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Thursday practice at the Snowball Derby is rarely a breeze for most of the field, but it’s even more chaotic when engine failures are involved. That was the case for two expected contenders on Thursday afternoon in the form of Raphael Lessard and Brandon McReynolds.

Lessard had just posted the second fastest time in the 10 a.m. session when his engine expired. More specifically, his crankshaft had failed after just nine timed laps. Replacing the engine cost the David Gilliland Racing team the entirety of their lunch break and the Noon practice session.

“It is what it is, but my guys work really hard at David Gilliland Racing,” Lessard said. “They change the motor to get it ready for last practice and we were pretty good.”

The 2016 CARS Tour Super Late Model champion finished the final practice session in 10th. Considering he is one of the drivers that don’t have any Southern Super Series points to fall back on, the speed could take some of the pressure off his Friday time trials effort.

“We got to the track with a pretty good base line and mocked up at the end,” Lessard said. “I’d rather the get the bad luck out of the way now than the rest of the weekend. I think we’re going to have a good qualifying with this Toyota Camry.”

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Meanwhile, Brandon McReynolds’ optimism turned to stress when his KBR Development Super Late Model suffered a similar issue.

The team had posted a top-15 time in final practice when the problem materialized. It’s the same equipment that Erik Jones has taken to the track in recent years, but his No. 20.

“I thought I had a little more forward drive there in the last lap but obviously it was starting to go and it blew up,” McReynolds said. “It’s a little different package so that will be interesting. Just got to make do with it. We were pretty damn good, but, I don’t know, we’ll see. Hopefully we got this out of the way early and the racing gods will be good to us.”

They completed the engine change late on Thursday night, after most teams had went home, during local division racing.

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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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