WINCHESTER, Indiana (June 27, 2011) – – Maryeve Dufault in the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports / Mad Croc Dodge Charger showed speed and comfort in her Winchester (Ind.) Speedway debut on Saturday night in the Winchester ARCA 200 but a shove from behind less than 50 laps in the event turned what looked to be a promising night into frustration.
The Sorel, Quebec native in just her third career short track start immediately showed strength by maneuvering the 16th fastest practice time on Saturday afternoon. With some changes made to the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports / Mad Croc Dodge Charger, the team was hopeful for a strong qualifying run. Drawing one of the last spots for qualifying, Dufault attempted to leave pit road but her Dodge Charger would not fire.
A relentless effort by members of the Tony Marks Racing (TMR) and other teams in the ARCA garage tried to push-start Dufault’s automobile but to no avail. After the team’s five minute grace period was over, it was determined that there was a malfunction in the starter. Thankfully, the team was able to correct the problem before the start of the race but Dufault was marred deep in the pack with a 29th place starting position.
From the drop of the green flag, Dufault, the former NASCAR Canadian Tire Series patiently began working her way through the challenging field. When the first yellow flag waived on lap 10, Dufault was able to catch a breath and close the gap on her competition. Back to racing, Dufault found herself up mixing it up with the lead pack. As the laps ticked away, Dufault continued to inch her way forward utilizing the bottom line of the ultra-fast Winchester Speedway.
When the caution flag waived on lap 30, Dufault had skillfully bolted into the top-15 and prepared to restart the race in the 11th position. Just two laps back under green, Dufault was racing against a wad of race cars when a tap from the No. 58 sent the No. 12 hard into the outside wall in turn one.
With no place to go, cars would continue to pile-into the incident which ended with five mangled race cars. The red flag was drawn to clean up the massive debris with Dufault sitting at the apron of turn four in her wounded No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports / Mad Croc Dodge Charger.
Once the field was returned to yellow conditions, Dufault brought her bruised Dodge Charger to her pit crew where the damage was too massive to repair thus forcing Dufault to retire from the event and settle for a heartbreaking and upsetting 20th place finish.
“It’s frustrating not only for me, but for Tony Marks Racing, VR-12, Dodge, Mad Croc and everyone involved with this team,” said Dufault who maintains 11th in the championship standings. “I’m trying to earn the respect of the competitors out there but they just flat ran over me and it’s getting old. I think we were going to have a good night, the car was good but we’ll never know. I’m upset and I feel I have every right to be, it just isn’t fair.”
Tony Marks, owner of TMR offered his thoughts on Saturday night’s brawl. “No one likes getting taken out. Maryeve was doing a good job and biding her time and just flat out got run over. Hopefully, everyone learned from it and we can move forward and bounce back in the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports / Mad Croc Dodge Charger at Berlin.”
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is their final stop in the Great Lakes state with a stop at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway for the running of the Hantz Group 200 set for Saturday, July 9th. Dufault will make her track debut at the extremely flat .4-mile oval.
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See the buzz that VR-12 is creating by clicking over to their website at VR-12.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.
