Patrick Sheltra Returns To Top-10 In DuQuoin
Patrick Sheltra Returns To Top-10 In DuQuoin
DUQUOIN, Illinois (September 5, 2007) - - After a tough showing this past
Friday night at Gateway International Raceway, Patrick Sheltra redeemed
himself by spending the weekend competing on the dirt.
His weekend would extend over to Monday’s traditional Labor Day event for
the ARCA RE/MAX Series at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Coming off a solid
top-10 the night before in his dirt car, Sheltra was hoping the finish would
transfer over to his primary focus, the No. 60 Sheltra Motorsports Chevrolet.
In his first appearance on the dirt this season, Sheltra stormed to life
with a outstanding third place run at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Moving
ahead to DuQuoin, Sheltra knew the competition would be tough but was banking on
the superb performance on the dirt to rekindle the flame in the Southern
Illinois 100.
“I’m back,�?? said Sheltra to his No. 60 Chevrolet Monte Carlo upon walking
into the garage area Monday morning.
With practice set for 9:00am, Sheltra quickly got into race mode studying
the track following the driver’s meeting before jumping into his race suit and
putting the helmet on and climbing into his race machine.
During the short one-hour session, Sheltra’s time were not to his liking.
Whipping his machine around the one-mile oval in 34.975 seconds at 102.931 MPH,
Sheltra claimed the 16th position.
“We’re loose, bad loose,�?? Sheltra offered. “We weren’t this way in
Springfield; we’ll make some adjustments and see what we can do.�??
Closing watching the times of his competitors during ARCA SIM Factory pole
qualifying, Sheltra noted the decrease of speed and time as qualifying
progressed.
“The track is slowing down,�?? Sheltra explained before his run.
Sheltra’s qualifying lap of 35.251 seconds or 102.125 MPH wasn’t a big of a
drop as some of his other competition, but Sheltra gained some positions in
the starting grid by grabbing the 12th position.
“I think we going to be good for the race,�?? sounded Sheltra. “The guys on
the Sheltra Motorsports team did a good job making some good adjustments and
they worked. Hopefully we can march forward in the race.�??
At the start of the Southern Illinois 100, Sheltra quickly stayed hovered
inside the top-12. With tight racing conditions in store for the 40-car field,
Sheltra knew the race had to looks of not being a “give and take�?? event.
By lap 10, Sheltra had slid back to the 13th position. The caution flag
would waive three laps later with Sheltra joining a plethora of other competitors
on pit road for their mandatory pit stop.
Sheltra would restart the event on lap 19 in the 20th position. The next 11
laps, Sheltra would move up five spots before another caution would fly on
lap 35 with the Florida native still controlling the 15th position.
Several teams ahead of Sheltra on the track would opt to bring their
machines to the attentions of their crew moving Sheltra to sixth on the restart.
Eight laps later, Sheltra muscled his No. 60 into the fifth position. He
would continue to hold that top spot for the next 14 laps before a couple
competitors would make the move back into their original position after pitting
dropping Sheltra to seventh.
Sheltra would hold that seventh position for the final 10 laps of the race
and it appeared that Sheltra would cross the line seventh, but a competitor
ahead of the No. 60 spun in the final corner on the last lap with Sheltra
blowing by and crossing the line sixth, collecting his second straight top-10 on
the dirt this season.
“Not to bad of a day,�?? said Sheltra, who recorded his fourth top-10 finish
of the season. “We only made one pit stop and we able to take control of the
top-10. I’m really happy with the run. Hopefully we can keep the momentum
going into Chicagoland on Saturday.�??
Sheltra continues to control the seventh position in the ARCA RE/MAX Series
point standings as the series heads to the final mile-and-a-half track of the
season at Chicagoland Speedway for the Chicagoland ARCA 200 on Saturday,
September 8.
GATEWAY RECAP: Patrick Sheltra suffered misfortunate for the second straight
week at Gateway International Raceway on Friday night. After qualifying mid
pack, Sheltra quickly made his march towards the top-10. Unfortunately,
Sheltra was involved in an accident on lap 62. The team was able to make repairs
and send their rookie driver back into the event. However, eight laps later,
Sheltra would bring his Chevrolet to the garage with an ill-handling racecar
and a disappointing finish.�??
“I hate this. We’ve run so well the last several weeks and right now we can’
t catch a break. The accident was a bad deal. I’m glad everyone was okay. I
don’t know, just plum frustration is how I am feeling right now. The dirt
race is next and we finished third at Springfield, so hopefully we can bounce
back and put our season back on track on Labor Day.�??
For more on Patrick Sheltra, please visit _PatrickSheltra.com_
(http://www.patricksheltra.com/)
MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL:
(mailto:%20) _knight849@aol.com_
(mailto:knight849@aol.com)
************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour