SAYBROOK, IL (April 5) - One can imagine that during this 2002 season, Blake Feese will find himself wondering where he's racing and with what series. After spending the past two years racing primarily a winged sprint car on dirt, the 20 year-old will spend this season trying to follow other up and coming drivers by running several series this season.

This weekend will be his first double duty as he races on Saturday at Eldora Speedway in an All-Star Circuit of Champions event and then Sunday, he'll make his USAC pavement debut at Anderson Speedway.

"I was really looking forward to my first USAC race, but mother nature had other ideas," said Feese, who was scheduled to make his first USAC start on March 30 at Eldora Speedway. "I'm really glad that we had a chance to race with the Outlaws last Saturday. Our goal going in there was simply to see if we had fixed the car after all the problems we had in Florida."

Feese qualified an impressive ninth in his first WoO event of the season at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, MO. He had a strong run in the first heat where he chased down leader Randy Hannagan before making a bold move to claim the heat race win. After finishing third in his O'Reilly's Dash, he started the family owned #1f Maxim in sixth. During the first eight laps, he worked his way to the back bumper of defending WoO champ Danny Lasoski, who was running fourth. Later in the race, a broken front wing made handling the Hoosier shod sprinter a handful, but he did hang on to finish eighth.

"We were fast right out of the box, and that's the kind of night we have been waiting to have for quite some time," said Feese. "The track was super fast and tough on equipment, but we were operating really well enough to get our first top five finish with the Outlaws before the front wing mount broke. It's a big confidence builder to show up at an Outlaws race and finish with a top ten."

This weekend, he'll try to build on last week's performance beginning with Saturday's All-Star show. "I love racing at Eldora and really want to win a race there. The All-Stars have a great group of guys racing with them, and we just want to get more laps there."

Before Sunday's USAC Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Series opener, the third "Glen Niebel Classic", at Anderson Speedway, Feese will get his first experience on pavement in a test today in Ft. Wayne (IN). Feese will be driving Lynn Reid's #2 sprinter in all of the USAC events this year with help from Weld Wheels and Hoosier Tires.

"Sunday is going to be really tough," continued Feese. "We were supposed to have a test at Anderson, but things didn't work out. We're just hoping to get some laps in and hopefully make the feature. The more seat time we can get the better we'll be."