For Immediate Release
June 30, 2010

Steve Francis Hoping He’s Found His Rhythm As Calendar Turns To July

ASHLAND, KY – Steve Francis hopes that he’s found his rhythm as the racing calendar turns to the month of July.

Coming off an up-and-down ‘Great Northern Tour’ swing with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Francis feels that he’s on the verge of breaking out with his self-owned, Valvoline-sponsored team.

“Like I’ve said before, we’re not exactly where we need to be yet,” said Francis, who heads into July with a total of two wins, eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in his 28 overall starts to date. “We’re not doing bad and we’re still making money, but we know we can be better. We just need to find that consistency with our program.

“We’re gonna go home and regroup a little bit this week (after a very busy month of June) and see if we can get geared up for the rest of the summer. With a little work, I think we’ll get this thing figured out.”

Francis, 42, of Ashland, Ky., enjoyed his highlight of the past month on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway, a quarter-mile Canadian oval that he mastered en route to a flag-to-flag victory in a 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main. He was never seriously challenged as he marched away to his second tour win of 2010, worth $10,600.

The Cornwall triumph, which came in his first WoO LMS start of ’10 behind the wheel of a Rocket car owned by his crew chief Tim Logan, was a huge pick-me-up for Francis and his team. He began the Great Northern Tour with a frustrating 13th-place run on June 15 at Can-Am Motorsports Park in Lafargeville, N.Y. – an outing that prompted Francis to say, “That was absolutely the worst race car I’ve ever sat in.”

Yes, something was amiss with his normally dependable Rocket machine that evening at Can-Am. He was so disgusted with his performance that he nearly pulled out Logan’s car for the next show, on June 17 at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ont., but he opted to stay with the same car and get it back on the right track.

After driving Logan’s car to victory at Cornwall, Francis explained why he stuck with his own mount for the event at Merrittville, where he ended up leading laps 7-28 and finishing fifth in the track’s inaugural 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main. Only an incorrect tire choice prevented him for contending for the victory to the finish.

“We were gonna run this (Logan car) at all three Canadian racetracks (that were scheduled as part of the Great Northern Tour),” said Francis. “But after we ran so bad with my car at Can-Am we held off on running (Logan’s car) for one more race. I’m one of those people that’s kind of stubborn, kind of hard-headed, so I had to figure out what was wrong with my car.
“We worked all day long and part of the night to get it ready for Merrittville. We found that we had three or four different little things wrong – we put a different motor in it, the brake caliper was acting up on it, we had a couple heim ends we weren’t real happy with. The way we ran at Merrittville made me feel a lot better.”

Francis, who suffered Great Northern Tour rainouts on June 19 at Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond and June 22 at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway (the races will be made up on Aug. 23 and 24, respectively), closed the month of June with three days of racing on June 24-26 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., as part of the Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com. He was solid but not spectacular, finishing 11th (Thursday) and seventh (Friday) in the 30-lap preliminary A-Mains before closing out the weekend with a ninth-place run in the $30,000-to-win Firecracker 100. Francis, who started 11th in the 100-lapper, was hampered throughout the distance by a stuck carburetor that made it difficult for him to negotiate the four-tenths-mile oval’s slick turns.

Francis will kick off his July racing schedule this weekend with a WoO LMS trip to the Volunteer State for events on July 2 at Wartburg (Tenn.) Speedway and July 3 at Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway. He enters the doubleheader ranked fourth in the tour’s points standings, 114 points behind leader Josh Richards.

Fans can stay up-to-date on all the latest Steve Francis news and information by visiting his Web site at www.stevefrancisracing.com.

Steve Francis Racing carries support from Valvoline, Rocket Chassis, Custom Racing Engines, Keyser’s Port City Racing, VP Race Fuels, Performance Rod & Custom, Harbaugh Amusement, Duralite Racing Wheels, Tim Logan Racing and Hoosier Racing Tire.