ERICK RUDOLPH WINS FIRST EVER NASCAR WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR EVENT AT SPENCER SPEEDWAY! Erick Rudolph has won a lot of feature events in his short racing career. The seventeen year old Wilson (NY) Central High School senior has already won more times than some have done in an entire career. The only thing that has eluded the young racing star was a victory on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
Not any more. Erick celebrated a 125 lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour last Sunday afternoon when he won a thriller at Spencer Speedway in Williamson, New York. Erick beat former NWMT champion Todd Szegedy and fellow Ransomville, NY driver Chuck Hossfeld at the finish line. For Erick, it was a dream come true.
"The way things have been going on the tour this year," said Erick as he completed victory lane ceremonies. "I didn't know if this was going to happen. I'm just so happy for our race team. It was nice to get the monkey off our back."
The "monkey" has been the first four races on the 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour...where it's been a nightmare for Erick. The car has qualified for each event and has been fast, however, bad luck followed Erick with either a mechanical difficulty or an accident that took him out of each event before the race was completed. Spencer Speedway is the closest track to Erick's Ransomville, NY base. In his career prior to last Sunday afternoon, Erick had three victories at Spencer Speedway.
The victory also makes Erick the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Whelen Modified tour.
Starting 22nd in the field, Erick worked his way through the field, passing five cars on the first three laps. On lap 26, Erick got caught behind a spinning car. A competitior in front of Erick slowed in front of him and he was unable to avoid him making contact with his front end. It didn't play into the ability of Erick, who left the incident in 14th place after running 17th before the incident.
"The steering was a little off the pace but it wasn't bad enough to effect the handling on the car."
On the restart, Erick showed that there was no problem with his family owned Troyer car, passing two cars immediately. By the time the caution came out on lap 45, Erick was in ninth place. He moved into the top five following a lap 70 caution. Erick took the lead on lap 95, never to let it slip out of his grasp. Rudolph had to deal with Hossfeld in the late stages of the race. On the final lap, Szegedy slipped by Hossfeld for second place. Rudolph crossed the finish line on the outside lane with Szegedy coming up on the inside giving Erick his biggest victory of his young career.
"I just can't believe it right now. We started so far back and we just came up through the pack. The car was working so good for us. I've got some experience here so that really helped us but we worked hard to get this first win. I'm looking forward to the next race."
The next start for Erick Rudolph on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is Saturday, August 1st at the Riverhead (NY) Raceway.
Erick's dad Charlie is relieved that Erick finally conquered that first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory.
"This is the best thing that could've happen to us," said a proud Charlie. "The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has been so frustrating this year. Our cars have been fast. We just haven't been able to get it to the end. It's a relief for us. I'm hoping that we take it from here."
The Spencer Speedway 125 was supposed to be run last Saturday night but heavy rains washed out the program until Sunday afternoon...where the skies were sun soaked.
Erick pitted once in the event on lap 20, taking on a new right rear tire. As usual, Erick was smooth on the racing surface. Especially when he was in the lead position.
Erick's 22nd starting position at Spencer Speedway was due to a 15 lap heat race that was run 30 minutes before the main event was slated to begin. With Erick starting and finishing way back in his heat races due to points, it didn't really matter as the team knew that he was going to be fast.
In the end, Erick went by some of the more experienced drivers on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, such as bcorNWMT points leader Ted Christopher and multi-time NWMT champion Mike Stefanik. According to the NASCAR roster, all of the tour's racing stars were in attendance at Spencer Speedway.
This Friday night, Erick will look to keep the momentum going with a DIRTcar 358 Modified start at Ransomville (NY) Speedway. The following night, Erick will compete in a rescheduled Race of Champions Modified Series event at Dunn Tire Raceway Park.
The Erick Rudolph Racing Team would like to thank Bob Cordova of Original Pizza Logs; Tom Snyder of Primetyme Motorsports, Tom Brigham Jr of Brigham Concrete and John Holland and Al Heinke of H&H Motorosports for their support of the Erick Rudolph Race Team. To learn more about Erick Rudolph, please visit his website at
www.erickrudolph.com.
