USARacing Here to Stay as the Series Marks Its Halfway Point
Concord, N.C. (July 16, 2009) -- Five months after rebirthing the former
Hooters Pro Cup Series under the USARacing banner, the Series will mark
its midway point of the season this Saturday at Motor Mile Speedway in
Radford, VA with the Heritage Trucks 250 presented by Collision Plus
Paint & Body/94.9 Star Country.
Much has happened in the months between the January 16 acquisition of the
Series by Interstate Investment Group. A new, much improved television
package debuted on Fox Sports Net (FSN) on Sunday, July fifth. That
began a 10-week, regular season of 30-minute broadcasts of the Series
races. It will be followed by a series of four, one-hour broadcast of
the Series Championship races. Increased car counts, tremendous door to
door racing and renewed sponsor partnerships have been the norm as the
Series has re-established itself as one of the most vibrant stock
car-racing series in America.
A four-wide dash to the checkered on Langley Speedways two-groove track
by two of the Series past champions, its current rookie contender and the
local track champion set the tone early for the level of excitement fans
have come to expect this year. Said Series competitor J.P. Morgan, "The
Series is back and better than ever."
"The past five months have been some of the most exciting in the history
of the Pro Cup Series," said Managing Partner Larry Camp. "We have
seen the commitment of our stakeholders, from sponsors, and tracks to
drivers and teams. They've all pulled together to demonstrate the
strength of the Series. Everything we've experienced points to an even
more exciting 2010 and beyond."
"In that respect, we are finalizing additional sponsorship and support
programs which will be announced in the near future," he added. "We
are also encouraged by the level of interest in additional drivers and
teams to the Series. We're going to have some great 'names' in the
Series later this year and into next," he said.
The season kicked off at Concord Speedway in Concord, NC on April fourth
and had some of Pro Cup's most recognizable faces ready to get racing.
Although Clay Rogers and Brandon Ward led for over half of the race
between the two of them, it was Trevor Bayne who won the Concord 250.
Drew Herring, the 2008 USAR Pro Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year,
earned his first career series victory at South Georgia Motorsports Park
in Cecil, GA, back on April 25th. Herring's victory in the Sunoco 250
moved him to the point lead, which would be short-lived due to several
weeks of bad luck in the following events.
And as already noted, one of the most wild and crazy finishes in the
Series history took place in just the third event of the season at
Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA. Two-time series champion, Clay Rogers,
leading Raybestos Rookie, Lucas Ransone, four-time Series Champ, Bobby
Gill and hometown favorite, Woody Howard, ran four-wide coming off turn
four on the last lap of the HAMPTON VA 250, giving fans a show that left
them standing on their feet and screaming for more. On a flat,
two-groove, short track, no one would have thought a four-wide finish was
possible. But the foursome pulled it off and Rogers came away with his
first win of the season by just 0.058 of a second ahead of Ransone.
The Langley Speedway victory would be the first of three consecutive wins
for Clay Rogers and his JCR3 team. Rogers proved to be the class of the
field when he showed up at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, IN on June
sixth, and dominated the Lucas Oil 250. He led all but six laps of the
250 lapper event and took the point lead for the first time in 2009.
The Series was then headed south to the heat of Myrtle Beach (SC)
Speedway June 20th. But Rogers didn't let the temperature or the heat
of the competition get to him that night. The Grand Strand 250 presented
by Black's Tire Service was by far the hottest event of the season so
far, but Rogers was hotter as he took his third career and season win at
the track.
Rising star and Raybestos Rookie Lucas Ransone became a first time winner
in the Series in another exciting finish just a week later, at Lanier
National Speedway in Braselton, GA. Ransone was running in the fourth
position when a late race caution came out after Clay Rogers caught up
with the race leader, Caleb Holman. Rogers was looking to take the lead
from Holman when contact was made, leaving Holman backed into the wall
and Rogers facing a restart at the tail-end of the longest line. The
green-white-checkered restart had A.J. Frank leading the field to the
green with Ransone directly behind. Ransone was able to get around Frank
coming to the checkered flag, which earned him his first career Pro Cup
win.
The USARacing Pro Cup Series will be at Motor Mile Speedway this weekend
after a well deserved two weekends off. For a complete schedule or for
the latest news and updated on the USARacing Pro Cup Series, log on to
www.usarprocup.com.
You can see each of these exciting races every Sunday at 11:00am on your
local FSN station. Log on to www.usarprocup.com for the listing in your
area. Next up is the HAMPTON VIRGINIA 250 presented by Racing
Electronics which will air on Sunday, June 19.
-credit: usar
