When young Mini Stock driver Todd Freed, Jr. prepared for the 50 lap Mini Stock feature at DeSoto Speedway this weekend, the focus was on consistency. Freed's Uncle and former DeSoto champion Brian Teeters along with Crew Chief Mike Klages stressed running consistent laps and being patient. Todd took off from his Manatee High School classes on Thursday and Friday to prepare the car for Friday night's qualifying session. The Clay Joseph built motor was running fine but they were having difficulty finding the setup for the number 97 Mini Stock.
Todd explained, "I was just hoping for a top five finish, we were real loose in qualifying", but by the time for the big 50 lapper, "it was handling perfectly, I contribute the whole whole thing to Mike Klages, he did all the work".
After starting in the third spot, in the very early part of the race Freed had to go to the infield to avoid a nasty accident in turn three. After that he bided his time and kept trying to just run good laps. Tony Elrod Jr., last year's DeSoto Mini Stock Champion, went out early with a blown head gasket. "His car was leaking fluid and Freed said he felt like " was driving on ice". Finally the caution came out and on the subsequent restarts Freed hung back waiting to see which line around the high backed 3/8 mile track would work best. After settling on the low line he "just worried about keeping Tommy Huffstutler in front of me".
Huffstutler began having handling problems and getting looser and looser in traffic, and at lap 45 Freed finally took the lead and charged across the finish line first to collect his biggest paycheck to date ($500). After the race he said "the car was ugly but we didn't have to paint it."
Todd Freed, Jr. will be running the DeSoto Mini Stocks full time this year, and hopes to run for the Championship. "I want to get some wins and lots of top threes." With the help of Joseph, Buddy Traylor, Teeters, and Mike Klages, there's a good chance the academic standout will make the race a tight one.
