May 22nd, 2007 Aruba‘s premier professional drag racing team will compete at one of the largest motorsports events in the Unites States, the tenth annual World Ford Challenge, this weekend, May 17-20, at O‘Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana. Drivers Albertus “Bert“ Kelkboom and Trevor Eman have completed testing at Gateway International Raceway in Saint Louis, Missouri, and are prepared to face the world’s top Ford drag racers for the ultimate title.
Eman, the twenty-year-old son of team owner Siegfried “Ven” Eman, will be making his first start as a professional in the team’s second Aruba.com/Digicel Ford Escort at the event. Having spent eight years as a crewmember on the team, the young Oranjestad resident is now a driver capable of contending for what could be the team’s greatest victory. “He is now ready for the World Ford Challenge”, said the elder Eman of his son after the successful test in St. Louis, “and I feel we have what could be the finest two-car team in this type of racing”.
Kelkboom, who won the prestigious twentieth-first annual Ford Motorsports Nationals in Pennsylvania during the 2005 season, has already proven the potential of the team’s primary Aruba.com/Digicel 2006 Ford Escort race car in 2007. Kelkboom, who was the fastest qualifier at the National Mustang Racers Association event in Bradenton, Florida, earlier this season, completed an exceptional quarter-mile run in 6.46 seconds at a speed of 215 miles per hour during the St. Louis test on Wednesday. The many-time NMRA event champion is confident both of the team’s Fords will be competitive in the World Ford Challenge field.
“The World Ford Challenge attracts racers and spectators from all over the globe”, said Ven Eman as the team prepared to leave for Indianapolis, “and we can dream of no greater accomplishment than to bring the championship back to Aruba. Between the efforts of Bert, Trevor and the rest of the team, we hope to do just that.”
