March 1, 2010
Tom Hessert
Tom Hessert and his #77 Cunningham Motorsports team posted the 5th fastest speed in practice, at Palm Beach International Speedway, in the first of two road courses that the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards will run in the 2010 season. After being at the top of the practice boards for part of the practice session, Hessert qualified 4th.
After starting in the 4th position, Tom was 22nd at the end of the first lap. Hessert said that he and the other drivers leading the field to the green flag had, “trouble in the 1st corner. Everybody was getting into each other. But we were able to rebound from that and from stalling the car.” After falling back to 22nd on the green flag, he worked his way back to run most of the race in the top 5, including posting the quickest lap of the race at 79.046 seconds. During the 2nd caution, on lap 22 of the scheduled 75 lap event at Palm Beach International Speedway, the team changed to rain tires(a first for the ARCA series), as the rain started coming down. With Hessert’s previous road course experience, he was able to overcome some of the struggles that many of the other drivers were experiencing. The checkered flag flew 5 laps short of the scheduled 75 laps, when heavy rain forced series officials to end the race, with Hessert finishing in the 4th position.
After the race, the still ‘pumped-up’ veteran said, “We got bunched up on the start and shoved off the chicane. We were real fast while the track was dry, but couldn’t completely get a hold of it under wet conditions. We had a great weekend with our first top-5 finish.” This finish pushed Hessert to 5th in the season long series points battle.
The team will head to test sessions at Texas Motor Speedway on March 9 and Talladega on March 23-24. The next race for the #77 team will be at the Salem Speedway on April 11.
Dakoda Armstrong
Dakoda Armstrong and the #22 Cunningham Motorsports/Penske Driver Development team posted the 14th fastest speed in qualifying, after practicing 12th quickest. Prior to the race an anxious Armstrong was contemplating the possibility of racing on Hoosier rain tires when he said, “Since I have not raced on a road course, this will be a new challenge for me. I learned a lot during the test right after Daytona. The possibility of having to race in the rain is something that I have not had to consider in any of my previous races. We need to stay out of trouble and learn from the experienced road racers.” Dakoda ran most of the day in the 14th-18th spot, finishing 14th.
After the race Armstrong reflected on his road course experience, “We stayed out on slicks for 6 laps after the rain started. While a couple teams came in under green, we were waiting for ARCA to throw the yellow. That set us back a little and with my lack of experience, I couldn’t make it up. It was completely a new experience for me, with lots of challenges. We will run much better at the next race in Salem.” Armstrong finished 3rd in the fall 2009 race at Salem Speedway.
The #22 team will test March 9th at Texas Speedway and March 23-24th at Talladega. The Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway will be the next race on April 11, when the Cunningham Motorsports teams head to the .555 mile high bank track.
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