| Patrick Sheltra Endures Tough Night At Mansfield
MANSFIELD, Ohio (June 22, 2009) - - After testing at Mansfield
Motorsports Park (MMP) early last week, Patrick Sheltra
and his Sheltra Motorsports team were looking forward to
Saturday’s Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA 200 but the
Indiantown, Florida native faced several obstacles throughout
the night which led to a less-than-satisfying 21st place
finish.
Entering the one-day show fresh off a win Friday night
at Union County Speedway in Liberty, Indiana in his dirt
car the 23-year old phenom had hopes of putting his Grace
Sheltra-owned ARCA team in victory lane for the second time
this season.
In practice, Sheltra guided the No. 60 Buffalo Wings &
Rings Dodge Charger to the 13th fastest time posting a lap
of 17.002 seconds or 105.877 miles per hour. Sheltra informed
his team led by veteran crew chief John Hayden about the
handling of his racecar. “We’re loose in and
tight off, but I’m not going to complain because I
feel that we will be real good tonight,” said Sheltra.
“I know we left some out on the table, so we’ll
try and make up for that in our qualifying run.”
Having a late draw in qualifying usually plays to the advantage
of the ARCA RE/MAX Series teams and Sheltra was hoping to
take full advantage of the opportunity during his run. Maneuvering
the half-mile oval, Sheltra mounted his fast lap of 16.921
seconds transferring to a speed of 106.377 miles per hour.
The lap put Sheltra 16th on the starting grid.
“Not exactly what we were looking for but we’ll
try and make the best of it,” offered Sheltra. “The
car is a little loose but that could play to our advantage
for the race. We’ll see.”
From the drop of the green flag, Sheltra began making his
moves on his competitors but trouble quickly arose in turn
one as the car Sheltra was battling with lost control taking
Sheltra along with him. Cosmetic damage was evident with
the rear of the machine. Under the caution, Hayden instructed
his driver to bring his machine to pit road for repairs.
During the stop, the team beat out the fenders while trying
to raise the spoiler up so Sheltra could connect with the
track.
Deep in the field, Sheltra put on a show charging his way
back to the front again and again as the team took advantage
of the yellow flag fever to continue repairing Sheltra’s
Buffalo Wings & Rings Racing entry.
Back to racing, Sheltra once again put on a good show plowing
his way through the ultra-competitive 32 car field to find
himself in the top-seven.
As the racing continued, Sheltra’s Dodge Charger
developed a tight condition which the team made several
attempts to correct the handling woes. Minor in-car adjustments
played to Sheltra’s liking but during the course of
hard racing, Sheltra was unable to run the preferred racing
line due to the seriousness of the tight condition.
While hovering inside the top-12 inside the final 30 laps
of the event, Sheltra’s machine entered turn three
and suddenly and abruptly turned sideways and slammed the
outside wall.
Sheltra was able to fire his machine up and take it to
the garage where the team deemed the suspension issues terminal
forcing the 21st place finish.
Sheltra completed 174 of the race’s 202 laps.
“We have a monkey on our back right now and it needs
to get off soon,” said Sheltra after the race. “I
don’t know what to say other than its plump frustrating.
I thought we would have a good car and we just never could
get the handling right. The scuffle in turn one certainly
didn’t help us but the car wasn’t too bad. I
don’t know what happened in turn three. It feels like
something broke and it was pretty much the end of our night.
I hate it. I really do. We’ll get back on track be
back in the top-five where we belong.”
The finish dropped Sheltra from sixth to eighth in the
ARCA RE/MAX Series standings after round nine of 21.
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is a stop in Newton,
Iowa for the running of the Prairie Meadows 250 at the Rusty
Wallace-designed Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 11. Sheltra
finished ninth in last year’s Iowa event. The Whitesville,
Kentucky based team will participate in the open ARCA RE/MAX
Series at the .875 paved oval on Tuesday, June 30 in preparation
for “Mr. Showtime’s” third start at the
track.
Leaving Mansfield, Sheltra has 55 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts
to his credit with one career victory at Salem Speedway
(April 2009). During his ARCA tenure, Sheltra has accumulated
nine top-fives and posted 18 top-10 finishes. A third place
qualifying effort at Rockingham Speedway (April 2009) is
Sheltra’s best time trials efforts to date. He has
controlled the ARCA field five times for 109 laps.
For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
For additional input on Buffalo Wings & Rings, please
connect to Buffalowingsandrings.com or call 513.831.WING.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier
Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition.
Patrick Sheltra, a 23-year old native of Indiantown, Florida
competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running
a full schedule in the ARCA RE/MAX Series (No. 60) and a
limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sheltra
Motorsports ownership is combined of Richard, Grace and
Patrick Sheltra. The team is headquartered in Indiantown,
Florida with additional operations in Richmond, Indiana
and Whitesville, Kentucky.
About Buffalo Wings &
Rings:
Buffalo Wings & Rings is the fastest-growing privately
owned franchised chain of restaurants in the nation serving
Buffalo-style chicken wings, onion rings, burgers, chicken
and salads. Founded in 1988 in Cincinnati, OH, Buffalo Wings
& Rings operates 44 franchised restaurants in the United
States. Buffalo Wings & Rings was ranked the #1 fastest
growing restaurant chain nationwide in the July 2008 issue
of Restaurant Business, and ranked in the top 500 franchises
in the January 2009 issue of Entrepreneur. For more information,
visit www.buffalowingsandrings.com or call 513-831-WING.
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
P: 239.834.9797
E: chris@patricksheltra.com
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