DeLange Racing Press Release 6/23/09

DeLange Racing
Lockport, NY
http://delangeracing.com/

Media Contact:
Bruce Boucher
(585) 598-3242
modscene@rochester.rr.com

Date: 6/23/09
For Immediate Release

SOLID EFFORT BY BEERS EARNS FITTING FINISH AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY

Eric Beers and the DeLange Racing team travelled to Spencer Speedway in Williamson, New York, last Friday night to compete in the second event on the 2009 Race of Champions Dart Asphalt Modified Tour schedule. The 75-lap race produced a solid field of Modifieds to the famed half-mile oval, including all of the RoC Tour stars. Eric battled hard all night and came away with a very respectable eighth place finish despite some unforeseen obstacles along the way.

The first barrier came at the end of the first qualifying heat, which saw Beers take the checkered flag first to earn an entry into the 12-car redraw for feature starting positions. After he returned to his pit area RoC officials tested the cars for a working scanner by asking the drivers to wave when they heard the request on pit road. Several cars failed to pass the exam and were penalized, including DeLange Racing #45. This relegated Eric to the thirteenth starting position for the feature.

Problems for the team did not end there. Beers was biding his time in the early laps and saving his tires, planning a charge to the front later in the race when the leaders began to fall off the pace on worn rubber. Unfortunately he never got to test his gameplan. By lap 50 his strategy was playing out as his car was still strong while the leaders were gradually slowing. The DeLange machine was closing in on the top-five when Eric made contact with another Modified. That caused a small leak in the right front tire and under each caution thereafter it was slowly losing air. The handling of the #45 gradually went away in the remaining laps and at the checkered flag he rolled across the finish line in eighth place.

Despite the disappointment of losing the chance to compete with the leaders, team owner Dave DeLange saw many positives to take back to Lockport. “Aside from the frustration of the wave rule debacle, we did very well tonight. The car was too tight during the feature, so an eighth place finish was as good as we could expect. You can credit Eric’s skill as a driver for that. We had a super pit stop when we changed the right rear tire. The crew was responsible for that. We just didn’t have a winning car tonight. We had a slow leak in the right front tire so on every caution it would go soft and then when the tire heated back up after a few laps of racing the pressure grew back. Eric got everything he could out of the car. One thing we did take home with us when we left was what we need to do to be better when we return here for the next RoC show on August 14. All in all, Spencer put on a well run show tonight. We’ll learn from our mistakes.”

DeLange Racing will enjoy a three week respite from the racetracks before their next event. That will come when the Race of Champions Modified Tour returns to action at Wyoming County International Speedway in Perry, New York on July 10.

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