CASCAR Super Series
APC-CANUSA Great Canadian 300: Summary & Results

For immediate release / September 5, 2004

Gibbons overcomes last-row starting position to win his fifth Great Canadian 300 at Delaware Speedway

LONDON, ON - In last year’s edition of the Great Canadian 300, Peter Gibbons came from 16th at the start to take the win. The Canadian Tire Chevy driver topped that impressive feat on Sunday afternoon at Delaware Speedway when he started 34th in the 300-lap APC-CANUSA Great Canadian 300 and battled his way forward to win this prestigious CASCAR Super Series race for the fifth time in his career.
Gibbons was relegated to the back row, by a ride-height infraction, following Saturday’s time-trial qualifying session. Undeterred by the setback, the Stouffville, ON racer fought his way through the pack on Sunday and passed Don Thomson Jr. on lap 256 en route to the win in front of over 10,000 fans.
“We were disappointed with the infraction, but we’re here to race,” said Gibbons, in victory lane. “We’re a high-strung team. We paced ourselves so we’d have something left at the end, and here we are in the winner’s circle. We had a real good car and we made good adjustments on it for the end. I knew what we needed to do to win the show.”
Second-place went to Avenue Motor Works / NMT Dodge driver Dave Whitlock, who started on the outside of the front row and led the first 74 laps of the race. The Wyoming, ON racer came home just over a second behind Gibbons.
The final podium spot - for the second year in a row in this race - went to Thomson Jr., who was involved in an incident with Whitlock on lap 1 that saw him spin to the infield grass before joining Gibbons at the back of the field. Thomson had started on the pole for the fourth race in a row and for the seventh time in 11 outings, this season, but saw that advantage evaporate just seconds into the race.
Determined to make up the lost ground, he and Gibbons carved their way forward with a vengeance. Thomson’s recovery was complete when he took the lead on lap 136 and led for 70 laps. He led again late in the race, but couldn’t hold off Gibbons.
DJ Kennington finished fourth in the Great Canadian 300, overcoming intense heat in the cockpit of his Castrol Dodge. Another Dodge driver, Ron Beauchamp Jr., was fifth. The MOPAR racer was involved in a mid-race traffic jam that left his hood buckled, but his crew was able to make adjustments that made Beauchamp’s ride competitive at the end.
Heading into the final CASCAR Super Series race of the season, in two weeks at Kawartha Speedway, Thomson holds a slim, 17-point lead over Gibbons. Thomson has been the victor on both occasions that CASCAR has appeared at Kawartha, although Gibbons had one of those races all but won, before a cut tire robbed him of the win.

CASCAR Super Series
RESULTS: APC / CANUSA GREAT CANADIAN 300
Round #11 // September 5, 2004 // Delaware Speedway
London, ON // 300 Laps // 1/2-Mile, Banked Oval

FIN. ST. # DRIVER (HOMETOWN) SPONSOR / MAKE LAPS
1 34 1 Peter Gibbons (Stouffville, ON) Canadian Tire / Monroe Brakes Chevrolet Monte Carlo 300
2 2 39 Dave Whitlock (Wyoming, ON) Avenue Motor Works / NMT Dodge 300
3 1 4 Don Thomson Jr. (Hamilton, ON) Home Hardware Chevrolet Monte Carlo 300
4 6 17 DJ Kennington (St. Thomas, ON) Castrol Canada Dodge 300
5 11 60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Windsor, ON) MOPAR Parts / Exide Dodge 300
6 3 22 Scott Steckly (Milverton, ON) ERB Group Pontiac Grand Prix 300
7 18 7 Sean Dupuis (LaSalle, ON) Marty’s Garage Chevrolet Monte Carlo 300
8 16 25 Jim Lapcevich (Hamilton, ON) Retrocom Growth Fund / Fastline Chevrolet Monte Carlo 300
9 15 88 Dave Jacombs (Mt. Hope, ON) Lou’s BBQ / Inroble / FAG Ford Taurus 298
10 22 19 Brad Graham (Glencoe, ON) Challenger Motor Frt. / Volvo Trucks / Logel’s Pontiac Grand Prix 298
11 13 23 Jeff Lapcevich (Caistor Centre, ON) Tim Horton’s / Fastline Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo 297
12 5 84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (Ayr, ON) R Cambridge Rigging Chevrolet Monte Carlo 294
13 35 42 Sean Stafford (Springfield, ON) Mid-America Freight Systems Chevrolet Monte Carlo 293
14 24 32 Mike Alguire (London, ON) A-Dor Construction Pontiac Grand Prix 293
15 21 10 Doug Brown (Brantford, ON) NAPA / Autopro Chevrolet Monte Carlo 271
16 32 46 Kevin Trevellin (LaSalle, ON) JD Pranksters Tap & Eatery Ford Taurus 267
17 4 02 Kerry Micks (Mt. Albert, ON) Power Water Ford Taurus 264
18 9 50 Pete Shepherd (Brampton, ON) R ATTO Dodge 262
19 8 52 Ron Sheridan (Strathroy, ON) Restoration Masters Pontiac Grand Prix 253
20 20 11 Ron VanEs (Smithville, ON) Star Van Systems Chevrolet Monte Carlo 241
21 28 43 Bob Merrifield (Belle River, ON) Team Remax Preferred Dodge 226
22 25 55 Rob Graham (Bothwell, ON) R G-Dox / Doering Brown Chevrolet Monte Carlo 220
23 19 3 Stu Robinson Jr. (Holland Landing, ON) R Snap-On Tools / General Electric Dodge 213
24 27 03 Jesse Kennedy (Southwold, ON) A Dream Limousine Pontiac Grand Prix 213
25 31 66 Josh Wood (London, ON) R EMC Technical Svcs. Pontiac Grand Prix 212
26 10 76 Jason Hathaway (Appin, ON) E.L. Fordham Motors / TSC Stores Chevrolet Monte Carlo 201
27 33 5 Nik Lapcevich (Hamilton, ON) Chevrolet Monte Carlo 145
28 26 86 Kenny Forth (Lynden, ON) Parkinson Tours / 820 CHAM Ford Taurus 144
29 23 93 Joe Goncalves (Concord, ON) Bolt-On Performance Chevrolet Monte Carlo 142
30 30 44 Marv Wilder (Toronto, ON) Longbow Freight Systems Ford Taurus 139
31 7 64 Mark Dilley (Barrie, ON) NTN Bearings Dodge 127
32 29 09 Kent Nuhn (Williamsford, ON) R Pontiac Grand Prix 127
33 12 77 Pete Vanderwyst (St. Thomas, ON) CANUSA Pontiac Grand Prix 114
34 17 82 Ted McIntyre (Windsor, ON) Pro Air Brush Dodge 102
35 14 28 Steve Robblee (Dorchester, ON) McRoberts Fuel / Grogan Ford Taurus 16
R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 12 minutes and 13 seconds // MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.004 seconds // CAUTIONS: 7 for a total of 47 laps // LAP LEADERS: #39 Dave Whitlock (1-74), #02 Kerry Micks (75-95), #52 Ron Sheridan (96-135), #4 Don Thomson Jr. (136-141), #19 Brad Graham (142-159), #25 Jim Lapcevich (160-185), #4 Thomson Jr. (186-245), #52 Sheridan (246-251), #4 Thomson Jr. (252-255), #1 Peter Gibbons (256-300)

CASCAR SUPER SERIES POINTS (UNOFFICAL TOP 15) AS OF SEPT. 5, 2004: 1. #4 Don Thomson Jr. (Chevrolet / 1886); 2. #1 Peter Gibbons (Chevrolet / 1869); 3. #39 Dave Whitlock (Dodge / 1829); 4. #23 Jeff Lapcevich (Chevrolet / 1708); 5. #02 Kerry Micks (Ford / 1654); 6. #22 Scott Steckly (Pontiac / 1649); 7. #64 Mark Dilley (Dodge / 1646); 8. #17 DJ Kennington (Dodge / 1631); 9. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Dodge / 1608); 10. #19 Brad Graham (Pontiac / 1544); 11. #50 Pete Shepherd III (Dodge / 1533); 12. #84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (Chevrolet / 1513); 13. #25 Jim Lapcevich (Chevrolet / 1468); 14. #55 Rob Graham (Chevrolet / 1445); 15. #88 Dave Jacombs (Ford / 1422)

Sorry for the Confusion all. This is the Correct thread for Race #11.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2004

Petey Shepherd – Finish Doesn’t Show How Strong Youngster is at Delaware

(Delaware, Ontario) – Petey Shepherd and his Team ATTO / Performance Racing News Dodge were back in action for the 11th-round of the 12-race CASCAR Super Series season. With a 33-point lead over J.R. Fitzpatrick in the rookie standings, Shepherd was looking to put more ground between himself and Fitzpatrick.
The cars hit the track for the first time on Saturday afternoon of the Labour Day weekend for a practice session. Shepherd turned the track 19.681 seconds, good enough for the third fastest lap of the session, just over 1/10th of a second back of the fastest car in practice. “We put on a couple of new right side tires, and those are the ones we set the fast lap with.”
When the clock was on, Shepherd was able to turn the ninth-fastest time of the qualifying session with a fast lap of 19.738 seconds. “We lost a bit after we ran a few laps with those tires in practice. We put the new right sides on and turned out quick lap, but the car seemed to drop off in the time trial run. I still think we’re in real good shape for the feature, and we have a decent starting position.”

The green flag dropped for the 300-lap affair on a perfect Sunday afternoon and Petey lost a couple of spots early when he had to get on the brakes to avoid Don Thomson Jr. being spun into the infield. Shepherd was able to climb back into the top-ten, moving as high as eighth in the early going, before full-scale pit stops just before the 100-lap mark. Shepherd stayed out for track position and was up to fourth, before pitting under the next yellow flag on lap 106 for fresh right side rubber. Shepherd would pit again on lap 141 for a new left rear and had three fresh tires for the second half of the race.
After the second pit stop, Team ATTO took a hit. While the field was getting up to speed heading into turn one, another driver turned Kenny Forth into the wall and five cars stacked up in turn one. “I saw Kenny get turned into the wall, and I was all slowed up when I got drilled in the back. That slammed me into the car in front of me and bent up the front of the car. Shepherd came to put road numerous times, and would return and climb as high as eighth with less then 100 laps to go when the car started to overheat. He would pit so the crew could address the problem. They returned Shepherd to action, but he was many laps down and finished 18th.
“Team ATTO was awesome today. We got in a chain reaction and bent up the car. We pitted a bunch of times and the guys kept me on the lead lap. Then the motor started to go. That’s the same motor we’ve had since the start of the season. We have about 3500 laps on it and it served us well. John Ryan had a little trouble today, so our finish didn’t hurt us too bad in the points.”

Don Thomson Jr. and David Whitlock made up the front row for the feature, with Thomson taking his seventh pole of the season. Thomson was spun on lap one, allowing Whitlock to take the lead. Kerry Micks, Ron Sheridan, and Jim Lapcevich all took a turn at the lead, until Thomson led on a restart with just over 45 laps to go. Whitlock and Gibbons would both get by Thomson with Gibbons moving all the way to the front, and leading the final 45 laps for the feature win. Whitlock finished second, with Thomson third. Thomson’s point lead now sits at 17-markers over Gibbons heading into the final race of the season.
1. Gibbons, 2. Whitlock, 3. Thomson, 4. D.J. Kennington, 5. Ron Beauchamp Jr., 18. Petey Shepherd.
Unofficial Point Standings (after 11 of 12 races) – 1. Thomson (1886 points), 2. Gibbons (1869), 3. Whitlock (1819), 4. Jeff Lapcevich (1706), 5. Micks (1654), 11. Petey Shepherd (1533).

The final stop on the 2004 CASCAR Super Series season will be September 19th at Kawartha Downs Speedway. The season finale for the Carquest Sportsman Series will also be contested on Saturday, September 18th. It will be the first visit for the series to Kawartha since 2002, and Shepherd thinks it’s a track that suits his driving style. “I’ve been there before in the Super Late Model. It’s a place where you can throw it in hard, because there is so much banking. It’s fast, smooth, and wide and it should be a good race.”
Shepherd leads the rookie battle by 20-points over Fitzpatrick heading into the deciding race. “I’m looking forward to racing J.R. for the title at Kawartha. We’ve both had good seasons and have raced together a lot. At Kawartha, we’ll have new motor and I’m going to do my best to win the rookie title.”

For more information on Petey Shepherd, Team ATTO, CASCAR, Delaware Speedway, or Kawartha Speedway please visit www.cascar.ca, www.attoinsurance.com, www.delawarespeedway.com, or www.kawarthadowns.com. Or contact Maudsley Motorsports at (519) 670-3278, or maudsleymotorsports@sympatico.ca.