weekend. After starting seventh in a stacked field of Late Models Johanna ran with the leaders until crash damaged sidelined her after 76 laps leaving her 16th in the final rundown.
Johanna Long at GMP. (51 Sports Photo)
