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ARCA: Patrick Sheltra Makes Impressive Rebound At Pocono; Captures Top-10
Patrick Sheltra and his Sheltra Motorsports team overcame a series of obstacles this past weekend at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to post their ninth top-10 finish of the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menard season in Saturday’s Weis Markets 125.
Sheltra, who qualified 10th changed motors after qualifying Friday afternoon forcing the Indiantown, Florida native to start at the rear of the field for the 11th race of the year.
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After quickly making a march towards the front, Sheltra under the guidance of crew chief Jon Wolfe made their routine pit stop just after the halfway mark only to find themselves trapped a lap down and nursing a heavily bruised transmission.
As Sheltra exited pit road, the first and seconds gears gave way allowing the 24-year old driver to only utilize third and fourth gears for the remainder of the 51st ARCA race at the Long Pond track.
With the caution flag waiving just three laps after Sheltra’s lone trip on pit road, the second yellow flag of the day trapped the No. 60 Recycling Services / Ferguson Pipe Toyota Camry one lap off the pace.
Electing to stay out during the normal pit stop cycle, Sheltra restarted the race ahead of leaders Craig Goess, Robb Brent and Frank Kimmel. Luckily, for "Mr. Showtime", the caution flag flew once again a lap later allowing the NASCAR bound pilot to regain his previously lost marker.
Crew chief Jon Wolfe informed his driver to stay out on the race track where the team would restart the event marred deep in the back of a some 24-lead lap parade of vehicles. Without the use of the first two gears, Sheltra had to methodically gain speed as he circled around the 2.5-mile triangle and fiercely stormed his way through the field and found himself back in the top-10 with less than 10 laps remaining.
Vowing never to give up, Sheltra continued to pick off his competitors and passed fellow Floridian Bryan Silas for eighth and patiently worked his way around seventh place runner Mikey Kile before putting the moves on nine-time ARCA Racing Series champion Frank Kimmel on the last lap in his ninth trip to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to finish sixth, notching his second consecutive top-10 finish at 2.5 speed plant and third career overall.
"We never gave up," said Sheltra after the race. "No doubt about it, we had our challenges but we overcame them and were able to bounce back. They say bad luck comes in three. We had enough bad luck in this race to last us the entire year. Nonetheless, we were able to stay focused, keep our plan in-check and more importantly keep our championship dreams alive."
He concluded, "I cannot say thanks enough to my guys at Sheltra Motorsports. They are awesome. They gave me a great racecar and if the race was just a tad bit longer, there is little doubt that we could have found ourselves in the top-five. We’ll take this positive run and go get ‘em at Berlin next Saturday night."
A further post-race report with official points and point standings position will be issued shortly.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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