Maryeve Dufault Takes The Checkered Flag At New Jersey Motorsports Park
MILLVILLE, New Jersey (May 24, 2011) – – ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competitor Maryeve Dufault accomplished her main goal in Sunday’s ModSpace 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park, finishing the race in her No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger.
Dufault, the Sorel Quebec Canada native entered the fifth race of the season optimistic after hailing from a road racing background in her open-wheel days but Dufault and her Tony Marks Racing (TMR) team knew adjusting to not only a new track but a completely different automobile would present its challenges.
In practice Saturday, Dufault was one of the first drivers to tackle the Thunderbolt Raceway but her experience around the 12-turn race course would be short lived as a mechanical issue hindered much of the rookie team’s track time leading up to qualifying.
Time trails brought a worthy performance from the rookie on Saturday afternoon, picking up several seconds from her fastest practice speed to land her No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger 21st on the starting grid.
At the start of the lone road course race of the season, Dufault would find herself maintaining a spot safely inside the top-25.
While finding her niche on the race track, on lap 20, Dufault would find herself at the wrong place at the wrong time as her and another competitor connected on the race track forcing her to bring her machine to pit road for four tires, damage control and fuel.
A quick effort by the TMR team sent their driver back into competition under yellow flag conditions. On the restart, Dufault aimed at moving herself back up the running order and despite going for an innocent spin on lap 25 in turn one after being tapped by another driver, the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger began methodically inching through the field and was holding the 21st position on lap 35.
Climbing into the top-20 by lap 40, Dufault’s lap times were comparable to those in the top-10 thus moving her No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger into the 19th position on lap 50. With the caution flag waiving with 10 laps to go, the TMR team decided to bring their driver to pit road four tires, fuel and a spring rubber adjustment. Restarting in 21st, Dufault would run out of laps to gain additional positions on the track, but take the checkered flag in her fifth career ARCA start.
“I was hoping for a little better finish for VR-12, Dodge and the TMR team but we’ll take this finish in stride and move onto Chicagoland,” said Dufault after the race. “It’s a huge transition from open wheel cars to stock cars, especially on a road course. As a team we learned an awful lot this weekend and we were able to finish the race, which was our main goal coming into the weekend. We had some challenges as a new team and I think we were put ourselves a little behind with our gear selection. New Jersey is a tough road course but the more I was out there, the faster our No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger became. I wish we would have had another 10 or 15 laps, because I feel like we could have made some major gains.”
She continued, “For our first road course race, we had some ups and downs but we persevered as a team. We know we faced some challenges and we ran out of time in practice but the effort by the Tony Marks Racing was commendable for sure. We can build off what we learned at New Jersey and apply it next year for hopefully a much better turnout.”
Tony Marks, owner of TMR spoke about the team’s run on Sunday afternoon. “We’ll take this finish for our first road course race,” the Napoleon, Ohio native said. “Maryeve and the team battled some adversity this weekend but overall we did what we needed to do which was finish the race. We’re heading to some tracks here soon where I really feel like we’ll get some strong finishes for VR-12, Dodge and everyone who supports our race team.”
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is the first stop of the year at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway. The Messina Animal Wildlife Stopper 150 is set for Saturday June 4th set to launch at 5:00 p.m. live on SPEED. Dufault and the TMR team will make their inaugural intermediate (mile-and-a-half) start in the Windy City.
For additional information on TMT, Inc. please visit; tmtcompanies.net. For more on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com To learn more about Tony Marks Racing, please click over to Tmr-racing.com See the buzz that VR-12 is creating by clicking over to their website at VR-12.com. Quench yourself with Victory Water, see how at Victoryh20.com.
About Tony Marks Racing (TMR):
Tony Marks Racing was founded in 2009 through the passion for racing of team owner and former driver Tony Marks. Marks is the successful owner of TMT, Inc., a logistics, warehousing and packaging company with over 400 employees whose customers are mainly comprised of Fortune 100 companies.
Marks began his racing career in 1985 getting behind the wheel of everything from drag racers, Dirt Late Models, SCCA Formula Fords, USAC F2000 Open Wheel and ARCA cars. Tony personally raced until 2005 amassing numerous wins, championships and track records along the way until he then changed his focus from driver to owner and began building racing programs for his children Jared (16 years old) and Rachel (13 years old). Under the auspices of TMR, Jared began his racing career in 2002 in quarter midgets and now competes in late model, CRA, ASA and ARCA Series events while Rachel continues her development program racing quarter midgets and Bandoleros.
TMR has been at the forefront of charitable giving through its’ “Driving Against Hunger” and “Million Meal Challenge” race programs which have raised over $200,000 for Forgotten Harvest in 2010 at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Michigan International Speedway.
For the NASCAR events TMR along with TMT, Inc. partnered with Forgotten Harvest for the “Million Meal Challenge For Our Kids” which helps to bridge the hunger gap while schools are out of session and feeds 20,000 children per day in the Detroit metro area. Forgotten Harvest was significantly displayed on the entry of Chase Austin during both the Truck and Nationwide events at Michigan International Speedway along with logos of “Million Meal Challenge” sponsors Walgreen’s, United Race Group, Holyfield’s Choice Alka-Power Water and Vitamin Spice. Evander Holyfield was also instrumental in the challenge, acting as Grand Marshall for the August race and announcing his “Fight Against Hunger” on behalf of Forgotten Harvest.
As the first race team to “Drive Against Hunger” through their partnership with Forgotten Harvest, TMR plans to continue their alliance with Forgotten Harvest and once again “Drive Against Hunger” during the 2011 season.
