Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Brent Dragon: ACT @ Oxford Plains Preview

(From team release)

Brent Dragon and the ACT Late Model Tour are ready for the second event of the season -- the WJAB 150 on Sunday, May 16, at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. Three of the first four races on the ACT schedule have been rained out, including last week's event at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, N.Y., where Dragon is a 3-time track champion. With more career ACT starts (175) than anyone in the tour's history, Dragon heads to Oxford where he's had some measure of success over the last couple of seasons. He won the pole for the prestigious TD Bank Oxford 250 last July -- leading nearly 100 laps in the event before finishing sixth -- and has finished in the top-10 in each of the last three 250s.

WHO: Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt.
TEAM: Beverage Mart/Furniture World of VT/Charlebois Freightliner/Newton Pellets No. 55 Chevrolet
BEST CAREER OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY FINISH: 2nd (May 2001)
LAST FINISH AT OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY: 9th (October 2009)

WHAT: ACT Late Model Tour WJAB 150
WHERE: Oxford Plains Speedway, Oxford, Maine (.375-mile oval)
WHEN: 2 p.m., Sunday, May 16 ACT Late Model Tour

LAST RACE: May 2, Merchants Bank 150, Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, Barre, Vt. (14th-place finish)
NEXT RACE: June 11, NH Governor's Cup 150, Lee USA Speedway, Lee, N.H.
POINTS POSITION: 13th

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BRENT, YOU'VE CHANGED YOUR TUNE ABOUT OXFORD PLAINS SPEEDWAY OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. SEEMS YOU'VE GROWN TO LIKE THE PLACE.

In the last few years I have, yes. But before that, I could honestly have cared less -- it was probably the track we went to that I liked the least for a while. Since the the ACT cars have taken over the Oxford 250 (in 2007), we've done well. We've really started to run well there.

It's just so different from any other track that we go to.

WHAT WAS IT THAT FINALLY TURNED THINGS AROUND FOR YOU AT OXFORD?

How I learned it or found out about it was by following (2-time Oxford 250 champion Ben Rowe) a few years ago in practice. I just watched what he was doing and started to figure some things out. Since then, we've started to run well there.

The biggest thing about Oxford is just being smooth with the car. You don't even need a brake pedal in the car. At most places we race at, you use a lot of brake getting into the corner. There, you just kind of roll through the turn and get back on the throttle early. It gives you a really good drive off the corner.

WHAT'S BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE WITH THREE RAINOUTS IN THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF THE SEASON?

We went and tested before we had all this rain, and everyone knew what was going on. It went really smooth for us as a team at Thunder Road, but it sure would have been nice to get going and have some races.

Other than that, it's not that bad -- I mean, we know we're going to make all these races up eventually, anyway, and we'll just be ready for that when the time comes. We're going up to Oxford Saturday later in the day for practice, and then there will be a couple of practices on Sunday morning. We'll have plenty of time to work on things before the race.

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