ARCA Point’s Leader Patrick Sheltra Posts Top-10 Practice Result At Kansas

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, Kansas Lottery 150

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
September 30, 2010

“Sheltra Gunning For Win No. 3 Of 2010; Championship Still Biggest Focus”

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (September 30, 2010) - - Under gorgeous weather conditions, the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards tackled the 1.5-mile track of Kansas Speedway Thursday morning in preparation for this afternoon’s Kansas Lottery 150. Current ARCA Racing Series point’s leader Patrick Sheltra finished the two-hour session seventh fastest after posting a time of 32.111 seconds at 168.167 miles per hour.

Sheltra, 24 aboard the No. 60 Tequesta Road and Bridge of Florida / Jones Group International Toyota Camry spent the morning practice session trying to find the perfect setup that could later surge the Sheltra Motorsports team to their third win of the season and second consecutive on a speedway.

Armed with Sheltra Motorsports chassis number 19, the same Toyota Camry that the team dominated the Ansell Protective Gloves 150 at Chicagoland Speedway on August 27, the team feels that they are headed in the right direction to award Sheltra with his fourth career ARCA victory.

Immediately Sheltra’s No. 60 Tequesta Road and Bridge of Florida / Jones Group International Toyota Camry found itself near the top of the speed charts by moving into the third spot before slipping back to sixth where the team remained for much of the session.

Despite the extremely tight field, Sheltra and crew chief Jon Wolfe worked on improving the overall handling of their Japanese nameplate. The biggest struggle they faced during the lone practice session occurred in turns one and two where Sheltra reported he was “losing the nose.”

While making some progress with the handling of their automobile, Sheltra made two mock qualifying runs late this morning in advance of this afternoon’s Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying session. The first run, Sheltra was stalled by a slower machine. On the second run, Sheltra was on track to improve his run but a crash by the No. 59 of Leilani Munter put the yellow flag out and prematurely ended Sheltra’s mock qualifying run.

Sheltra eventually slid to seventh when Robb Brent made his qualifying run and jumped from outside the top-10 to fifth fastest overall.

“It’s extremely misfortunate that we were unable to maneuver a clean mock-qualifying run,” sounded Sheltra. “We have a good car here today at Kansas. We struggled with “losing the nose” in turns one and two, but we were making steady improvements on correcting that, so I’m hopeful we won’t have that problem in the race. We tried to go out twice to make qualifying runs and unfortunately, circumstances out of our control prevented us from showing what we really have. I feel like we have a good of a shot as anyone to make a significant improvement that will allow us to start today’s race near the front.”

Sheltra posted 51 laps during practice and was the fastest of the top-three in the ARCA Racing Series championship battle. Second place competitor Tom Hessert (15 points behind Sheltra) was 16th fastest while Craig Goess Jr., third in the standings (20 markers behind Sheltra) was trailing the No. 60 in eighth.

Earlier this week, Sheltra Motorsports announced for the final two ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards races of the year, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team will boast the signage of Tequesta Road and Bridge of Florida on the hood of their Camry. A soon-to-be-completed project by Sheltra & Son Construction of Indiantown, Florida, the Tequesta Road and Bridge located in Tequesta, Florida, stands approximately 28 miles Southeast from Indiantown, Florida, symbolizing one of the greatest spectacles of new construction in the Sunshine State. The Grand Opening of the Tequesta Bridge is set for this Saturday, October 2, 2010.

It was also announced this week that Jones Group International headquartered in Canada would sport their logo on the television panel today at Kansas Speedway and for next Saturday’s season finale at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway.

Multiple cost-effective marketing partnership packages are still available for the remainder of the 2010 ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR seasons for Patrick Sheltra. Let Sheltra Motorsports show you how to find victory lane in more ways than one! For additional information on how to be apart of our winning organization, please contact Brandon Hinson (brandon@patricksheltra.com) or email marketing@patricksheltra.com.

Entering Kansas, Sheltra has 85 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards starts to his credit with three career victories at Salem (Ind.) Speedway (April 2009), the Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2010) and Chicagoland Speedway (August 2010). During his ARCA tenure, Sheltra has accumulated 20 top-fives and posted 37 top-10 finishes. A second place qualifying effort at Chicagoland Speedway (August 2010) is Sheltra’s best time trials effort to date. He has controlled the ARCA field 10 times for 276 laps.

The Kansas Lottery 150 (100 laps / 150 miles) is the 19th of 20 events on the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards schedule. The 10th ARCA race held at Kansas is a one-day show. Practice begins Thursday, September 30 with a two hour practice session planned from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. The event will take the green flag shortly after 4:00 p.m. The race will be broadcasted live on SPEED with additional broadcast coverage including live timing and scoring throughout the 1,312 race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards since it was formed in 1953 available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com. All times are local.

For the latest on Patrick Sheltra, Sheltra Motorsports and marketing partnership opportunities please visit PatrickSheltra.com.

Join the official Patrick Sheltra fan page on Facebook (Official Patrick Sheltra Fan Page) by clicking here.

Tweet with Patrick Sheltra on Twitter (@patricksheltra) at twitter.com/patricksheltra.com.

About Sheltra Motorsports:

Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier professional Motorsports organization consisting of dirt and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 24-year old native of Indiantown, Florida competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards (No. 60) and a limited schedule in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The team is headquartered in Indiantown, Florida with additional operations in Richmond, Indiana and Mooresville, North Carolina.

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 239.214.1083
EMAIL: chris@patricksheltra.com