June 2, 2004

After a few weeks off, Eric Corbett and his E&L Enterprise racing team returned to action at their “home” track of Jennerstown Speedway this past weekend. With clear blue skies and sunshine, the track opened for practice on Saturday morning. Corbett began practice by trying to find a smooth line around the newly re-paved speedway and was able to turn some fast laps. Several adjustments were made through out practice, and the car ran better and better the longer it was out. Practice ended with Eric among the top 10 fastest cars of the day. After practice, the crew began getting the car ready for qualifying, applying the lessons learned from practice to the setup for qualifying.

Eric took the red #75 Larry & Sons Ford Taurus out onto the track, and was the second driver to turn a lap in under 20 seconds (19.87 seconds, 90.6 mph). By the end of qualifying, 5 other cars turned laps under 20 seconds, including the pole sitter, Johnny Rumley (19.57 seconds), placing Corbett 6th on the starting grid.

Once the green flag waved, Corbett quickly began running his type of race, finding a spot on the track where he can run comfortably and keep his sights on the leaders. The first caution of the race didn’t happen until lap 56, which allowed for the lead pack to pull away from the rest of the field and set a very quick pace. Around halfway, the caution flag flew again as a result of problems on the #16 car driven by Mardy Lindley. Corbett headed to pit road in 5th place, along with all of the leaders. The E&L Enterprises crew turned out another fast pit stop, changing 4 tires and adding 2 cans of Sunoco fuel to the car. Eric was the third car off of pit road, putting him in 3rd place for the restart. Once the race got underway, Johnny Rumley and Corbett quickly got around the #42 of Brian Ross and began running away from the field. As the night wore on, however, Rumley kept pulling away from the field and Corbett found himself in a battle for second place with Jeff Agnew and Benny Gordon. With the handling going away, Corbett ended up in 4th place, a position he held until the end of the race. A lack of cautions in the second half of the race also allowed for a quick pace, and a lengthy lead for Rumley, who went on to win his first career ProCup race.

Catch all the action this Thursday night at 8 PM Eastern on the Speed Channel. Corbett and his E&L Enterprises team will again take a few weeks off, and will be back in action at Lake Erie Speedway on June 19th.