| Engine Change Forces Patrick Sheltra
To Start Weis Markets 125 From Rear Of The Field
LONG POND, Pennsylvania (July 30, 2010) - - ARCA Racing
Series (ARS) presented by RE/MAX and Menards championship
contender Patrick Sheltra qualified his No. 60 Recycling
Services / Ferguson Pipe Toyota Camry 10th Friday afternoon
at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway but will start Saturday’s
Weis Markets 125 from the rear of the field after team officials
opted to change the motor following the 24 year old’s
qualification run.
Sheltra who was scheduled to roll off 37th in Menards Pole
by Ansell qualifying maneuvered the 2.5-mile triangle of
Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in 55.207 seconds amounting a speed
of 162.023 miles per hour. However, immediately after taking
the checkered flag during his time trials effort, Sheltra
informed his team led by veteran crew chief Jon Wolfe that
the motor didn’t feel right.
Upon further consultation, it was agreed upon by the managing
officials at Sheltra Motorsports to pull the motor from
the team’s Camry and replace it with a fresh one in
time for the 11th installment of the 2010 ARCA season.
“We thought we might be having a problem after practice,”
offered Sheltra, who despite his trouble qualified his automobile
inside the top-10 for the fourth consecutive race at the
track nicknamed, “The Tricky Triangle.”
The Indiantown, Florida native continued, “I had
the pedal to the floor and that’s all she had (in
qualifying). I didn’t feel comfortable and I know
that one of our other Toyota competitors may have had a
similar issue to what we were facing. We cannot afford to
take any chances in the race, so to be better safe than
sorry; we opted to go to the backup motor.”
ARCA rules states that any unapproved change(s) done to
a racecar following qualifying forces the team to relinquish
their original starting position and start the respective
contest from the tail end of the starting grid.
With the green and orange No. 60 of Sheltra dropping to
the tail of the field before the green flag drops for the
51st ARCA race held in Long Pond, Sheltra quickly asserted
to the point that charging from the rear of the field will
be no easy task, but it can be accomplished.
“Patience is going to be crucial those first couple
of laps,” Sheltra admitted. “I’ll be back
there racing with guys who may be on a different agenda
than myself. I’m going to show them the same respect
I would for any other driver but with the race being just
50 laps – we have to go. I just hope that we emerge
from any potential chaos unscathed, avoid any further mechanical
scares and find ourselves in the hunt for the win.”
Sheltra is searching for his ninth top-10 of the year and
hoping to back up his solid fourth place outing in the Messina
Animal Wildlife Stopper 200 at Pocono just seven weeks ago.
The aspiring racer is also eyeing his third career top-five
(and top-10) Pocono (Pa.) Raceway run tomorrow.
Cost-effective marketing partnerships are still available
for the remainder of the 2010 ARCA Racing Series season.
For additional information, please contact brandon@patricksheltra.com
or marketing@patricksheltra.com.
Entering Pocono, Sheltra has 77 ARCA Racing Series presented
by RE/MAX and Menards starts to his credit with one career
victory at Salem (Ind.) Speedway (April 2009). During his
ARCA tenure, Sheltra has accumulated 15 top-fives and posted
30 top-10 finishes. A third place qualifying effort at Rockingham
(N.C.) Speedway (April 2009) and Michigan International
Speedway (June 2010) is Sheltra’s best time trials
effort to date. He has controlled the ARCA field six times
for 148 laps.
The Weis Markets 125 (50 laps / 125 miles) is the 11th
of 20 events on the 2010 ARCA Racing Series schedule. The
51st ARCA race at Pocono Raceway is a two-day show. The
event will take the green flag on Saturday, July 31 shortly
after 3:00 p.m. The event will be televised live on SPEED
with additional weekend (practice / qualifying) and race
coverage broadcasted live through the ARCA Racing Network
(ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com.
All times are local.
For the latest on Patrick Sheltra, Sheltra Motorsports
and marketing partnership opportunities please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
Join the official Patrick Sheltra fan page on Facebook by
clicking here.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier
professional Motorsports organization consisting of dirt
and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 24-year old
native of Indiantown, Florida competes in the UMP and WoO
(Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the
Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series presented
by RE/MAX and Menards (No. 60) and a limited schedule in
the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
The team is headquartered in Indiantown, Florida with additional
operations in Richmond, Indiana and Mooresville, North Carolina.
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
P: 239.834.9797
E: chris@patricksheltra.com
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