Mooresville, NC 4/15/13- Clay Rogers kicked off the 2013 CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series in style winning his thirty-first career race. Now as the series heads into this weekend’s Catawba Valley 250 at the Hickory Motor Speedway, he will have his hands full to make it back-to-back wins as several familiar faces plan to do battle for the time this season. Defending race winner Tyler Young, Joey Jones, and Richard Gould all make their return to series action. Young has produced the best results of the three averaging a third place finish in the two Hickory starts during the 2012 season. In addition to the trio above; Coleman Pressley, son of former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Robert Pressley, will make his series debut behind the wheel of his family owned #59 machine.
For all drivers entered the biggest challenge will be tire conservation around the .363 mile oval known for its rough abrasive asphalt. Teams will have 250 laps to figure it out, with a competition caution on lap 125, allowing teams to change tires and fuel before going back green. From there fans in attendance will quickly notice action on the track heat up as the final laps approach.
Not uncommon during those final laps, as drivers make desperation moves to the front of the field, is contact which can lead to trouble for some and good fortune for others in the form of the $10,000 winner’s check waiting for them at the end. No doubt Hickory has produced some of the ole fashion beatin’ and bangin’ short track racing that fans in the area love.
Catawba Valley 250 Notes and Quotes
NOTES:
Track/Location: Hickory Motor Speedway-Newton, NC Track Size: .363
Event Name: Catawba Valley 250 Laps/Distance: 250 Laps/ 91 Miles
Event Schedule: Series Standings: AFR Rookie Standings:
Practice: 12-1pm, 1:30-2:30pm 1) Clay Rogers 170 1) Eric Gerchak 140
Qualifying: 5:30pm 2) Dalton Hopkins 140 2) Brady Boswell 112
Autograph Session: 7:15pm 3) Eric Gerchak 140 3) Reid Wilson 101
Race: 8pm 4) JP Morgan 135
5) Gus Dean 125
Pre Entered Drivers: #02 Tyler Young, #1 Dalton Hopkins, #2 Brady Boswell, #13 John Gibson, #16 Clay Rogers, #17 Stacy Puryear, #21 Eric Gerchak #23 J.P. Morgan, #41 Rusty Skewes, #53 Joey Jones, #56 Gus Dean, #58 Richard Gould, #59 Coleman Pressley, #62 Andrew Smith, #66 Reid Wilson
Media Coverage:
-Speed51 (www.speed51.com) will provide Trackside Now Live Updates
-CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series Facebook (www.facebook.com/CARSProCup) and Twitter (@X1RProCup)
-92.1 The Big Dawg (www.bigdawg92fm.com)
QUOTES:
Flashback in History:
There are plenty of similarities to the 2012 and 2013 version of the Catawba Valley 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway. Just as per a year ago this weekend’s event will take place on the same weekend in April, and will be the second race of fourteen on the series schedule. One driver who plans to make last year’s race as comparable to this season’s is Tyler Young. The Texas native won the pole position en route to winning his first career X-1R Pro Cup Series event at last year’s Catawba Valley 250.
“Winning at Hickory last year was the highlight of our year, and it felt good to finally break through and get win in this series after trying for so long. If we can do everything just like we did last year we’ll be in good shape there’s no doubt about it, but I think this year’s race is shaping up to be a tough one when you look at the competition level. We won last year when the series was still doing live pit stops so you could play strategy on tires and everything else. This season it’s going to be up to the drivers to save something for the end when it’s time to go for the win at lap 250.” #02 Tyler Young
Giving Blood to Save Lives in Local Communities:
The CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series will team up with the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas to host a blood drive benefiting Catawba County at this weekend’s event at the Hickory Motor Speedway. The blood drive will take place from 4-7pm in the parking lot of the speedway with the first fifteen fans receiving a FREE ticket to the race for their donation. All remaining donors will receive a coupon for $5 off an adult admission at the box office.
“We are excited about partnering with the X-1R Pro Cup Series at Hickory Motor Speedway for the race and our upcoming blood drive. It’s nice to see a traveling racing series come in to town and support local communities as all the blood we collect at the race will stay right there in Catawba County. Blood isn’t something you can manufacture so our donors are very important to us and our communities, so it’s nice to be able to offer something back to them for their contribution.” Kim Jones- Community Blood Center of the Carolinas
Familiar Faces Making:
This weekend’s Catawba Valley 250 at the Hickory Motor Speedway will feature several familiar faces to the X-1R Pro Cup Series making their 2013 season debut. As per the early entrees leading up to the race; four new drivers that competed with the series in 2012 will hit the track for the first time this season. One of the drivers, Richard Gould, who will make his series debut with his own Richard Gould Racing team says he and his team are ready to hit the track.
“I ran a couple of Pro Cup races last season for Wes Gonder Racing to get a little taste of the series and it was a perfect fit for me. I’ve decided to do my own deal, with my own team, and went out bought one of the cars Wes’ team won a race with last year. We’ve spent the off season totally redoing the car pretty much from the ground up, so we should have a pretty good piece once we unload at Hickory. If we can bring home a top five finish I think that’s something my team would be pretty happy with.” #58 Richard Gould
For more information on the X-1R Pro Cup Series including news, results, and photos visit the series website at www.x1rprocup.com. For series operations and marketing information contact Chris Ragle at chris@carsprocup.com or call 940-393-3167. For general information about the X-1R Pro Cup Series contact the series office at 704-662-9212.