| Patrick Sheltra Rockets To Runner-Up Finish
At DuQuoin
DUQUOIN, Illinois (September 2, 2008) - - Sophomore ARCA
RE/MAX Series (ARS) driver Patrick Sheltra was so close
to victory Monday afternoon he could taste it. Unfortunately,
a gallant and commendable late race charge would come up
short by one position for Sheltra in the Southern Illinois
100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
Still, the Indiantown, Florida native definitely gave the
crowd something to cheer about as the 22-year old driver
overcame severe tire wear twice to tie his career best finish
and record his second top-five finish of the season.
The one-day show was a memorable one for the Whitesville,
Kentucky based Sheltra Motorsports team. Clear skies but
billowing steamy temperatures would force the team to keep
each other hydrated by the time the lone practice session
of the day took the green flag just after 9:00 a.m. local.
Sheltra, still riding high on his impressive UMP dirt late
model win on Saturday night at Union County Speedway strapped
himself into his Grace Sheltra-owned automobile and took
his stab at the 1.0-mile clay oval.
Continuing to move up the leader board, by the end of the
first run, Sheltra had worked his way up into the third
position. Reporting to crew chief John Hayden of a very
stable racecar, the team made a few minor tweaks and changed
tires before sending their driver back onto the racetrack.
Sheltra’s dirt track skills continued to shine as
the No. 60 had moved into the second position behind fellow
dirt track expert Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Another minor chassis
adjustment and cooling off his camouflage Dodge Charger
would prove to be a winning move in the late stages of the
practice session. During his final run, Sheltra bolted a
fast lap of 34.840 seconds at 103.330 MPH which at that
time put the team in position number one, where they remained
for 10 minutes. Hayden instructed his talented driver to
bring his machine to pit road where they would begin setting
up their machine for qualifying. During that time, the track
picked up speed with Sheltra settling for ninth overall
at the conclusion of the session.
In ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, Sheltra drew the 28th
position setting up for a one-lap bonsai run. Sheltra’s
lap of 33.716 seconds or 106.774 MPH, a pickup of just over
a second from practice would land the avid hunter ninth
on the starting grid.
At the start of the Southern Illinois 100, Sheltra quickly
began his march. Picking off positions one at a time, Sheltra
would continue to climb into the running order and had reached
the top-five by lap 15. Eight laps later, the caution flew
for an incident involving Michael Phelps. Hayden along with
the Sheltra Motorsports bunch took the opportunity to bring
their driver down on pit road for two right-side tires and
fuel.
Returning to the track solidly in the top-10, Hayden informed
his protégé that his tires were dead and to
take it easy on the next run, so they could be a factor.
Back to racing, Sheltra continued to slowly but steadily
pick off his prey and had moved into the top-five just before
halfway. Continuing to sport lap times comparable to leader
Frank Kimmel, Sheltra found himself comfortably in the second
position by lap 60.
Sheltra’s worst fear would once again become a reality
as while hovering in the runner-up position, his lap times
began to drop with Sheltra radioing his team that his tires
were going away again. With the tread disappearing, Sheltra
found himself backing up in the running order. Sliding from
second to eighth, Sheltra needed a caution and he needed
one bad. Thankfully, that opportunity came inside twenty
laps remaining when the yellow flag waived again for an
incident in turn two.
The Sheltra Motorsports team took advantage of the slower
pace to slap four new Hoosier tires and a little bit of
fuel into their Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge Charger
with Sheltra exiting the pits in the 10th position.
With not a lot of time and fresh rubber onboard, Sheltra
knew that he had an advantage over the rest of his competition
and planned to take full benefit of the opportunity. On
the restart, Sheltra laid the pedal down hard and quickly
began chewing away at his competition. Five laps into the
green flag run, Sheltra had moved back into seventh before
soaring into the top-five with 12 laps remaining.
Another quick caution inside 10 laps remaining would find
Sheltra locking third and eyeing the two leaders of Kimmel
and Stenhouse, Jr. Back to green, Sheltra made quick work
of the No. 99 of Stenhouse with Sheltra trying to close
in on the No. 44 of Kimmel. Tracking him down but running
out of time, Sheltra needed another caution to put him at
Kimmel’s bumper. That opportunity presented himself
with just six laps remaining when A.J. Fike made contact
with the wall. Now riding second, Sheltra was ready.
Being handed a green-white-checkered finish, Sheltra knew
he would have two laps to get around the nine-time ARCA
RE/MAX Series champion. On the restart, Sheltra tried to
find his way around the Indiana native but to no avail.
The white flag flew with Sheltra searching every opportunity
to get around the ARCA ace and despite pulling out of line
and trying to drag-race Kimmel down the frontstretch, Sheltra
would tuck in just before the start-finish line and take
home the runner-up position for the first time since May.
“That was a lot of fun,” said Sheltra, who
completed all 102 circuits. “I thought we would have
something for Kimmel, but it took a couple laps for our
car to come in and we just didn’t have anything for
him at the end. We tried. I’m really proud of my guys
and thank everyone who supports this race team, especially
all of our marketing partners. We’re going to try
and win one of these things by the end of the year.”
After climbing from his car, Sheltra joined race-winner
Frank Kimmel by jumping into the lake right behind victory
lane as a way of celebrating their one-two finish, but also
a good way to cool off. “It was a hot one out there
today. Phew. Staying hydrated was the big issue and I did
just that. I’ve never done anything like that (referring
to jumping into the lake), but hey there is a first time
for everything.”
With his seventh top-10 finish of the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX
Series season, Sheltra jumped to ninth in the point standings
overtaking close friend Ken Butler III. Sheltra is now just
45 markers from eighth and 70 credits from moving into the
sixth position.
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is their annual trip
to the Chicagoland Speedway. The Chicagoland ARCA 200 is
set for Saturday, September 6th with the green flag scheduled
to waive shortly after 5:00 p.m. local time. The event will
be taped delayed on SPEED with the 17th event of the season
set to air on Sunday, September 7th at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
Exiting DuQuoin, Sheltra has 41 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts
to his credit with a career best finish of second at Toledo
Speedway (May 2008) and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September
2008) with two additional top-five finishes (third) at Illinois
State Fairgrounds (August 2007), (fourth) at Berlin Raceway
(July 2007) while holding additional top-10s at Nashville
Superspeedway (August 2008), Michigan International Speedway
(June 2008), Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Kansas Speedway
(April 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Kentucky Speedway
(June 2007), DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2007)
and Toledo Speedway (October 2007). An eighth place qualifying
effort at Kansas Speedway (April 2008) is Sheltra’s
best time trials efforts to date. He has controlled the
ARCA field twice for 15 laps.
For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com)
is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt
and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 22-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 NASCAR.
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.
Sheltra Motorsports Quick
Facts:
Team Name: Sheltra Motorsports, No. 60 Dodge
Charger
Driver: Patrick Sheltra, Indiantown, Florida
Car Owner: Grace Sheltra, Indiantown,
Florida
Marketing Partners: Groupe Beton Brunet,
Ferguson Pipe Enterprises, Inc, FloraGanics, American Concrete
Industries, Inc, The Casite Company, J&S Bulk Transportation,
Inc., US Construction Supply Corp., CP Concrete Products
of the Palm Beaches, Sheltra & Son Construction, Sheltra
Cattle Company, Recycling Services, Aaron’s Outdoors,
Boatwerks Waterfront Restaurant, Indiantown Marina, All
About Flowers, Speed Media, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants,
DMC Graphics and Purcell Tire & Rubber.
Crew Chief: John Hayden
Director of Competition: Larry Moore
Team Manager: Keith Strunk
###
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 830.261.1215
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com |
