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BES: Lake Erie: Jeff Anton race notes

Jeff Anton Dodges Wrecks In Dodge Dealers 150 To Finish Eleventh North East, Penn. (July 8, 2006) - The Local Dodge Dealers 150 was a caution-filled NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series race at the .375-mile Lake Erie Speedway in ...

Jeff Anton Dodges Wrecks In Dodge Dealers 150 To Finish Eleventh

North East, Penn. (July 8, 2006) - The Local Dodge Dealers 150 was a caution-filled NASCAR Grand National Division, Busch East Series race at the .375-mile Lake Erie Speedway in Pennsylvania. For second-year driver Jeff Anton, this meant he had to avoid a number of accidents that happened in front of him to steer his No. 30 Engineered Floors, Inc. Chevrolet to an eleventh-place finish.

Following the June 29th race at Thompson International Speedway, Anton had to switch back to his big-track car as the short-track car was heavily damaged. With the white and orange No. 30, Anton was fourteenth fastest in the 90-minute practice session as well as in qualifying.

"In practice we weren't the fastest car but we were consistent, we were happy with what we were running," he said. "For our qualifying run we really freed the car up because in the past we've been really tight throughout the race. We freed up the car for qualifying and that put us fourteenth. But it'll be a good car to drive as the track tightens up during the race. I think at the end we're going to have a good race car."

The Local Dodge Dealers 150 saw nine cautions interrupt the race as many spins took place, even among the frontrunners. Anton avoided getting caught up in the aftermath of these spins, mostly by using a skill learned in his motocross racing days.

"I keep my eyes focused a lot more forward than I think a lot of other people do. It's something I learned in motocross racing, they teach you that when you get out of the next turn, you keep your eye on what the next obstacle is or even the turn ahead of that, and you'll avoid all the little things immediately in front of you. With the car I focus as far ahead as I can and I see everything happening well in front of me. It saved me a bunch of times last year and a bunch of times this year," the Russell, Massachusetts driver explained.

The Engineered Floors, Inc. Chevrolet was not handling to Anton's liking, and he made a handful of pit stops for the crew to make chassis adjustments. But fixing the chassis was not as easy as just making the car tighter or looser, but a combination of the two.

"The whole night I was constantly loose getting in but tight in the center, and as soon as I'd get back on the gas it would free the car back up and I'd be skating the tail of the car around," he said. "It was a lot of work dealing with three problems. It was tough to drive, and we pitted three times and the crew guys tried a bunch of different things to try and get us better. They helped a little but it wasn't enough to get us into the top five."

Anton finished the night in eleventh position, and maintained his eleventh-place position in the season points standings after the fifth of eleven races. Next up will be one of the biggest races of the year, the New England 125 at New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday, July 14th.

"We're looking forward to New Hampshire. We'll be ready and I'm looking forward to bringing this new car out to run New Hampshire. I love that place," he said.

-ajc-

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