07.31..04 :: MOPAR PARTS 300 - Race City Motorsport Park Results

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

1 5 39 Dave Whitlock (Wyoming ON) Avenue MotorWorks / NMTDodge 300
2 7 64 Mark Dilley (Barrie ON) NTN Bearings Dodge 300
3 3 02 Kerry Micks (Mt. Albert ON) Power Water Ford Taurus 300
4 1 4 Don Thomson Jr. (Hamilton ON) Home Hardware ChevroletMonte Carlo 300
5 9 22 Scott Steckly (Milverton ON) ERB Group Pontiac GrandPrix 300
6 14 35 Kevin Dowler (Sherwood Park AB) EMCO Ltd. Ford Taurus 300
7 2 1 Peter Gibbons (Stouffville ON) Canadian Tire / MonroeBrakes Chevrolet Monte Carlo 299
8 12 84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (Ayr ON) R Cambridge Rigging ChevroletMonte Carlo 299
9 11 50 Pete Shepherd (Brampton ON) R ATTO Dodge 299
10 6 60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Windsor ON) MOPAR Parts / ExideDodge 298
11 4 17 DJ Kennington (St. Thomas ON) Castrol Canada Dodge 298
12 13 3 Stu Robinson Jr. (Holland Landing ON) R Snap-On Tools/ General Electric Dodge 298
13 17 09 Trevor Seibert (Williams Lake BC) Mobil 1 / McEwen’sFord Taurus 295
14 20 36 Jim White (Kamloops BC) McAuliffe Dodge (Kamloops)Dodge 295
15 16 25 Jim Lapcevich (Hamilton ON) Retrocom Growth Fund/ Fastline Chevrolet Monte Carlo 295
16 10 11 Ron Van Es (Smithville ON) R Star Van Systems ChevroletMonte Carlo 295
17 8 23 Jeff Lapcevich (Caistor Centre ON) Tim Horton’s /Fastline Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo 283
18 18 74 Dennis Masse (Lethbridge AB) Auto Value Dodge 281
19 24 55 Rob Graham (Bothwell ON) R G-Dox / Doering BrownMonte Carlo 278
20 25 53 Scott Kessler (Calgary AB) R Fountain Tire ChevroletMonte Carlo 275
21 21 19 Brad Graham (Glencoe ON) Challenger Motor Frt. PontiacGrand Prix 254
22 19 38 Darren Turner (Kelowna BC) James Western Star SterlingChevrolet Monte Carlo 234
23 15 27 Dan Saunders (Edmonton AB) R Caltech Surveys ChevroletMonte Carlo 182
24 23 88 Dave Jacombs (Mt. Hope ON) Lou’s BBQ / Inroble /FAG Ford Taurus 135
25 22 12 Ron Larson (Quesnel BC) Northwest Engine Exchange/ Tower Chrysler Dodge 54

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 50 minutes and 4.963 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.196 seconds // CAUTIONS: 5 for a total of 39 laps // LAP LEADERS: #4 Don Thomson Jr. (1-4); #1 Peter Gibbons (5-153); #4 Thomson (154-164); #1 Gibbons (165-203); #22 Scott Steckly (204-233); #02 Kerry Micks (234-281); #64 Mark Dilley (282-293); and #39 Dave Whitlock (294-300).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2004

Petey Shepherd Just Misses Podium in First Calgary Visit

(Calgary, Alberta) – Petey Shepherd and his Team ATTO / Performance Racing News Dodge headed to Alberta last weekend for the MOPAR 500 race weekend at Race City Speedway. It was Shepherd’s first visit to the Calgary ½-mile oval, and he was looking to lengthen out his National Rookie-of-the-Year lead in race number eight of the 12-event 2004 CASCAR Super Series.
The weekend started with practice Friday and Shepherd explained that the car was all right throughout the session. “We were just kind of average. The car was drivable and we had a good race setup. It was busy, because we were working on the chassis, but because of the altitude we were also working on changing jets.”
Friday’s agenda continued with qualifying and Shepherd turned the 11th-fastest lap of the session. “We were just a mid-pack car in qualifying, be we knew that we would be fine on long runs.”
The evening concluded with a pair of 100-lap qualifying races and Petey rolled off sixth in the first of the twin events. He ran the outside groove when the green flag dropped, battling for position with Kerry Micks, but the high line wore out tires quicker then the bottom and Shepherd would finally drop back in line. “After running up high, the other guys tires were fresher, but as the race wore on it evened out a bit and I was able to put some pressure on Micks again at the end, but I ran out of laps.” Shepherd would finish sixth.

The 300-lap main event kicked off Saturday night and Shepherd took the green from the 11th starting position, flying through the field as soon as the pace car hit pit road. He moved up five spots and was running sixth with just 25 laps on the board. “The car was awesome and I was able to work high and low.” He was still running in sixth when many cars stopped just before the 1/3rd-mark for tires, moving Shepherd to second in the running order. He pitted under the next yellow and took a right rear, but the # 50 machine didn’t like the new Goodyear. “I don’t know what it was but the handling went away on the car. It was working better on the old tires then when I put the new one on.”
Petey would ride it out and pitted again on lap 170 to throw more fresh rubber at the car, but the crew made a mistake and left the fuel can in during refueling. The team would have to serve a stop-and-go penalty, but did so without losing a lap, and when the caution appeared again many of the other leaders pitted for their final set of fresh tires. “That was a tremendous call by our crew. When all the other guys came in to pit we gained so much track position.” Shepherd wound up second on the restart. He tried to get around leader Micks, but was eventually overtaken by both Mark Dilley and David Whitlock, who got Micks as well. With just six laps to go Shepherd got underneath Micks for position but the door was slammed shut, snapping the right front tie rod on Petey’s car. He lost a few spots in the closing laps running on just three tires, finishing ninth. “I could have sat behind him and just finished fourth, but I wanted that podium bad. We’re still pleased with the top-ten finish, and now we really know that we have what it takes to run up front and have a shot at winning races.”

The weekend started with qualifying, and Don Thomson Jr. and Peter Gibbons turned the fastest laps, locking themselves into the front row for Saturday’s feature. In the first 100-lap qualifier, Thomson led the first 81 laps before getting a flat tire and turning the lead, and eventually the win to Kerry Micks. D.J. Kennington led the first lap of the second qualifying race before Gibbons took over and went the distance for the win.
Saturday’s feature saw Thomson and Gibbons swap the lead a few times before lap 204 when Scott Steckly took over. Dilley took the lead on lap 281, but after several laps of side-by-side racing while trying to hold off his teammate David Whitlock, Dilley faded to second on lap 294 and Whitlock went on to capture his fourth career Mopar 300 win, with Dilley second, and Micks third.
1. Whitlock, 2. Dilley, 3. Micks, 4. Thomson, 5. Steckly, 9. Petey Shepherd.
Official Point Standings (after eight of 12 events) – 1. Gibbons (1402), 2. Thomson (1376), 3. Whitlock (1375), 4. Micks (1336), 5. Jeff Lapcevich (1319), 11. Petey Shepherd (1134).

The next event for Shepherd and Team ATTO will be Saturday August 21st on the ½-mile oval at Mosport. “After the way we ran in Calgary and at Cayuga on Canada Day, I’m really excited about Mosport. I think Mosport would be a perfect track to get a checkered flag at.”

For more information on Petey Shepherd, Team ATTO, CASCAR, Race City Speedway, or Mosport, please visit www.cascar.ca, www.racecity.com, or www.mosport.com. Or contact Maudsley Motorsports at (519) 670-3278, or maudsleymotorsports@sympatico.ca.