Third Time’s a Charm
Meltz steps into a Pro Stock Car for the third time in his life and takes home the Eagle
by Kayla May
Oswego, NY— Oct. 7, 2016 — The Pro Stock Futures hit the dirt this morning for practice and the first feature race of the 45th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week.
Futures Feature Winner Jason Meltz, from Genesis, NY, had only stepped into a pro stock car twice leading up to today’s race.
“I’ve been racing for 10 years, and I usually race Pure Stock. I jumped into Pro Stock for this race. I’ve only raced this kind of a car a few times before. I was just hoping to make the race today and be a competitor, and so to win this race it feels so good,” said Meltz.
Meltz had the second fastest lap time at 26.667 in time trials prior to the Futures Feature.
C.D. Beauchamps from Armstrong, Que. held the fastest lap during time trials with a 26.660 lap time. He scraped the wall in turn one but was able to keep his momentum to carry him into the race with the pole starting position.
“It is my first time here at Super Dirt Week. It has been really exciting, and the car is awesome tonight,” said Beauchamps.
Beauchamps and Meltz were the only two drivers able to break 27 seconds during practice.
With time to spare between practice and the feature, the Futures drivers were able to make adjustments to their vehicles.
“I think it’s going to be a big tire game… so whoever can get the most bite coming out of the corners I think is going to end up taking it home,” said Meltz after practice.
The green dropped, and two caution flags quickly followed with no laps completed after some difficultly in turns one and three. Drivers AJ Walker, Tom Sentements and Justin Desrosiers were out of the race due to minor damages to their vehicles.
On the restart, Meltz and Beauchamp were neck-and-neck with Dave DePaulo trailing behind.
When Meltz saw his chance to get around Beauchamp on lap five he didn’t hesitate and refused to let up. Meltz kept charging forward ultimately giving him a quarter of a lap lead over Beauchamps and seven seconds on DePaulo by the time the checkered flag dropped.
“I got second, so I am very proud of my team. We had a caution in the practice when I hit the wall and the car is not in the best shape, so it was just not fast enough. We have to make some big changes to the car so it’ll be ready for tomorrow,” said Beauchamps.
With guidance from former NAPA Super DIRT Week champion and friend Kenny Martin, DePaulo jumped ahead two positions between time trials and the feature race.
“There’s not a lot of tips you can give on this track. Martin said try to stay out of the holes, but he mainly said have fun, so I’m just trying to have fun out there. My car wasn’t completely perfectly set up either. We made some changes, and we’ll continue to make changes. We’ll see how it runs tomorrow,” said DePaul.
Meltz, Beauchamp and DePaulo secured a spot in the Pro Stock Series Championship on Sunday, Oct. 9. The current leaders from today’s Pro Stock Practice are Jim Normolye, Rob Yetman and Kenny Martin.
Futures Race Results – (10 Laps) – 1. 51-Jason Meltz [2]; 2. 88-CD Beauchamp [1]; 3. 21s-David DePaulo [5]; 4. 16-Jean-Pierre Labelle Jr. [10]; 5. 81-Justin Knight [7]; 6. 38-Steve Chaput [8]; 7. 45r-Preston Forbes [6]; 8. 7n-Jim Normoyle [3]; 9. 315c-Rich Crane [4]; 10. 3m-Tom Sentementes [9]; 11. 29a-Justin Desrosiers [11].
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