[coverattach=1]Dinwiddie, VA –The Mel Bush Motorsports team entered the ADRL NATIONALGUARD.com U.S. Drags II 12th in points and was looking to make a big move up the ladder but lady luck had other ideas.
With qualifying shortened to only two sessions teams struggled to get a handle on the Virginia Motorsports Park surface; Mel Bush Motorsports was one of the teams. Crew Chief Kevin Peters took a conservative approach on the team’s first hit.
“I just wanted to get her down the track. I needed the data and knew our soft setup would give us that,” said Peters.
Luckily their “soft” setup netted a 3.923 elapsed time and placed him10th in the provisional field.
For their second attempt the team entered the staging lanes early in the hopes of laying down a number good enough to secure their place in the filed and get prepared for round one. The luck from the first session did not carry over to round two of qualifying as the big red 62’ Bel Air blew the tires off at the hit.
What was to be a time to prepare confidently for round one, turned into a nervous time for Tommy D’Aprile and crew. The team continued to get their machine ready for round one as they listened to ADRL announcers, Brian Olson and Al Tucci , give play by play of each run with the bump spot continually closing in on D’Aprile’s 3.923.
“It’s pretty nerve racking knowing you have to get the car ready when your listening to the radio hearing the bump fall to our 3.93… and to not be able to do a thing about it makes it worse,” said crew member Jake Fahy.
Luckily for Fahy and crew the 3.93 held placing them 16th in the 16-car field, which turned out to be the second quickest field in ADRL Pro Extreme history.
Not so lucky for the Mel Bush team was the fact that they would have to face the number one qualifier and teammate, Mike Janis.
“We’re having some issues with our clutch program and we need a few more hits to try and get this thing right, having to face Mike in round one being somewhat handicapped in the clutch area is tough,” said team drive Tommy D’Aprile.
D’Aprile didn’t lay down for his teammate in round one. The two left the starting line just one one thousands of a second apart, but that was it for the Mel Bushg Team as D’Aprile put out a cylinder just past the 60 foot mark and Janis drove by taking the win.
“These things are very touchy, said team owner Mel Bush. Between these two cars we have as much if not more power than anyone here. The key is in the clutch. We have a new clutch in the car and we’re having some troubles with it. Before round one we were lucky enough to have Jeff Prock of Applied Nitrous Technologies come by to give us a hand setting the clutch before we went up this round and it seemed to help but we got bit by a sparkplug of all things. Somehow the porcelain had a small crack in it and caused it to arc out. It was just one of those weekends you have racing; the kind you don’t want to see a lot of,” said Bush.
Despite the struggles this weekend D’Aprile did manage to move up one spot on the points ladder in the Speedtech Nitrous "Battle for the Belts" points standings. D’Aprile is now less than Three Rounds out of the top eight with three races remaining on the ADRL National Guard 2009 Schedule.
Mel Bush Motorsports consists of:
Team Owners: Mel and Johanne Bush
62 Bel Air Driver: Tommy D’Aprile
Crew Chief: Kevin Peters
Truck Driver/Mechanic: Michael Bush
Eric Fahy: Cylinder Head Specialist/Body Specialist
Jake "Snake" Fahy: Clutch Specialist
Mel Bush Motorsports is sponsored by: Melvin Bush & Sons Const. Inc.,
Headquartered at 2748 SW Casella St., Port Saint Lucie, FL 34953, is
an underground utilities contractor specializing in Water Sewer Pipeline Communication Power, and Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction.
Mel Bush Motorsports would also like to thank:
Carolyn L. Ashbee of Goodyear, Jan-Cen Motorsports and NGK Spark Plugs
With qualifying shortened to only two sessions teams struggled to get a handle on the Virginia Motorsports Park surface; Mel Bush Motorsports was one of the teams. Crew Chief Kevin Peters took a conservative approach on the team’s first hit.
“I just wanted to get her down the track. I needed the data and knew our soft setup would give us that,” said Peters.
Luckily their “soft” setup netted a 3.923 elapsed time and placed him10th in the provisional field.
For their second attempt the team entered the staging lanes early in the hopes of laying down a number good enough to secure their place in the filed and get prepared for round one. The luck from the first session did not carry over to round two of qualifying as the big red 62’ Bel Air blew the tires off at the hit.
What was to be a time to prepare confidently for round one, turned into a nervous time for Tommy D’Aprile and crew. The team continued to get their machine ready for round one as they listened to ADRL announcers, Brian Olson and Al Tucci , give play by play of each run with the bump spot continually closing in on D’Aprile’s 3.923.
“It’s pretty nerve racking knowing you have to get the car ready when your listening to the radio hearing the bump fall to our 3.93… and to not be able to do a thing about it makes it worse,” said crew member Jake Fahy.
Luckily for Fahy and crew the 3.93 held placing them 16th in the 16-car field, which turned out to be the second quickest field in ADRL Pro Extreme history.
Not so lucky for the Mel Bush team was the fact that they would have to face the number one qualifier and teammate, Mike Janis.
“We’re having some issues with our clutch program and we need a few more hits to try and get this thing right, having to face Mike in round one being somewhat handicapped in the clutch area is tough,” said team drive Tommy D’Aprile.
D’Aprile didn’t lay down for his teammate in round one. The two left the starting line just one one thousands of a second apart, but that was it for the Mel Bushg Team as D’Aprile put out a cylinder just past the 60 foot mark and Janis drove by taking the win.
“These things are very touchy, said team owner Mel Bush. Between these two cars we have as much if not more power than anyone here. The key is in the clutch. We have a new clutch in the car and we’re having some troubles with it. Before round one we were lucky enough to have Jeff Prock of Applied Nitrous Technologies come by to give us a hand setting the clutch before we went up this round and it seemed to help but we got bit by a sparkplug of all things. Somehow the porcelain had a small crack in it and caused it to arc out. It was just one of those weekends you have racing; the kind you don’t want to see a lot of,” said Bush.
Despite the struggles this weekend D’Aprile did manage to move up one spot on the points ladder in the Speedtech Nitrous "Battle for the Belts" points standings. D’Aprile is now less than Three Rounds out of the top eight with three races remaining on the ADRL National Guard 2009 Schedule.
Mel Bush Motorsports consists of:
Team Owners: Mel and Johanne Bush
62 Bel Air Driver: Tommy D’Aprile
Crew Chief: Kevin Peters
Truck Driver/Mechanic: Michael Bush
Eric Fahy: Cylinder Head Specialist/Body Specialist
Jake "Snake" Fahy: Clutch Specialist
Mel Bush Motorsports is sponsored by: Melvin Bush & Sons Const. Inc.,
Headquartered at 2748 SW Casella St., Port Saint Lucie, FL 34953, is
an underground utilities contractor specializing in Water Sewer Pipeline Communication Power, and Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction.
Mel Bush Motorsports would also like to thank:
Carolyn L. Ashbee of Goodyear, Jan-Cen Motorsports and NGK Spark Plugs
