| Patrick Sheltra Makes A Statement In Kentucky
“Sheltra Motorsports Serious Contenders Under
The Lights”
SPARTA, Kentucky (May 12, 2008) -- Most would be happy
with a top-10 finish but for Whitesville, Kentucky based
Sheltra Motorsports, the team would show some frustration
after driver Patrick Sheltra captured a season-best seventh
place finish in Saturday night’s Drive Smart! Buckle-Up
Kentucky 150 at Kentucky Speedway.
Hoping to improve on the team’s eighth place finish
at Kansas Speedway last month while sporting their new Dodge
Charger emblem the team headed into the first of two events
at Kansas’s sister track Kentucky Speedway looking
to shine in the spotlight.
They did.
In the first and lone practice session of the day, Sheltra
maneuvered his camouflage No. 60 Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics
Dodge Charger to the 15th position after clocking a lap
of 30.934 seconds at 174.565 mph. “We still have a
lot in her,” said Sheltra. “We went out to make
a qualifying lap to show our muscle and we got trapped by
a slower car. The Sheltra Motorsports team did a great job
preparing this Dodge. We’re picking off right where
we left off in Kansas.”
Sheltra was right; the team was showing the same shadow
of Kansas Speedway.
After drawing the 19th position for ARCA SIM Factory pole
qualifying, the team was anxious to see what Sheltra could
bolt out in qualifying. Hustling around the track in 30.870
seconds or 174.927 mph, Sheltra landed his Grace Sheltra-owned
automobile in the 10th position. “It was a good qualifying
effort,” Sheltra recalled. “The car handled
well but I think everyone will see how good our racecar
is during the race.”
At the start of the Drive Smart! Buckle-Up Kentucky, the
Indiantown, Florida native wasted no time charging to the
front as by lap two, Sheltra had climbed to sixth and rose
to fifth when the first caution flag waived on lap five
when the No. 25 of Ryan Fischer went for an innocent spin
in turn three.
Crew Chief John Hayden informed his driver that he had
the third fastest car on the track and keep digging. On
the restart, Sheltra secured himself safely in the top-five
before moving into fourth by the end of lap 10.
The caution flag waived again on lap 12 when the No. 45
of Michael Phelps lost an engine. Sheltra remained quiet
on the radio, showing determination in the 21-year old’s
blood.
Challenging inside the top-three, Sheltra continued to
sport one of the fastest machines on the track until the
opportunity to hit pit road on lap 38 where Hayden called
for four tires and fuel. The in-house Sheltra Motorsports
pit crew did a fantastic job getting their driver back out
on the track.
With a bunch of cars electing to stay out, Sheltra found
himself in the middle of the top-20. Coaching and guidance
from spotter Kevin Huffines paid off with Sheltra quickly
finding himself back in the top-10 just past halfway.
During a heavy span of green flag racing, Sheltra proved
that his No. 60 was a threat. Blasting out faster lap times
than the leaders, Sheltra continued to move up the leader
board and had positioned himself back in the fourth position
by lap 85.
With the caution flag waiving inside 20 laps remaining,
Sheltra was reminded by Hayden to save fuel in high gear
and conserve fuel around the 1.5-mile speedway.
Lap 94 saw the yellow fever continue once again setting
for a duel inside five laps remaining. On the restart, Sheltra
was setting up his prey for the final few laps before the
field slowed again due to a multi-car incident in turn two.
The race then took an interesting turn. With Hayden reminded
his driver to try and save fuel, the field would be shut
down to red flag conditions for 11 minutes.
Back to yellow conditions, Sheltra fired up his No. 60
Dodge Charger but radioed to his team on the frontstretch
that he believed he was running on fumes. The car shutoff
before Sheltra fired the ignition up again.
The team had hoped it was just an “air pocket”
that caused the brief cease of the motor with Sheltra holding
the fourth position on the restart.
On the first attempted green-white-checkered finish, it
appeared all was well until turn one with the car stalled
again allowing pole sitter Sean Caisse to make the pass
for fourth. The car refired allowing Sheltra to battle back
into the top-five before the caution flag waived again,
setting up for over time round number two.
During the caution, Sheltra’s machine stumbled again
on the backstretch, despite not coming to a full stop, the
No. 60 tried to conserve more fuel on the bottom of the
track at a slightly slower speed then the rest of the competition.
Getting ready to go back to racing, Sheltra tried to slide
back into the fourth position before ARCA ordered the team
to fall back inside the top-15 behind the No. 44 of Frank
Kimmel.
Extremely frustrated with the call, the team obeyed ARCA’s
command with Sheltra ready to do what he could to get back
to the front. Still on fumes, Sheltra began his slicing
and dicing on the restart only to yield to the caution flag
again.
Upset with the sheer number of cautions late in the race,
Sheltra asked to make the trip down pit road for fuel and
new Hoosier tires. The team agreed and felt they had nothing
to lose.
The decision paid off.
With plenty of gas and new rubber, Sheltra was a man on
a mission on the final restart of the day, holding his No.
60 nearly wide open on the final lap brilliantly passing
cars on the outside through turns one and two onto the backstretch.
Marching into the top-10 coming into turn three, Sheltra
vowed for more and found himself in a three-wide match with
the No. 39 of Brett Hudson and the No. 11 of Bryan Silas
with Sheltra fitting in the middle crossing the line seventh,
garnishing his third top-10 finish of the season.
“It was amazing how quick that race turned around,”
said Sheltra after the race. “I’m still confused
and upset on the call by the ARCA officials as we were not
the only car doing everything possible to try and save fuel.
Other teams were not penalized like we were. I just feel
it was an unjust call. On the other hand to walk away with
a top-10 finish and our racecar intact, I’ll take
it.”
Sheltra continued, “We had a car that could have
won the race tonight, we were that good. We are going to
come back in July with a vengeance. Our car was good all
night long and the Sheltra Motorsports team did a good job
on pit road. It was an okay point’s night; we gained
some points on the lead pack. We’ll take this top-10
finish and go for the win at Toledo next Sunday.”
With sixth races complete, Sheltra controls the eighth
position in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings, just
80 markers from the top-five and 170 credits from the top
spot now held by SunTrust Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Ricky
Stenhouse, Jr.
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is a stop in the sanction’s
backyard at Toledo Speedway for the running of the Hantz
Group 200 by Federated Car Care set for Sunday, May 18.
The first of two trips this year to the half-mile oval concludes
a stretch of six consecutive races for the series 21-race
schedule. The green flag is scheduled to waive shortly after
2:00pm EST.
Leaving Kentucky, Sheltra has 31 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts
to his credit with a career best finish of third on the
dirt at Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2007) with an
additional top-five finish (fourth) at Berlin Raceway (July
2007) while holding additional top-10s at 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 once for four
laps.
For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit the newly re-launched
PatrickSheltra.com.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com)
is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt
and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 21-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 Craftsman Truck Series (No. 35). 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 Chevrolet
Monte Carlo SS
Driver: Patrick Sheltra, Indiantown, Florida
Car Owner: Grace Sheltra, Indiantown, Florida
Crew Chief: John Hayden
Team Manager: Keith Strunk
Marketing Partners: Ferguson Pipe Enterprises,
Inc, FloraGanics, American Concrete Industries, Inc, Hardie
Pipe, The Casite Company, J&S Bulk Transportation, Inc.,
US Construction Supply Corp., Martin County Petroleum, Sheltra
& Son Construction, Sheltra Cattle Company, Recycling
Services, Aaron’s Outdoors, Indiantown Marina, All
About Flowers, Speed Media, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants,
DMC Graphics and Purcell Tire & Rubber.
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 830.261.1215
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com
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