July 3rd, 2009 by ldehaan

Fox Sports Net will debut the USARacing Pro Cup Series this Sunday, July 5th at 11:00 AM.  Check your local listing for the FSN channel in your area.

For Dish Network listings click here:

For Direct TV Listings click here:

July 1st, 2009 by USARacingMedia

 

Caleb Holman                                               A.J. Frank

Concord, N.C. (July 1, 2009) – USARacing’s, A.J. Frank and Caleb Holman, will be guests on www.racetalkradio.com’s Speed 51 Radio tonight, Wednesday, July 1, at 6:30pm.  Frank and Holman will be on hand to discuss last weekend’s Aaron’s 250 from Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA. 

It was an exciting event for the two as Holman was involved in an incident with current series point leader, Clay Rogers while leading last weekend.  The incident resulted in a wrecked race car for Holman and a penalty for Rogers.  Holman went on to a 12th place finish and Rogers a 6th place finish. 

The field lined up for a green-white-checker finish after the Rogers-Holman caution.  Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Lucas Ransone, went on to win his first Pro Cup race and left A.J. Frank a 2nd place finish for the second weekend in a row.  Frank has 3 top 10’s in 3 starts this season with the USARacing Pro Cup Series. 

Join host Bob Dillner, the Duke, Stix, Twist, and the gang on SPEED51 RADIO, exclusively on RaceTalkRadio.com!  The show is aired lived from Buffalo Wild Wings in Concord, NC every Wednesday at 6:30pm.  Get the best look at short track racing in the USA on SPEED 51 RADIO.

 The USARacing Pro Cup Series will have two weeks off before heading to Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA on Saturday, July 18, 2009, for the Heritage Truck Centers 250 presented by Collision Plus Paint & Body/94.9 Star Country.  For ticket information, contact Motor Mile Speedway at 540.639.1700 or log on to www.usarprocup.com.

June 29th, 2009 by USARacingMedia

    

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Braselton, Ga. (June 27, 2009) – The only thing hotter than the temperature and the tempers on Saturday night at Lanier National Speedway was rookie Lucas Ransone, who grabbed his first career USARacing Pro Cup victory after a torrid last lap battle with A.J. Frank in the Aaron’s 250.

 

 “This win is huge!” an ecstatic Ransone said. “It’s (crew chief) Darren Shaw’s first win and to win like that is just incredible. He has been in the Pro Cup series for quite a long time and I can’t believe we came out of here like this. I can’t believe this. It feels so great to be at this level.”

 

Ransone may have a rookie stripe on his rear bumper, but he drove like a veteran when it counted.  A late-race accident involving leader Caleb Holman and the second place Clay Rogers set up a green-white-checker finish. When the field lined up for the final restart, Ransone was third, directly behind leader Frank. When the green flag waved, Bobby Gill, who was fourth, jumped to the outside in an attempt to pass Frank. Ransone dove to the inside and pulled even with Frank. Ransone and Frank then dueled door-to-door for the final lap, before Ransone edged ahead by a mere 0.150 second for the victory. The final lap was the only one Ransone led in his Ransone Racing/K-N Filters/KRG Utilities Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

 

“On those last laps, I was thinking back to Hickory,” Ransone said. “Last year, my crew chief, Shaw, and his brother were (with) the (No.) 10 car and we had a lot of green-white-checkers there. He [Shaw's brother] got me every time. I thought back to that and I knew the No. 65n [Frank] was going to try to play with me a little bit and jump the start. I just picked his rear bumper up. I just never let off the gas and here we are right now.”

 

It was the second straight week that Frank, who led once for seven laps, has had to settle for the runner-up position, and he possessed mixed feelings about the result.

 

“The end was exciting,” Frank said. “They told us the leader controls the restart, but apparently the second- and third-place cars control it. When your rear tires are lifted off the ground, it’s hard to get going.

 

“We had a good car.  I really want to thank Darren Odle with Speedco, Jack [McNelly] and Machill Motorsports for putting me in the car for another week and (giving me) another shot at a win in the Pro Cup series. We have two second-place finishes now; that’s gotta help out with finding a sponsor.  Hopefully, we’ll be back at (the) Motor Mile.”

 

The incident that led to the green-white-checker finish was one that caused tempers to flare. Holman had taken the lead on lap 150 in his Food Country USA Chevrolet Monte Carlo and held it for the next 94 laps. He appeared to have the car to beat until Rogers’ C&C Boiler Sales & Service Chevrolet Impala came charging through the field. Holman was looking for his first win this season and Rogers for his fourth consecutive victory. Neither driver would give an inch. When Rogers dove to the inside to pass Holman, the two collided and Holman sailed into the outside wall, just seven laps shy of the checkered flag.

 

“I just ran where I felt like I had been running all night, and he hit me, bottom line,” Holman said after his disappointing 12th-place finish. “It was the worst possible place. I would have taken second over that.  I would rather have raced him hard, door-to-door and beat fenders a little bit. I have no problem with racing hard and rubbing fenders, but when it comes to that, that’s just low down, sorry racing.”

 

Rogers, who led 3 times for 10 laps, was sent to the end of the longest line on the restart for his involvement in the incident. The current series point leader finished sixth, the final car on the lead lap.

 

“First of all, Caleb and his crew did a great job on their pit strategy and to get the lead when they did,” a frustrated Rogers said. “We had tires and we had the best car, everybody knows that. He moved down the race track to pinch me behind a car we were about to lap and he turned himself around. I have rubber all the way up to the center of my right-front tire, I was clearly underneath him.  I clearly had position and it was clear to everybody that he came down the race track to try to pinch me down and I never had time to react.”

 

The door-to-door finish and the Holman-Rogers feud weren’t the only stories in the Aaron’s 250.

 

Series veteran Jeff Agnew has experienced terrible luck this season, but it appeared as though things were turning around for him after he posted a track record in qualifying to win the Strutmasters.com Pole Award.  Agnew posted a 14.744-second lap to earn the top spot. He led the first 36 laps in the 250-lap event, but his day ended early after mechanical failures sent him to the garage.  

 

“We were really happy about the pole, but we just can’t seem to get any luck on our side,” Agnew commented.

 

Another heartbreak involved Drew Herring. After dominating the race, Herring’s Black’s Tire & Wheel Distributors/Hogslat Ford Fusion’s rear end erupted in smoke. Herring took the lead for the first time on lap 36, and led a total of 107 laps before his Ford’s failing rear end sent him to the garage.   

 

“We just can’t get any luck right now,” said Herring, who had his crew armed with fire extinguishers in the garage. “We had a fast car, I mean, the car was unreal. I could do whatever I wanted to do with it, just burnt the rear end gear up. It sucks when you’re running that good and you have a parts failure.

 

“It would have been a heck of a race for second though, because I had a dominant car, no question about that.  We will move on and go to (the) Motor Mile, do the same thing and hopefully, we won’t have any parts failure.”

 

There were seven caution flags for 50 laps in the race that consumed 1:45:00.

 

Ronnie Souders was awarded the Aaron’s Do the Math Hard Charger Award after picking up 10 positions from his starting spot.

 

The USARacing Pro Cup Series has a weekend off, before it’s back to business when the series heads to Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., on July 18.  Check www.usarprocup.com for the latest news and updates.

                                                                         ###

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AARON’S 250

Fin      Start  Car#  Driver

1		6		OO	s	R	Lucas Ransone
2		4		65	n		A J Frank
3		9		O6	s		Bobby Gill
4		13		1	n		Brett Butler
5		11		23	s		J P Morgan
6		5		54	s		Clay Rogers
7		17		75	n		Ronnie Souders
8		7		56	s		Brandon Ward
9		15		O4	s		Larry Barrett
10		16		31	s		Justin Boston
11		14		O7	n		Matt Lofton
12		2		75	s		Caleb Holman
13		8		4	n	R	Kyle Fowler
14		10		28	s		Billy Bigley Jr
15		3		22	s		Drew Herring
16		1		73	n		Jeff Agnew
17		12		22	n		Derek Kale
18		19		55	s		Tom Powers
19		18		28	n		Wally Smith

June 25th, 2009 by USARacingMedia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Concord, N.C. (June 25, 2009) – (FSN) has developed a ten (10) week series of 30-minute television program highlighting the greatest racing in America.  The USARacing Pro Cup Series (formally the Hooters Pro Cup Series) is scheduled to begin on Sunday morning, July 5, 2009 at 11:00AM, and run for ten (10) consecutive weeks.  This schedule will allow fans the knowledge that the series will be aired on consecutive weeks for the regular season and again for the four-race championship run. 

 

The final four (4) events of the season will be covered in an expanded one (1) hour format that promises to bring some of the most exciting racing available into the homes of the automotive racing enthusiasts.  The first of the one hour programs will be seen on four consecutive weeks, Sunday mornings at 11:30AM, beginning November 8, 2009.

 

The fourteen-race schedule will be carried on a tape-delayed basis nationwide on the Fox Sports Network (FSN).  The series will begin with the season opener, Concord 250 from Concord Speedway in Concord, NC.

 

“While our events will once again be on a tape-delayed basis, the scheduling of a ten-week airing followed by the four week Championship series will help up build us to build a steady audience,” said USARacing’s Managing Partner, Larry Camp.  “This should increase the ratings and put us in a position for an expanded audience in years to come.”

 

Masters TV of Bristol, TN, will produce the programs which will feature action covered by four on-track cameras, five in-car cameras and one in-pit camera. 

 

“The USARacing Pro Cup series features some of the best side by side racing you’ll ever see”, Butch McCall noted.  “We are extremely pleased to bring this series to the Fox Sports Network (FSN), he added.

 

Check your local listings for the FSN station in your area.

 

 

Contact: Erica Kron

               USARacing Media Relations

               ekron@usaprocup.com

               704.788.7979 Ext. 8

June 24th, 2009 by USARacingMedia

Concord, NC – Clay Rogers will be on Speed51 Radio tonight (Wenesday) at 6:30pm.  The show airs live from Buffalo Wild Wings in the Afton Ridge Shopping Center in Concord, NC.  Clay will be there in person to chat with Bob Dillner and the rest of the Speed51 gang to discuss the USARacing Pro Cup Series, his three consecutive wins and the upcoming Aaron’s 250 this weekend at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA.  If you can’t make it out, you can listen live on www.racetalkradio.com/speed51.html.

June 23rd, 2009 by USARacingMedia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Concord, NC (June 23, 2009) – The USARacing Pro Cup Series announced today that Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA, will replace Southern National Raceway Park and will change the date from August 15th to August 22nd. After a mutual agreement was made between the Southern National Raceway Park and USAR, the decision was in the best interest of both the track and the series. The Southern National Raceway Park is currently for sale and with the tough economic times, USAR felt it would be best for the series to move their race date elsewhere.

“We do not like to adjust the schedule during the season. Southern National is a great facility for our cars, but right now with the track being for sale, it is not the best fit for the event to be promoted properly and track ownership to be able to move forward in selling the track. We wish Kirk and the staff at Southern National the best,” explained Jimmy Wilson, Vice President/ Series Director of USARacing Pro Cup Series. “Currently we are looking forward to returning to Langley and by moving the date; this will get rid of a set of back to back races which will make it easier on our teams.”

The USARacing Pro Cup Series visited the Langley Speedway earlier this season for the HAMPTON VIRGINIA 250 presented by Racing Electronics for the first time since 1998. The series won over the fans and the track won over the drivers after one of the wildest and exciting finishes in the series history. Clay Rogers, Lucas Ransone, Woody Howard and Bobby Gill fought four-wide coming to the checkered flag and got the crowd standing on their feet and cheering wildly as Rogers went on to take the checkered flag.

June 23rd, 2009 by USARacingMedia

 

TEAM RELEASE
CONTACT: Lindsey Holman

Myrtle Beach Speedway is one of those tracks hated by many, and loved by few. One of those few is the Abingdon, VA, native, Caleb Holman. “I’ve loved this place since the first time I ran it back in 2006.  It’s so worn out and old with the sand ground into the pavement, it’s really a drivers track.”, commented the driver of the No. 75s Food Country USA Chevrolet. 

 

Holman and his team chose to test on Thursday, where he posted some competitive laps times among the other drivers who chose to test. The USARacing Teams had Friday to lounge around on the beach, but then Saturday morning they all got down to business.  Holman was 2nd fastest after Saturday’s practice session, and ran a lap of 21.440 seconds during qualifying that put him on the pole for the 2nd time this year.
At the drop of the green flag, Caleb got the jump on Clay Rogers going into turn 1 and led until lap 8 when Rogers took over.  Holman stuck close and took the lead back on lap 16 after choosing to run the high line.  When the caution came out on lap 109, Holman had fallen back to 7th.  He came in for gas and went back out in the 4th position.

 

Caleb had been fighting a loose condition all night that seemed to get worse as the night went of, despite the team making changes as they could throughout the night.  They later found out that the sway bar arm bump pad had broke off, causing the car to be extremely loose. When the third caution came out on lap 181, Caleb had fallen back to 8th place and gone 1 lap down.  They came in for 4 fresh stickers and restarted on lap 115 in 11th.

 

As if Holman did not already have his hands full, on lap 190, Caleb was attempting to pass the No. 65 of AJ Frank going into turn 1, and they got together. The right front fender was pushed in, so Caleb made another trip down pit road to let the crew go to work. Then on lap 200 the No. 65 and Caleb got together once again, which sent Holman spinning.

 

“From there we just wanted to finish the race and collect points. It wasn’t the best night for us, but I’m sure it could have been worse”, said Holman after the race.

 

Caleb ended up finishing in the 8th position 2 laps down.
This coming weekend the USARacing Pro Cup Series will make their first stop in Braselton, Georgia at Lanier National Speedway for the Aaron’s 250. Be sure to tune it and watch live timing and scoring from Lanier!

June 22nd, 2009 by USARacingMedia

USARacing Double-Header with ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour This Weekend at Lanier National Speedway

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Concord, NC (June 22, 2009) – There will be no breaks this week for the USARacing Pro Cup Series as they will head straight to Lanier National Speedway this weekend in Braselton, GA for the Aaron’s 250. The event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 27, 2009, and will be a combo event with the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour.

This will be the first time the USARacing Pro Cup Series has held an event at the 3/8 mile asphalt oval and the first ever combo event with ASA. The USARacing Pro Cup Series will run a 250 lap event followed by a 100 lap event by the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour. This event is set to be one of the biggest events in Northern Georgia this summer.

“USAR is very excited to partner up with the ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour,” said Jimmy Wilson, Vice President/ Series Director. “John Kee and Micky Cain have done an outstanding job building their series and we look forward to a great partnership with this doubleheader and the Lanier National Speedway staff.”

“It’s great to partner up with the USARacing group,” said Micky Cain, ASA SAT Series Director. “Fans will get to attend two great events on the same night. Plus, they’ll have a chance to see plenty of short-track fireworks the week before July 4th.”

Kyle Fowler’s first appearance with Pro Cup ended early after a transmission issue took him out of the race at Myrtle Beach Speedway last weekend. Fowler, who made his USARacing Pro Cup Series debut at Myrtle Beach is a Georgia native and is excited to get back on the horse and run this weekend at Lanier, a track the youngster has plenty of familiarity with.

“I do have about a million laps at Lanier, I definitely will have a better chance there than [at Myrtle Beach],” commented Fowler after the Grand Strand 250 presented by Black’s Tire & Auto Service. “I’m pretty familiar with Lanier, so hopefully we can go there and get a good showing in.”

Current series point leader and three time 2009 winner, Clay Rogers will be coming to Lanier National Speedway for the first time in his racing career.

“We look at this track as any other track that we’ve never seen before. We’ll take it as it comes. Nine times out of ten we run fairly the same setup and just make a couple of changes. We’ve been really competitive so far this year and I don’t really expect anything different here,” commented the driver of the No. 54s C&C Boiler Sales & Service Chevrolet. “The ASA series is a totally different type of car, they run a different tire and it’s a little different rubber that they lay down. We race super late models too when we get the opportunity, it’s a cool series. I’ve heard a lot about the track and the series at this track and hopefully we can continue to put on a good show for them.”

For more information on the Aaron’s 250 at Lanier National Speedway, log on to: www.laniernationalspeedway.com or check out the new and improved www.usarprocup.com.

Contact: Erica Kron
USARacing Media Relations
ekron@usaprocup.com
704.788.7979 Ext. 8

June 21st, 2009 by USARacingMedia

Myrtle Beach, S.C. (June 20, 2009) – Clay Rogers and A.J. Frank may be close friends, even neighbors, but relationships are irrelevant on the race track, as Rogers out-performed Frank for his third victory this season in Saturday night’s Grand Strand 250 presented by Black’s Tire & Auto Service at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and we used to be teammates,” Rogers said about Frank after recording his third career victory at Myrtle Beach Speedway. “It’s great to see him have a great run like that and, of course, he had my old championship crew chief calling the shots for him. I knew he would be tough tonight; he was good.”

Even though Frank out-qualified Rogers, earning the outside front row starting position while Rogers had to settle for third, there were several side-by-side battles between the close friends throughout the event.

“I felt like our car was really good on the long run, but I didn’t really know what pace to run,” Frank said after his second start this season.

“Clay and I had a blast. That was so much fun racing with him. He is one of my best friends and it is irreplaceable to have moments like that with your friend. We have done that a lot. He just always ends up winning.”

Rogers led six times for 86 laps in his C&C Boiler Sales & Service Chevrolet Impala, while Frank set the pace on four occasions for 49 laps in his Mac Hill Racing Chevy Monte Carlo. The other top lap leader was Michael Ritch in his Smith Paving Inc./Fountain Graphics Monte Carlo. He led three times for 50 laps before having to settle for ninth, three laps down in the 250-lap race.

“We are excited!” said a jubilant Rogers, who averaged 86.417 mph in the race slowed for 33 laps by five caution periods. “Man, they put good race cars on the race track, cars that are reliable. They’ve got great equipment. They spend the money where they need to. They got good looking race cars, and I just need to thank everybody involved for letting me do it.”

Brandon Ward fought a tire rub on his One Source Solutions Mac Hill Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the last 25 laps, but managed to nurse it home to a second-place finish, 8.484 seconds behind Rogers.

“We didn’t have anything for Clay; he was good,” Ward said. “I felt like we did (have something for him) until we got into the wall. We got into the wall a little bit on the back straightway, so that hurt us some. We tried a new setup with this thing earlier today [Saturday], and it worked really well, but we didn’t have what we needed. I feel like we are going to be a lot better in the next couple races, so we are looking forward to that.”

For 16-year-old Kyle Fowler, who made his Pro Cup debut, it was a frustrating night as he finished 23rd in the 24-car field.

“We had a good start, running on the high line and saving tires,” Fowler said. “Then on about lap 40 there was a caution and I went to shift from third to fourth and it wouldn’t go into gear. Something was broken on the transmission. We dropped down to the bottom trying to get it into gear, and it wouldn’t come into gear, so we just decided to pull it into the pits to see if we could fix it. We figured out that the linkage was a little bit wound up, which is probably what our problem was.

“It’s unfortunate. I know we had a pretty good race car and probably could have finished (in the) top 10. We will go back next weekend at Lanier (Raceway in Georgia) and see if we can do better. Hopefully, we got all the bad luck out of the way.”

Lucas Ransone was the top finishing rookie, taking sixth, while Ronnie Souder had to settle for 15th.

Caleb Holman earned the pole with a lap of 21.440 seconds/90.336 mph, but it was downhill for the Abingdon, Va., driver soon after the green flag waved. However, the Food Country Chevrolet driver was still able to pull off an eighth-place finish.

Drew Herring, whose sponsor Black’s Tire & Auto Service was the event’s presenting sponsor, had a rough day and fell out of the race early. Herring had nowhere to go when Frank’s Concrete Express Chevrolet spun on lap 190. Frank limped away with minimal damage to his car, but Herring was sidelined with front end damage to his Ford Fusion.

Next on the USARacing Pro Cup Series schedule is the June 27 event at Lanier, Ga. Check www.usarprocup.com for the latest news and updates.

GRAND STRAND 250 presented by BLACK’S TIRE & AUTO SERVICE
MYRTLE BEACH SPEEDWAY, MYRTLE BEACH, SC
OFFICIAL RESULTS 6/20/09
Start Finish Car Driver Laps Remarks
Position Position # Finished
3 1 54 s Clay Rogers 250 Running
5 2 56 s Brandon Ward 250 Running
2 3 65 n A J Frank 250 Running
13 4 O6 s Bobby Gill 250 Running
16 5 O7 n Matt Lofton 250 Running
10 6 OO s R Lucas Ransone 249 Running
19 7 31 s Justin Boston 249 Running
1 8 75 s Caleb Holman 248 Running
14 9 52 n Michael Ritch 247 Mechanical
12 10 28 s Billy Bigley Jr 247 Running
9 11 23 s J P Morgan 247 Running
4 12 22 n Derek Kale 246 Running
15 13 13 s John Gibson 246 Running
11 14 68 n Allen Purkhiser 246 Running
22 15 75 n Ronnie Souders 244 Running
21 16 O2 n Tyler Young 242 Running
23 17 O4 s Larry Barrett 239 Running
6 18 22 s Drew Herring 188 Accident
7 19 7 n Gary St Amant 172 Mechanical
17 20 73 n Jeff Agnew 81 Mechanical
8 21 1 n Brett Butler 70 Mechanical
24 22 28 n Wally Smith 60 Mechanical
18 23 4 s R Kyle Fowler 32 Mechanical
20 24 3 s Dana White 21 Accident

June 17th, 2009 by ldehaan