Patience and Consistency Earn Bourque 16th Place in Prairie Meadows 250

Canadian-native Pierre Bourque returned to competition this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 02 impreMedia Dodge and driving for Eddie Sharp Racing. With ARCA RE/MAX Series qualifying cancelled due to rain, the No. 02 lined up under overcast and cold conditions in the 41st position for Saturday’s race. By staying out of trouble and running a consistent race, Bourque finished the Prairie Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway in a solid 16th position.

“The car was as good as I had remembered it to be when we loaded it up after our test [at Iowa Speedway] two weeks ago,” said Bourque. “It’s a shame that we didn’t get a day of practice in yesterday. More so even because had we, we could have qualified today. I think we would have qualified in the top-15 or top-20, and I would have made a better run today starting ahead of some of the slower traffic.”

By exercising patience as a veteran driver knows well to do when starting

at the back of the field, Bourque moved his No. 02 impreMedia Dodge up to

the 29th position by time the first caution came out at lap 15.

“I was comfortable as soon as they dropped the green flag,” commented

Bourque. “It took a bit to get around the slower cars. You just have to be

patient and patience was the name of the game today.”

The No. 02 impreMedia Dodge started a little on the tight side. The

impreMedia crew led by Corrie Stott worked with each pit stop to correct

the condition. By lap 150, the No. 02 climbed to the 18th position. A pleased

Bourque reported to his team that their adjustments “took care of that

problem. It’s not skating towards the top and it’s feeling pretty good now.”

Team Owner Eddie Sharp coached his driver from the spotter’s stand,

encouraging him to “get up on the wheel, buddy!” Bourque turned lap after lap,

passing cars cleanly, gaining momentum and confidence with each turn.

Following the race, Pierre Bourque stated that “Having Eddie Sharp as my spotter, I think I’m going to put in my contract from now on if Dave Leiner doesn’t mind, we’ll have Eddie in the spotter’s stand from now on. I learned so much. I tend to be a little hesitant when I am unsure of things. My goal is always to gain as many laps as possible from a learning curve perspective. I am hesitant in circumstances where I should just be on the gas a little more. And he helped push me towards that.”

Bourque completed the Prairie Meadows 250 at Iowa Speedway in the 16th position. Bourque was very happy with the car and his team’s hard work and efforts.

“The car handled really well,” added Bourque. “I really appreciated the work that Corrie Stott and his team did. They put their experience, energy and enthusiasm into the entire weekend and I was the better for it. It was really a privilege to work with them, the entire Stott group, from Ramo on down. It was just a great experience for me.”

Next Bourque travels to Kansas Speedway with Eddie Sharp Racing for the Kansas Lottery $150 Grand. The team attempted to test at the 1.5-mile speedway two weeks ago for the ARCA RE/MAX Series open test. Inclement weather caused the cancelation of the test session.

“I have never been to Kansas except for the restaurant across from the speedway,” commented Bourque. “I am told it’s a lot like Kentucky and Chicagoland. I have some experience at Chicagoland and I am hoping that will be helpful since our test session there two weeks ago was rained out. I’m going in there a really green rookie next week.”

Next Stop:  Pierre Bourque and the No. 02 ImpreMedia team travel to Kansas City, KS this weekend to race on Friday, April 25th in the Kansas Lottery $150 Grand. The race goes green at 5:00 p.m. and will air on SPEED, Saturday, April 26th at 8:30 p.m. All times are Eastern.

For more on Pierre Bourque, please visit www.pierrebourque.net.

For more information on impreMedia, the No. 1 Hispanic news and information company in the United States in online and print, please visit www.impremedia.com.

For more on Eddie Sharp Racing, please log onto www.teamesr.com.

Bourque and his #93 ImpreMedia car  (ESR Photo)