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RGeeProductions
05-22-2007, 09:07 PM
Andy Santerre Motorsports Shines Brightest at Elko In Doubleheader Weekend
ASM Has Overall Solid Weekend in Elko and Iowa Events

When the NASCAR Busch East Series, Grand National Division competitors made a trip to the Midwest for a double-header event where they would be competing with their NASCAR West Series counterparts, Elko Speedway in Minnesota and Iowa Speedway were two uncharted circuits for both series.

Even though the Midwestern swing was a new addition to the series’ schedule, Andy Santerre Motorsports found themselves in a very familiar place at an unfamiliar racetrack – victory lane at Elko Speedway.

During the first event of the Busch East and West Series double-header at Elko, Sean Caisse and his No. 44 Casella Waste Systems Chevrolet brought ASM back to victory lane.

“My real goal coming into this race was just a top-five finish, so a win is a huge bonus for us,” said Caisse. “We are points racing, and we're trying to finish these races and come home with the championship. I learned a lot last season. We won three races, but I'd give them all up to win a championship. It was just an awesome, awesome racecar tonight."

ASM team owner Andy Santerre was equally pleased with the team’s performance at Elko. Between Caisse’s victory and DEI Development Driver Jeffrey Earnhardt’s solid run before getting struck by bad luck in the ASM-prepared No. 11, team Santerre was a force in Elko.

“The weekend started off great for us,” said Santerre. “We had some good runs on Friday night. Both cars were in the top three in practice before the Elko event, and Sean was able to sit on the pole with Jeffrey right behind him in third.

“The win with the Casella car was a good boost for the team and gave us a lot of momentum going into Iowa . Jeffrey had a little hard luck Friday night, and ended up coming home 24th, but he had a good racecar throughout the day.”

After the Elko Speedway event, the Busch East and West Series teams headed over to the Iowa Speedway to complete the double-header weekend. ASM’s momentum would come up a little short at Iowa, but any day a team can walk away with a decent day in points, it is considered a good day.

“At Iowa , both of the cars were really good in practice,” added Santerre. “Both teams were confident that we had shot at the win. Sean was able to put the car up front, and speed-wise, we were right up there with (eventual winner) Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.

“We had some tire issues develop in the race with Sean’s car and we thought that we had them fixed, but the tire blew and we drove it into the wall. We were able to get back out there, but we knew that we were not going to be a contender after that. We thought that we could go out there and finish the race, but then we ended up breaking and the Casella car’s day was over.”

Earnhardt, in his ASM-prepared machine, was looking to bring home a top-10 finish, but an incident in front of him left him with nowhere to go. He was able to rebound from the incident and bring home a solid top-20 finish.

“Jeffrey had a good run going. He was breaking into the top-10 with 20 laps to go. Two cars that he was about to pass got together and put him into the wall. He was able to come back to finish 18th.

“It wasn’t too bad of a weekend because the points were divided separately with the West and East. We are still up there with the points. We gained a lot on Friday, and didn’t lose too many on Sunday. It’s a tight points’ battle, and we get one mulligan and we had it this weekend. But if you are going to have it, this is the place to have it. We will just get everything ready to go and head to South Boston .”

Both Sean Caisse and Jeffrey Earnhardt will be out to continue their solid seasons in their ASM-prepared machines when the NASCAR Busch East Series heads to South Boston Speedway on Saturday, June 2nd.

For more information on Andy Santerre Motorsports, contact Amy Hayes at (704) 788-2134 and visit the new online home of ASM coming soon to www.andysanterremotorsports.com.

Amy Hayes, 51 Sports