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Special from Schoenfeld Racing
DENNIS HAS FORMIDABLE OUTING ON GULF COAST
(Van Buren,
AR) Dennis and Bonnie had a long race weekend as the Dennis
Schoenfeld Racing Team made its 2010 debut at Pensacola’s Five Flags
Speedway Friday night and Mobile Speedway Saturday night. “We
departed Van Buren late Wednesday night, slept a few hours in McGee,
MS and arrived in Pensacola for practice Thursday afternoon,” Dennis
commented. “Since we’ve had little track time this year we dedicated
the majority of our practice time to some different spring/shock
combinations and setups outside of our normal combination for Five
Flags. When it came time to qualify, we installed our known setup
and hit the clock. We qualified a disappointing 17th but
knew we had a good setup for long runs and knew we
would do well by the end of the 100 lap race.”
The first half of
the 100-lapper was uneventful as Dennis kept his nose clean and made
steady progress through the field. After the mid-race break Dennis
took the green flag with growing confidence. “The car really felt
good and as usual at Five Flags, it comes down to tire management to
have something to race with in the last 20 laps,” Dennis stated.
“When I can track down and pass former Snowball Derby winners Eddie
Mercer and Augie Grill in our first race of the season, I know we’ve
got something strong to work with.” Dennis finished 7th
from his 17th starting position and loaded a clean race
car for Saturday’s Miller Lite finale at Mobile.
Dennis’s good
fortune would continue Saturday night at Mobile Speedway even though
he had a miss-cue during qualifying. Dennis got a little high coming
out of turn two and spun his car down the back stretch. “Series
rules require you to start the race on the tires you qualify on so I
was concerned about how badly I had flat-spotted my tires,” Dennis
said. “Once the race started, the vibration from my flat-spots got
progressively worse and I wasn’t sure what was going to come loose
first, my fillings or every nut and bolt on the car. After our plea
to race officials, they allowed us to replace our left side tires
during the mid-race break. On the restart the vibration was less, I
could see again and the car was good.” Dennis had raced his way to 3rd
place and was running strong with the leaders. During a late race
restart Dennis noticed his clutch slipping as he would shift. “Since
I couldn’t get up to speed with the leaders on restarts I moved over
to prevent getting run over. That worked great until on one restart
I moved over only to find out the car in front of me lost his
transmission and I almost rear-ended him,” Dennis revealed. “We lost
a few spots on that one but finished a strong 5th and
once again loaded a near-perfect race car for the long trip home.”
The Dennis
Schoenfeld Racing Team will have a quick turnaround in order to
travel to “Music City,” Nashville, Tennessee for the Championship
Racing Association (CRA) All-American 400 October 1st and 2nd for
what may very well be the last Super Late Model race at the historic
fairgrounds speedway. “We’ve had great success at Nashville in the
past and we’re looking forward to returning with many of our
friends, family and sponsors,” Dennis added.
As always we
would like to thank all of our loyal sponsors and announce a
partnership with Bad Boy Mowers. “The management of Bad Boy Mowers
has been kind enough to support our race operation by providing one
of their “MTV’s” Multi Terrain Vehicles which will make our pit
activities much easier,” Dennis indicated. The team looks forward to
an ever-growing relationship with the staff and management of Bad
Boy Mowers. A special thank you to Five Star Bodies, Kluhsman Racing
Components, Rick’s Used Auto Parts, Frost Oil Company, Comfort Inn
of Pensacola Beach, Clickcom.com, Motorsports Designs, CSM
Corporation and Schoenfeld Headers. Stay in touch with our progress
at
www.dennisschoenfeld.com.
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