Rudolph Gears Up for Return to the Whelen Modified Tour
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.
Sources:Bruce Boucher/DeLange Racing PR