07.10..04 :: CASCAR T.O. Indy 100 KM - Toronto Molson Indy Results

FIN. ST. # DRIVER (HOMETOWN) SPONSOR / MAKE LAPS

1 1 23 Jeff Lapcevich (Caistor Centre ON) Tim Horton’s /Fastline Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo 36
2 3 4 Don Thomson Jr. (Hamilton ON) Home Hardware ChevroletMonte Carlo 36
3 2 17 DJ Kennington (St. Thomas ON) Castrol Canada Dodge 36
4 6 60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Windsor ON) MOPAR Parts / ExideDodge 36
5 8 64 Mark Dilley (Barrie ON) NTN Bearings Dodge 36
6 5 22 Scott Steckly (Milverton ON) ERB Group Pontiac GrandPrix 36
7 10 02 Kerry Micks (Mt. Albert ON) Power Water Ford Taurus 36
8 9 39 Dave Whitlock (Wyoming ON) Avenue / NMT Dodge 36
9 14 8 Marc Miller (Holland MI) R Carhartt Clothing ChevroletMonte Carlo 36
10 4 1 Peter Gibbons (Stouffville ON) Canadian Tire / MonroeBrakes Chevrolet Monte Carlo 36
11 16 71 Bryan Cathcart (Peterborough ON) www.berms.r.us.comChevrolet Monte Carlo 36
12 13 19 Brad Graham (Glencoe ON) Challenger Motor Frt. PontiacGrand Prix 35
13 12 14 John Fitzpatrick (Ayr ON) Cambridge Rigging ChevroletMonte Carlo 35
14 19 42 Sean Stafford (Springfield ON) Mid-America FreightSystems Chevrolet Monte Carlo 35
15 11 3 Mark Swain (Port Perry ON) R Snap-On Tools / GeneralElectric Chevrolet Monte Carlo 35
16 20 10 Doug Brown (Brantford ON) NAPA / Autopro ChevroletMonte Carlo 35
17 18 55 Rob Graham (Bothwell ON) R G-Dox / Doering BrownMonte Carlo 35
18 24 84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (Ayr ON) R Latta Crane ChevroletMonte Carlo 35
19 17 88 Dave Jacombs (Mt. Hope ON) Lou’s BBQ / Inroble /FAG Ford Taurus 34
20 22 50 Pete Shepherd (Brampton ON) R ATTO Dodge 34
21 26 82 Ted McIntyre (Windsor ON) Pro Air Brush Dodge 34
22 28 44 Marv Wilder (Toronto ON) Longbow Freight SystemsFord Taurus 34
23 27 43 Bob Merrifield (Belle River ON) Team Remax PreferredDodge 33
24 23 86 Kenny Forth (Lynden ON) Parkinson Tours / 820 CHAMFord Taurus 32
25 29 94 Mark Graham (Odessa ON) Microplay / Coca-Cola ChevroletMonte Carlo 26
26 15 93 Joe Goncalves (Concord ON) Bolt-On Performance ChevroletMonte Carlo 26
27 21 41 John Tsoumaris (Toronto ON) John’s Unique Auto ChevroletMonte Carlo 8
28 7 25 Jim Lapcevich (Hamilton ON) Retrocom Growth Fund/ Fastline Chevrolet Monte Carlo 5
29 25 81 Shawn McGlynn (Kitchener ON) Terry Dieter SignsFord Taurus 0

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 49 minutes and 51.874 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 4.729 seconds // CAUTIONS: None // LAP LEADERS: #23 Jeff Lapcevich (1 – 36)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2004

Petey Shepherd – Nails Down Top-20 in Molson Indy Debut

(Toronto, Ontario) – Petey Shepherd and his Team ATTO / Performance Racing News Dodge were on one of Canada’s biggest motorsports stages’ last weekend as the CASCAR Super Series reached the halfway point of the season at the Toronto Molson Indy. For Shepherd, who entered the event leading the Rookie-of-the-Year race, it would be his second career road course start, and his first on a temporary street course.
The # 50 machine took to the track for the first time on Friday morning for a practice session and Shepherd was able to turn the 26th-fastest time of the session with a quickest lap of 1:28.898. “We had some trouble this morning. I was trying to heel-toe the car and the pedals were too close together. I hit both at the same time at the end of Lakeshore going into turn three and got into the tire barriers. Luckily we didn’t hit it too hard and the car was still all right.”
Friday afternoon the CASCAR Late Models hit the track again for the first round of qualifying, but Team ATTO would again be forced to fight through a little trouble. “We lost a clutch in our first qualifier. That cost us a number of laps.” The timed session ended with Shepherd 20th in the provisional standings. While some teams got 15 or more laps in, the problem limited the # 50 machine to just seven laps. He was still able to 1:24.113, knocking almost five seconds off his practice time.
Saturday morning the 17-year old improved again, this time dipping to 1:23.431 seconds, good enough for the 22nd-quickest time overall. “We didn’t knock off as much time as I would have liked, but I know the course a lot better heading into this afternoon’s feature.”

The CASCAR 100 km kicked off under beautiful skies as Shepherd took the green from the outside of row 11. When the race started the outside line backed up heading into turn one and Shepherd was shuffled back in the running order, settling into 26th-place with just a few laps on the board. Petey then started to pick off a few cars, and with 10 laps on the board had found his way into the top-20. “The car was all right,” explained Shepherd. “It was still pushing a bit too much in the corners, but I was getting better with every lap around the track.”
With no yellow flags to bunch the field up Shepherd went a lap down at the halfway mark, but the youngster raced on, and finished the event with all the panels left on his Dodge, and a top-20 finish under his belt. “I gained a lot of experience this weekend, but I mush admit, I still need to get better at road racing. I kept my distance from everyone and tried to keep the car in one piece all day. I also gave the leaders a lot of room and let them decide the race among themselves. If we could’ve got a yellow and came in for some tires we probably would have been able to run some good laps at the end, but we didn’t get that chance. We’re still pleased with the weekend. We got our first taste of an Indy race, and we came out of here still leading the rookie race, and with our car almost ready to go to Vancouver.”

D.J. Kennington was the fastest qualifier during Friday afternoon’s session, but Jeff Lapcevich was able to knock Kennington back to the number two spot during Sunday morning’s final session, taking the pole for the 100 km event. The feature went off Saturday afternoon under sunny skies and Lapcevich was quick to jump into the lead heading into the first turn. Don Thomson Jr. was able to move by Kennington into second, while D.J. settled into third. Thomson stayed close to Lapcevich through the first half of the race, but faded during the second half, while Lapcevich stayed strong and picked up his second consecutive Toronto Molson Indy victory, and fourth straight road course triumph overall. Thomson finished second, while Kennington rounded out the podium.
1. Jeff Lapcevich, 2. Thomson, 3. Kennington, 4. Ron Beauchamp Jr., 5. Mark Dilley, 20. Petey Shepherd.
Unofficial Point Standings (after six of 12 races) – 1. Peter Gibbons (938 points), 2. Thomson (918), 3. David Whitlock (915), 4. Jeff Lapcevich (878), 5. Kerry Micks (868), 11. Petey Shepherd (754).

Following a weekend off Petey Shepherd and Team ATTO will be off to Canada’s West Coast for the Vancouver Molson Indy, the first race of a two-race Western Canada swing. Shepherd is optimistic about his first trip to Vancouver. “I must admit, I really don’t know much about the track, but we came together a lot in Toronto. I’m going to see if I can set up a test with Robin Buck before we got out West, and I’m sure we can run well out there.”

For more information on Petey Shepherd, Team ATTO, CASCAR, the Toronto Molson Indy, or the Vancouver Molson Indy, please visit www.cascar.ca, www.molsonindy.com. Or contact Maudsley Motorsports at (519) 670-3278, or maudsleymotorsports@sympatico.ca.