Catchfence

Tom Hessert and the Cherry Hill Classic Cars Dodge team were hoping to continue their winning ways. After winning in their last outing at the Iowa Speedway, the team wanted to make it two in a row. After testing at the .5 mile Mansfield Motorsports Park prior to Iowa, the #77 hit the track fast, showing up 3rd on the practice charts. Hessert commented, “The car is pretty good. We tested here before Iowa and got our car pretty comfortable. We just made some minor adjustments today. We will race good. If we can qualify in the top five, it will make our day easier. It is difficult to pass here.” In qualifying, Tom posted the 6th quickest time.

When the race began, Hessert quickly showed what his car could do by moving to 4th by the 5th circuit of the 200 lap event. Contact was made with the #31 of Tim George, denting in Tom’s hood. With an overheating motor, Hessert needed the crew to open the hood to make adjustments to solve this problem. During the third caution, he pitted for those changes. With that pit stop made, the crew had more work to do—the normal four tires and fuel. As the green flag flew on lap 79, Hessert found himself towards the back of the lead lap cars in 9th. With the overheating problem solved, Hessert set his sights on the front pack. Just 12 laps after the green flag flew; Hessert had worked his way up to 3rd. A confident driver told his crew chief and crew,

“We can still do this, guys. Our car is fast.” As he was battling eventual winner, Max Gresham, for the lead on lap 142, Hessert told crew chief John Monsam that he had a right front flat. As the caution flag flew for a wreck in turn 3, Hessert brought the Cunningham Motorsports Dodge to pit road for the tire change. With 6 cars on the lead lap, Hessert came back on track as the leader, but quickly realized that he had more major problems, as he told Monsam that he thought he had a broken sway bar. Hessert, with the guidance of veteran spotter, Tim Andrews, fell back through the pack when the green flag was dropped because of the ill-handling race car. Sparks were flying as the #77 exited the corners—evidence of the broken sway bar. Tom manhandled the Dodge through the final 50 laps to finish in the 8th spot.

Tom moved into a tie for fourth, with Patrick Sheltra, in the season-long points battle, 125 points out of the lead. The next event for the team is the Weis Market 125 at the Pocono Raceway, Saturday, July 31. Practice is scheduled from 10:15-11:55 on Friday, with qualifying at 1:40. Racing begins Saturday at 3:00pm EST, with live coverage on SPEED. Live timing and scoring will also be available at www.arcaracing.com for all of the ARCA Racing Series events at Pocono Raceway.

- Cunningham Motorsports Press Release