RUDOLPH SIDELINED BY
MECHANICAL PROBLEMS AT SPENCER
The best of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour teams
joined the top local Modified teams at Spencer Speedway in Williamson,
New York last Saturday evening, July 12, for a 100-lap Tour race.
Thirty-one Modifieds were in the pits. Two 25-lap qualifying heat races
would determine the starting order for the feature and the heats would
be lined up according to practice times.
Erick Rudolph of Ransomville was among the fastest cars in practice
and lined up the #45 Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme Motorsports/Brigham
Concrete Modified on the pole in the second heat race. On the original
start Rudolph was black-flagged by the NASCAR Tour officials for a
procedural offense and assessed a penalty that put him at the rear of
the field. He failed to qualify for the feature but would be placed dead
last on the 31-car starting grid for the Mason Farms 100.
In the early laps of the main event Rudolph drove his way toward
the front of the field but was hampered by a vibration in the drive
train. He moved forward to just outside of the top-ten but his
mechanical problems eventually forced him into the pits, where the
DeLange Racing crew found terminal problems with both the both the
clutch and the rear end that forced Erick out of the race. He was
credited with a 24th place finish in the final rundown.
The next few weeks will be a busy time for Rudolph and the DeLange
Racing crew, sending them on the road. This Saturday night, July 19,
they will head east to Oswego Speedway for the Parts Plus 100 Race of
Champions Modified Tour event. On Friday night, August 1, they will
return to Spencer Speedway for a 100-lap Race of Champions Modified Tour
race. The team will then return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at
Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut for the 18th
Annual New England Dodge Dealers 150 on August 8. After that event they
will hurry back home to Dunn Tire Raceway Park in Lancaster for the
rescheduled 50th Anniversary Celebration the following afternoon,
featuring a 100-lap Race of Champions Modified Tour event and a 50-lap
SST Sportsman feature.
