Momentum Continues For Bean In Kansas

Topics:  Dexter Bean, Kansas Lottery $150 Grand

Chris Knight
BlackJack Racing
May 1, 2007

KANSAS CITY, KS (May 1, 2007) - - Rolling into "Tornado Alley" Dexter Bean and his BlackJack Racing team were hoping to continue a string of strong performances in the ARCA RE/MAX Series which has seen the sophomore team rocket to fourth in points heading into the fifth race of the season.

Last year at Kansas Speedway, Bean had a car capable of finishing in the top-10, but mechanical problems erased those hopes. The team worked hard to make sure the same misfortunate would not happen again.

Practice started the weekend off in the right direction with the No. 6 Five Star Telecom Chevrolet nailing the ninth-position overall. Driving one of his favorite racecars, Bean was looking forward to qualifying.

In time trials, Bean maneuvered the 15th quickest lap. Not exactly the lap the team was looking for, but a solid starting spot nonetheless.

Mother Nature roared her true colors at Kansas Speedway immediately following ARCA Sim Factory pole qualifying dumping heavy rains around the 1.5-mile speedway delaying the start of the Kansas Lottery $150 Grand.

After a two-hour delay, 41 teams took the green and yellow flag together for 15 laps before being cleared by ARCA officials to race the remaining 84 laps. On the start, Bean quickly adapted himself to racing conditions with the goal to get to the front.

Knowing that the Kansas race was one of the shortest events of the year and shortened 15 laps, Bean knew there was no holding back. Quickly Bean found himself in the top-10 with the first and only scheduled round of pit stops approaching lap 60.

The BlackJack Racing team performed their magic on pit road and quickly sent Bean back into competition. The team was unlucky when the caution flag flew several laps later trapping the team one lap off the pace.

Vowing to never give up, Bean and the team knew a top-10 finish was still in reach. While trying to fight vigorously to get his lap back on the restart, Bean would remain the first car one lap off the pace.

Closing in on the finish, Bean held off seven competitors including Michael McDowell, Patrick Sheltra, Justin South, Todd Hansen and Frank Kimmel to claim the 10th position, the first car one lap down enabling Bean to garnish his 10-top-10 finish of his ARCA career.

His finish on Friday night helped propel him past Phillip McGilton (who finished 18th) in the ARCA point standings and finds the Westby, Wisconsin native third in championship standings, ten ahead of McGilton, and twenty behind second-place competitor Kimmel and trailing leader Justin Allgaier by 115 markers.

"We'll take that," said Bean. "We had a car good enough to run in the top-five, but we got an unlucky break with the caution and it hurt us. My BlackJack Racing team did it again and gave me a great racecar and we had some strong horsepower under the hood. I'm looking forward to going to Winchester .”

Speaking of Winchester , the Winchester ARCA 200 is the next venue for the series as the sixth race of the season is scheduled for this Sunday, May 6.

BlackJack Racing is still seeking additional primary and associate sponsors for the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series season. For sponsorship inquiries, please contact Robert Weiss at rweiss9@wi.rr.com or 414.763.9231.

For more on Dexter Bean and BlackJack Racing please visit DexterBean.net

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MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, BlackJack Racing
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com