Anyone who knows Alissa Geving knows that she is an overachiever that simply never gives up, even in times where it seems that doing so is to no avail. Last Saturday night such was the case as Geving was faced with adversities from the first green flag of the night in round four of the Golden State Challenge Series. For Geving, the mechanical woes shadowed her return to her hometown track of Petaluma Speedway but once again, the 18-year old resident of Penngrove never gave up.

“From the time we pushed off it just seemed like nothing was going our way,” said Geving, who fired off at Petaluma only to experience motor and ignition problems for the second consecutive week in the Golden State Challenge Series campaign.

“It was really frustrating but I kept my focus throughout the night.” The misfiring power plant continued to haunt the Chicko Motorsports #3x Maxim Sprint Car through qualifying. At a track where Geving has won two consecutive championships an commonly ranks within the top five qualifiers, she turned a lap time of 13:822. The time placed her 13th on the roster in a field of 19 cars. For Geving, her homecoming was about to become a very long night.

After qualifying the team went back to work under the hood and determined the problem was within the ignition system of the car. A secondary ignition was installed and the car still had difficulty firing up and performing up to par. Despite the set back, Geving returned to the track for her respective events to stay in the points chase for the series.

“If I wasn’t determined to run this entire series I probably would have just parked the car for the night,” said Geving. “The car was not capable of being competitive but without a B main I knew I could at least start the A feature for points.”

In her heat race Geving started in the fifth position and simply maintained it for the 10 lap distance to finish in the fifth. Her qualifying time combined with the heat race finish placed her deep in the field for the 30-lap A-feature where she reported to the track with the determination to at least take the green flag. Much like she has in the past, Geving extended her goal once the green flag waved on Saturday night and remained in competition all the way to the checkered flag. In the end she rallied to a top ten finish, despite the challenges throughout the evening.

“I just gave it everything I could and did the best I could with what I had,” said Geving. “It was really frustrating but these things happen. I really want to be competitive in this series. With the current motor I have I’m not sure how I am going to do it but I am going to give it everything I’ve got out there.”

During the week, Geving’s Tillet Tool, Pit Stop USA, Matt Cordeiro Enterprises #3x sprint car has undergone a vigerous inspection and correction marathon. A new MSD Ignition system has been installed and the team is ready for round five at the smooth and competitive Ocean Speedway on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

“We’ will rally back at Ocean,” said Geving. “I’ve run really good there in the past so hopefully we have put our problems to rest and can get back to racing like we should be racing. I’m ready to well in this series.”

Despite her performance on Saturday, Geving maintained her eighth place in the standings. She is 52 points out of the lead and five points behind Zach Zimmerly who maintains seventh place after a damaging crash.

Keep up with Alissa at her website.. Chick-O-Motorsports

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