News Item: : MID-SEASON MAKEOVER
(Category: GENERAL NEWS)
Posted by jwmartin
Thursday 16 July 2009 - 21:28:03
Brandon Dean replaces Shaun Mangum in Kiker Motorsports’ No. 5
JW Martin
It’s the same car that Brandon Dean has piloted to fourth place in the Late Model point standings.
But for the remainder of the season, the 2009 black Chevrolet Impala will don a new number--- No. 5.
Kiker Motorsports announced at Motor Mile Speedway this past weekend a partnership with Brandon Dean Racing, tapping Dean to replace driver Shaun Mangum behind the wheel of the Kiker Tree Service Chevrolet.
“It was strictly performance. It had to do with nothing else but performance,” co-owner Travis Kiker said. “We had been at it a year and a half and we didn’t have the results we needed.”
Kiker Motorsports first visited the .416-mile oval with Mangum in a UARA sanctioned event last April. The sojourn prompted the team to depart from the touring division to run the remainder of the Late Model schedule at MMS.
Despite missing the first three races, Mangum and the team finished tenth in the division standings in 2008 on the strength of four top fives and seven top tens. A season-best second place effort came in the finale; momentum the team hoped to ride into the new season.
But past prosperity has not resurfaced.
Mangum was listed seventh in the Late Model standings, tied with Mike Looney 126 points out of first with only one top five finish when the decision was made to change drivers.
The move was made only days before the Weigh Station/Blake Construction Twin 75’s.
“He gave me a call [on Tuesday] and asked me if I wanted to drive for them,” says Dean. “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
In contrast to the season-long struggles that have accompanied the Kiker Motorsports operation, Dean has flourished despite depleted funding and aid.
A mere 20 points behind leader Philip Morris in the standings, Dean sits fourth with six top five finishes and eleven top tens. The racing resume Dean has amassed this season was the factor paramount in Kiker’s decision.
Dean, who is also in his second season at MMS, believes the transition will build a stronger foundation to a program already on the right track.
“I think it will improve a lot. It will allow us to do a lot more testing, and we’ll be able to try some different things because we have more than one car now. It will improve everything,” says Dean.
Although the Kiker Motorsports stable has expanded to a multi-car fleet, the team has decided to continue to compete with Dean’s primary racecar. The organization has pooled resources, yet Kiker concedes they are still looking for more sponsorship opportunities.
Kiker says the move is indefinite, a point Dean reiterates.
“It’s definitely a done deal for the rest of the season, and I think we’re gonna have next season, too. As long as everything goes good---and it should. So I think we’ll be good to go next season also,” says Dean.
Regardless of Dean’s position in the points, Kiker has a simple aim: to rekindle the past success in the races to come, striving for a goal that neither party has achieved in their brief tenure at the Radford short track: winning.
“I just want to win races,” says Dean. “The season’s been good; we’re running in the top five every week, but I just want to be able to put it together and win races.”
This news item is from Motor Mile Speedway :: 6749 Lee Highway Radford, VA 24141 :: (540) 639-1700
( http://www.motormilespeedway.com/_mms_2008/news.php?extend.207 )
(Category: GENERAL NEWS)
Posted by jwmartin
Thursday 16 July 2009 - 21:28:03
Brandon Dean replaces Shaun Mangum in Kiker Motorsports’ No. 5
JW Martin
It’s the same car that Brandon Dean has piloted to fourth place in the Late Model point standings.
But for the remainder of the season, the 2009 black Chevrolet Impala will don a new number--- No. 5.
Kiker Motorsports announced at Motor Mile Speedway this past weekend a partnership with Brandon Dean Racing, tapping Dean to replace driver Shaun Mangum behind the wheel of the Kiker Tree Service Chevrolet.
“It was strictly performance. It had to do with nothing else but performance,” co-owner Travis Kiker said. “We had been at it a year and a half and we didn’t have the results we needed.”
Kiker Motorsports first visited the .416-mile oval with Mangum in a UARA sanctioned event last April. The sojourn prompted the team to depart from the touring division to run the remainder of the Late Model schedule at MMS.
Despite missing the first three races, Mangum and the team finished tenth in the division standings in 2008 on the strength of four top fives and seven top tens. A season-best second place effort came in the finale; momentum the team hoped to ride into the new season.
But past prosperity has not resurfaced.
Mangum was listed seventh in the Late Model standings, tied with Mike Looney 126 points out of first with only one top five finish when the decision was made to change drivers.
The move was made only days before the Weigh Station/Blake Construction Twin 75’s.
“He gave me a call [on Tuesday] and asked me if I wanted to drive for them,” says Dean. “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
In contrast to the season-long struggles that have accompanied the Kiker Motorsports operation, Dean has flourished despite depleted funding and aid.
A mere 20 points behind leader Philip Morris in the standings, Dean sits fourth with six top five finishes and eleven top tens. The racing resume Dean has amassed this season was the factor paramount in Kiker’s decision.
Dean, who is also in his second season at MMS, believes the transition will build a stronger foundation to a program already on the right track.
“I think it will improve a lot. It will allow us to do a lot more testing, and we’ll be able to try some different things because we have more than one car now. It will improve everything,” says Dean.
Although the Kiker Motorsports stable has expanded to a multi-car fleet, the team has decided to continue to compete with Dean’s primary racecar. The organization has pooled resources, yet Kiker concedes they are still looking for more sponsorship opportunities.
Kiker says the move is indefinite, a point Dean reiterates.
“It’s definitely a done deal for the rest of the season, and I think we’re gonna have next season, too. As long as everything goes good---and it should. So I think we’ll be good to go next season also,” says Dean.
Regardless of Dean’s position in the points, Kiker has a simple aim: to rekindle the past success in the races to come, striving for a goal that neither party has achieved in their brief tenure at the Radford short track: winning.
“I just want to win races,” says Dean. “The season’s been good; we’re running in the top five every week, but I just want to be able to put it together and win races.”
This news item is from Motor Mile Speedway :: 6749 Lee Highway Radford, VA 24141 :: (540) 639-1700
( http://www.motormilespeedway.com/_mms_2008/news.php?extend.207 )