Michael Vergers has signed for his third Days of Thunder season, driving for Team West-Tec in the new NEC Infrontia backed car. NEC Infrontia, part of the Japanese electronics giant, has signed for a multi year deal with the Corby based team, promoting its Aspire range of IP phone systems.
“I’m delighted that a prestigious company like NEC have come on board,” said West-Tec team owner Gavin Wills. “It gives the team some long term stability and has allowed us to choose a top driver in Michael Vergers, who will be out there chasing the 2004 Days of Thunder title.”
Race winner Michael Vergers heads into his fourth season of Oval racing, having spent 2002 racing in the NASCAR Busch Cup and ARCA championships, confident of taking race wins and the overall title. The Flying Dutchman was a front runner last year, winning the first race of the year and finishing third overall. A motorcycle accident forced him to sit out the second meeting in 2003 and he was unable to catch Ben Collins in the title race.
“After finishing second in 2001 and third last year I view the Days of Thunder championship as unfinished business,” said Michael Vergers. “The aim was to take the title last year but circumstances with my bike accident allowed the others to ease away from me towards the end of the season. With NEC on board and a new car, hopefully we will be able to get the job done this year.”
“My aim is to return to the United States and compete in the Busch Series again,” Vergers continued. “With Derek Hayes doing Busch and Darren Manning, and possibly Ben Collins, in IRL, Days of Thunder is getting a reputation for developing the full potential of European drivers wanting to race in America.”
Team West-Tec will be announcing Vergers teammate for the 2004 season next week. The Days of Thunder series – featuring 170mph American V8 car racing as seen in the Tom Cruise film of the same name – will take place on the first Sunday of each month, from May to October. Rockingham’s 52,000 seater venue offers 100% visibility from 95% of its seats, which means fans can witness all the action at Europe's fastest circuit.
Background on NEC
NEC formed in 1899, NEC corporation employees 24,000 people worldwide and has annual sales of $US43 billion.NEC has devoted more than 100 years of technological innovation to serving people around the world.NEC Infrontia manufactures small to medium sized business communications systems.Aspire is an enterprise IP telephony solution from NEC. It allows business and organisations to converge their voice and data network to secure the many advantages of IP telephony, whilst enjoying the hundreds of features that they have come to expect from their existing DXE phone systems.
Michael Vergers
2001 – Runner-up to John Mickel in the inaugural ASCAR Days of Thunder season taking 3 wins.2002 – Racing in America. 10 races in the ARCA series and two NASCAR Busch Cup. Best finish of 4th in Atlanta.2003 – Drove for Team West-Tec #96 Chicago Pneumatic Car. Third in the 2003 Days of Thunder Series – 2 x 1st; 1 x 2nd; 3 x 3rd.
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