A major objective in 2008 for the DeLange Racing team and their
talented teenage driver, Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, was to test
themselves against the NASCAR Modified Tour teams. They began the
season chasing that goal, with a trip to Caraway Speedway in North
Carolina followed by a visit to Thompson Speedway in Connecticut.
They followed that up with two trips to famed Stafford Motor
Speedway in Connecticut, and scored their first Modified top-ten
finish on May 23rd. After that race, they headed back home as the
racing season was ready to open in Western New York.
They focused their racing at the speedway in Lancaster, under new
management and renamed Dunn Tire Raceway Park. On Opening Day in
early May Rudolph drove the #45 Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme
Motorsports/Brigham Concrete Modified to a solid third place finish.
He embellished that with a victory in the #45 SST Sportsman, the
first of three consecutive wins at DTRP in that car. On June 20 the
DeLange team headed east to Spencer Speedway in Williamson and drove
the #45 Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme Motorsports/Brigham Concrete
SST to a dominant 75-lap feature victory.
On Friday night, July 12, Rudolph and his teammates will try to
build on their momentum at the Spencer half-mile oval and rejoin the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for a 100-lap event. Team owner Dave
DeLange is anxious to compete against the best Modified racers on a
track where they have a measure of experience.
"When we raced against the NASCAR teams in North Carolina and
Connecticut, we were the rookies," explained DeLange. "At Spencer
Speedway the roles will be somewhat reversed since the NASCAR
Modified Tour hasn't raced their since 1994 while we have run there
five times in the past two years and won in our most recent visit
last month. We expect to be competitive and our goal is to make it
two in a row at Spencer and also win our first Tour race."
After the NASCAR Tour race at Spencer, Rudolph and the DeLange team
will close out the month of July with a Race of Champions Modified
Tour 100-lapper at Oswego Speedway on the 19th and then rejoin the
Whelen Modified Tour at Stafford on August 8th.
THE END