A.J. Frank Delivers Fourth Straight Top-Five Finish At Langley |
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Topics: A.J. Frank, Hampton Visitors & Convention Bureau 250
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Chris Knight
May 31, 2010
HAMPTON, Virginia (May 31, 2010) - - A week after making his ARCA Racing Series debut at Toledo (Oh.) Speedway, A.J. Frank returned to familiar territory in the USARacing Pro Cup Series for Saturday night’s Hampton Visitors & Convention Bureau 250 at Langley (Va.) Speedway.
Frank, the Bluffton, South Carolina native arrived on the premises of Langley Speedway approaching his USAR debut at the tricky .395-mile oval with optimism.
“Langley is a difficult track,” explained Frank before climbing behind the wheel of his No. 56 SpeedCo / Lucas Oil /3 Wide Apparel Chevrolet Impala. “Getting yourself into a constant and comfortable rhythm helps your approach to conquering Langley. Patience is also just as important. It’s an extremely tight track so finessing past your competition can be the key to succeeding this unique place.”
In the first practice session of the weekend, Frank wheeled his Mac Hill Motorsports entry around the short track in 17.090 seconds at 83.207 miles an hour, placing the team eighth on the overall rundown. Not exactly pleased with the first practice session, the MHM team quickly went to work with array of changes hoping to steer the team towards the top in the second and final practice session of the day.
In round two, Frank was able to climb the leader board despite wheeling a fastest lap of 17.219 second transferring to a time of 82.583 miles per hour. Despite the gap between the two practice session the team overall was happy with the performance of their automobile, especially after the condition of the track following final practice.
“We have a pretty good No. 56 SpeedCo / Lucas Oil /3 Wide Chevrolet,” offered Frank. “It’s real hot and muggy out there and that showed during the second practice session as most of the field lost grip and turned slower speeds from the first practice session. Overall though, our car was very consistent on the long-runs and we have a positive outlook for tonight’s race.”
Frank headed into qualifying on Saturday afternoon looking for his first career USAR pole but came up a few positions short. In time trials, the USAR pro maneuvered his bow-tie machine to a time of 17.195 seconds at 82.698 miles per hour landing with their third consecutive top-five start of the season after securing the fifth place starting position. “I think I pushed her a little too hard in qualifying,” sounded Frank. “The car was pretty comfortable and I thought we had a shot at the pole but I overdrove the corner and I think it hurt our lap a little bit. The bright side is we’ll still be able to see the leaders at the start.”
From the drop of the green flag for Hampton Visitors & Convention Bureau 250, Frank proved to be a threat. An early race caution on lap four halted Frank’s concentration on moving into fourth. On the restart, Frank continued to stalk his prey and by lap 35 had moved up into the fourth position and maintained the position inside the top-five until pit stops began approaching lap 59 for fuel.
A virtually flawless pit stop by the Mac Hill crew released Frank back into the top-five controlling the fourth position. Through the half-way mark of the race, Frank maintained his position in the fourth position but crawled into a podium finishing position before a pit stop would shake up the running order.
A spin involving John Gibson and Bryan Silas approaching lap 145, issued a yellow flag opening the door for Frank to bring his racecar down pit road for four fresh BF Goodrich rubber. His crew preformed brilliantly on pit road with the six-year USAR veteran inheriting the lead when racing resumed on lap 148.
Despite a gallant effort from Frank, pole-sitter Clay Rogers was able to work his away around the No. 56 going into turn one on lap 150 to retake the lead. Logan Ruffin following closely behind Rogers was able to pass Frank for the runner-up spot on lap 151 with Frank eventually locking the third position.
The fifth caution flag of the race waived on lap 185 with Frank making a trip to pit road for a chassis adjustment on his No. 56 entry after the handling began to twitch as the race closed in on the final sector. With Frank marred deep in the lead pack, his run back to the front was bound to be exciting.
Though battling a tough and close field, Frank was able to muscle his way back into the top-five utilizing his short track brilliance by lap 207. During the final 40 circuits of the event, Frank was reeling in the No. 07 of Matt Lofton and tried making passes on the StrutMasters.com entry but Frank would eventually have to hunker back in line and settle for fifth, notching his fourth top-five finish of the year in four races.
“At moments the race was extremely quiet but overall it was a good night for the Mac Hill Motorsports team,” Frank said after the event. “I have to give some props to the pit crew for being on their game tonight. The second-to-last pit stop, they raised the notch and we were able to beat Clay (Rogers) off pit road. While we tried to fend him off, it was obvious that he again had the car to beat.”
Frank, who has completed all but one lap in 2010 finished off by saying, “we felt in order to have a shot at winning the race we had to make that pit stop with about 65 to go. The changed ultimately helped the handling improve to an extent but we just didn’t have enough time to move our way back into the top-three. Nonetheless, we’ll take the finish in stride and look forward to our next race.”
Frank’s finish on Saturday night capped him his 21st career top-five and 40th top-10 finish of his career in 71 starts. Next up for the USARacing Pro Cup Series is a stop at the legendary South Boston (Va.) Speedway on Saturday, June 12th for a 250-lap showdown.
In addition to competing on the USARacing Pro Cup Series campaign, A.J. Frank can often be seen mentoring ARCA Racing Series (ARS) presented by RE/MAX and Menards driver Mikey Kile of Venturini Motorsports. Kile himself is a former USARacing Pro Cup Series competitor. With the support and guidance of Frank, Kile a new-full timer on the tour controls the fifth place in the ARCA point standings entering the seventh race of their 2010 season this upcoming weekend at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
Join A.J. Frank on Facebook by visiting, Facebook.com/ajfmotorsports.
Visit the USARacing Pro Cup Series on the web at, USARProCup.com.
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