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DELANGE TEAM FIGHTS LOSING BATTLE WITH MOTHER NATURE AND LADY LUCK
August 12, Westport, NY--- Last weekend driver Erick Rudolph
of Ransomville and the DeLange Racing team had an aggressive schedule planned.
It began with racing the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Friday night at Stafford
Motor Speedway in Connecticut. It would conclude by heading back home to compete
on Saturday night in the 50th Anniversary Celebration at Dunn Tire Raceway Park
in Western New York.
The team arrived at Stafford on Friday afternoon hoping to improve on their
top-ten finish there in late May. After prerace preparation the #45 Original
Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme Motorsports/Brigham Concrete Modified headed out for
qualifying and posted the 11th fastest lap time, placing them in the sixth row
on the starting grid for the night's main event.
Later that evening the Modifieds lined up and took the green flag to begin the
New England Dodge Dealers 150. Erick settled into a comfortable position just
outside of the top-ten and remained there until the caution flag waved on lap
56. Most of the field headed for pit road but the DeLange team played a
different strategy, leaving Rudolph on the track and he inherited the lead. Back
to green flag racing he remained there until the next caution on lap 68 when he
made his pit stop and fell in at the rear of the field.
Rudolph fought his way back up into the top-15 and was battling with former Tour
champion Rick Fuller for position when the caution lights flashed on lap 104. He
passed Fuller when the race went back to green on the 110th circuit and was
looking to advance further when he brushed the wall off turn two. Although he
was able to continue racing the #45 was off the pace and fell back, eventually
finishing 17th at the end of the lead lap.
"We led our first laps on the Tour but that wasn't really our main goal,"
explained Rudolph after the race. "We probably should have pitted when the other
teams did but we stayed out and it wasn't the right decision. We expected most
of the cars to pit later in the race and that was our mistake. You live and
learn and the longer we do this the more experience we'll have to plan better.
Late in the race we were trying to make the best out of a bad situation and
sometimes when you do that it backfires. It did tonight when we lost control of
the car and scraped the wall."
Early Saturday morning the DeLange team was back on the highway heading west
this time, arriving at DTRP by mid-afternoon with both the Modified and the #45
Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme Motorsports/Brigham Concrete SST. They qualified
both cars for the night's feature races; a 100-lap Race of Champions Dart
Asphalt Modified Tour feature along with a 50-lap main for the Lorigo Insurance
SST Sportsman. Unfortunately the weather intervened and the program was washed
away after 16 laps of the SST feature. The remainder of Sunday's program will be
completed from that point forward on Sunday, August 24, as well as the Monday
Madness program originally scheduled for August 25 featuring a 50-lap SST
Sportsman feature.
This coming Saturday the DeLange Racing team will be competing with both cars at
Dunn Tire Raceway Park on Heroes Homecoming Day presented by the FOAR Score Fan
Club. The Modifieds will feature the Tommy Druar & Tony Jankowiak Memorial 50
along with a 30-lap main for the SST Sportsman. The DeLange team will return to
the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour on Saturday, August 23, at Mansfield Motorsports
Park in Ohio for a 150-lap event.
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