From Chris Ragle / Tex Motorsports Marketing
Saint John, NB 9/1/09- There is just something special about the biggest event of the season. Add to the equation that the event is at your home race track and the significance of that event magnifies substantially. For Lonnie Sommerville, truer words have never been spoken when it comes to this weekend’s CARQUEST Maritime Pro Stock Tour Peterbilt 250 at Speedway 660 in Fredericton, NB. It is Sommerville’s home track; a track that has been kind to Sommerville in the past.
However, 2009 has been a tough year for Sommerville at Speedway 660 and in the MPST. He has only won once at Speedway 660 and it wasn’t even in his own race car. The win was in a relief role in Matt Harris’s #87 Chevy Impala in the Best of the Best miniseries. Sommerville has only one other win during the season, the Atlantic CAT 250 at Scotia Speedworld back in early August. Sommerville has won the Peterbilt 250 once before in 2006 followed up with a pair of top ten finishes in the two years since his 250 win in 2006.
Just as in years past, Sommerville will once again have a teammate for the Peterbilt 250 in the form of last year’s pole sitter, Travis Kittleson who will be piloting the #30 Chevy Impala from the Lonnie Sommerville Racing stable. Kittleson and Sommerville will prove to be very valuable to each other as Kittleson’s former super late model crew chief was Gary Crooks who just happens to be Sommerville’s crew chief. Kittleson is not the only name to come from the NASCAR ranks to run in the 250 as Sterling Marlin will also make the trip to run in the Labor Day classic. Last year Sommerville had NASCAR Camping World Truck series champion Ron Hornaday as a teammate en route to a sixth place finish. In 2007 Sommerville finished fourth with Justin Labonte as a teammate.
“We are very excited to have Travis Kittleson on board with us this year, “said Sommerville. “He was very fast here a year ago; leading much of the early part of the race until he had a tire problem. So having him as a teammate will be very big for us as we will be able to share information which will be very easy to do since Kittleson has worked with Gary before.”
“This is by far our biggest race of the year, so we’re obviously in it to win it. That’s how we’re playing the rest of the races this year. We’re fifth in points without a real chance to win the championship so we’re not thinking points anymore. We’re thinking lets win the race and with Kittleson being our teammate this weekend I think we have a real strong shot at doing that in front of our sponsors, family, and friends,” explained Sommerville.
“It is exciting to have the NASCAR guys come up for some big races, however as we have shown in the past it doesn’t matter who you are, you will be raced hard just like everyone else in the field. We’ve already won one of the Triple Crown races this year which gave us a big payday,” stated Sommerville. “We feel that since this is our home track, it is our turf and we have to defend it. That is what this race means to us. We know that everyone is bringing their “A” game here, so winning this one will make our season for sure.”
There is no doubt that the Lonnie Sommerville Racing team will be bringing their “A” game, times two, to Speedway 660 to defend their home turf this weekend.
Stay tuned to www.lonniesommerville.com for all the latest news and information regarding Lonnie Sommerville Racing in 2009.
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