LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 20th, 2013) – On Saturday, May 18th, Louisville, Kentucky, native Ben Rhodes was looking forward to taking the green flag in the UARA-STARS Late Model Stock 150-lap event at Dillon Motor Speedway (SC). The Hawk-McCall Motorsports team had the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Ford fast and ready to tackle the track, but weather at race time forced postponement of the event.
On Friday, Rhodes took to the track a few times early during the practice session to make sure the car was good for race day. On Saturday, he was fifth fastest in the first practice and second fastest in the final session, which translated to qualifying, where he timed in fourth fast.
“The No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Ford was quick all day,” said Rhodes. “We worked on a few things to make sure it would be better for the race and Lee (McCall, crew chief) and I were very happy with it. We figured we wouldn’t be on the pole since we had a race set-up in it, so fourth was a great spot to start.”
Track officials attempted to move up the start of the local races by about 15 minutes, but before any race could take the green flag, rain fell from the sky. After a bit of a wait, the series pulled the plug on the racing action as more weather was expected. A make-up date has not been announced at this time.
“It was very disappointing because we knew we had a really good race car, but there is nothing you can do about the weather,” said Rhodes. “We do have a great set-up and great notes for when we come back so we will just come back later this year and see what we can do.”
The series decided to scrub qualifying, so when they return Rhodes and the rest of the drivers will re-qualify for starting positions.
The No. 41 machine is sponsored by Alpha Energy Solutions, Alliance Comfort Systems, Kentucky National Guard, Refrigerant Rescue, and Park Community Federal Credit Union.
Next up for Rhodes and the Hawk-McCall Motorsports team is the UARA-STARS event at Lonesome Pine Raceway (VA) on Saturday, June 1st.
For more information on Ben Rhodes, including media availability, contact Jason “Stix” Buckley of STIX FX Entertainment at (704) 519-5528 or [email protected], and make sure to keep up to date on his racing career at www.benrhodesinc.com, like him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/benrhodesinc, and follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/benrhodesinc.
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