RUDOLPH FALLS SHORT IN CARAWAY QUALIFYING
-THOMPSON UP NEXT-
Last weekend DeLange Racing made their first NASCAR appearance in a
Whelen Southern Modified Tour event at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro,
North Carolina. The #45 Original Pizza Logs/PrimeTyme
Motorsports/Brigham Concrete Modified went through NASCAR’s extensive
technical inspection by both Northern and Southern Tour officials on
Friday afternoon and the car passed with flying colors. Day one was an
unqualified success.
On Saturday the focus went from the infield inspection area
to the race track. Driver Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, New York took
his first laps on the .455-mile paved oval and quickly came up to a
competitive speed. With his input to the crew, additional adjustments
were made to ready the car for qualifying. Based on his practice
performance, there was confidence that the teenage driver could turn a
lap that was fast enough to earn him a spot in the starting lineup for
the night’s 150-lap feature race.
But a fuel pickup problem as he went out for his time trial
caused the motor to stumble and eventually stall on the first of two
planned laps. Erick did manage to restart the engine and run his second
lap, but with a balky motor and no heat in the tires his lap times
narrowly missed the cutoff point for qualifying. His day ended at that
point and Erick was forced to watch the race from the pit area with the
crew.
“We had a good setup in the car for practice,” explained Rudolph after
qualifying. “Our lap times were fast enough to make the race. We made
our usual adjustments for time trials and went out on the track. On our
warm-up lap the motor started to miss badly and as we took the green
flag for our first lap on the clock it stalled completely. I was able to
get it restarted but since we took the original green we only had one
lap coming to us. Everyone was faster on their second lap after building
heat in the tires but we only had one lap so our tires were still cold.
We didn’t miss by much, but we didn’t make the race. It was a huge
disappointment for all of us. But that’s just part of racing and all you
can do is learn from it and do better the next time. I’m really looking
forward to Thompson in two weeks.”
The next event for Rudolph and DeLange Racing is the
traditional season opener for auto racing in the Northeast, the
Icebreaker at Thompson International Speedway on April 5-6. The headline
event on the program is a 150-lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race
featuring most of the top drivers in NASCAR’s oldest division. This will
be Rudolph’s first visit to Thompson and his first appearance in a
Whelen Modified Tour race. He looks forward enthusiastically to the
toughest challenge yet in his young racing career.
