Don Thomson Jr. Wins Keystone Light 200 at Delaware Speedway
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series invaded Delaware Speedway for their third event of the season Saturday night. The Delaware Nation packed the hill and witnessed a thriller as Don Thomson Jr. (#8) of Hamilton, was able to hold off a strong charge from Scott Steckly (#22) of Milverton, to capture his first win of the season at the London-area track.
Thomson entered the night with a pair of third-place finishes to open up the season, putting him second in points, and with his seventh career victory in the series cut the points lead of Steckly to 20 markers.
Thomson took the lead for the first time on lap 155 as his former teammate J.R. Fitzpatrick (#84) of Cambridge, pitted under yellow, and then found a way to stay in front of Steckly during the closing laps, despite a terribly loose race car.
The last few restarts saw Thomson run just fast enough to stay out front, and he spoke about the closing battle, trying to hold off the 2008 Series champion, “I had no better guy behind me than Scott. He ran me like a gentleman, and I will remember that some day when we’re behind him at the end of a race. We were also able to use the new restart rules to our advantage. The leader has to get to the line first, so I knew it would be tough for Scott to get a run on me on the outside on a start.”
Passing was at a premium throughout the day, and Thomson realized that early, playing his pit strategy to perfection. He spoke about the plan, “We took fuel early on, and didn’t have to take any more to get to the end. When everyone else made stops to take fuel and tires later on, we just took tires and were able to get our track position that way. It turned into a pit strategy race, and we’ve used that strategy before.”
For the former five-time CASCAR Super Series champ, this win was made even sweeter by the offseason changes to his career, as he left Fitzpatrick Motorsports, and made the move to Team 3 Red. He spoke about the opportunity, and pulling the team together at the 11th hour before the season, “I can’t say enough about Ed Hakonson, and him giving me the opportunity to become part of his team. After I left Fitzpatrick Motorsports, I thought that it might be time to retire, but Ed called me, and I said ‘let’s do it’, and thought I had at least one more year left in me.”
Steckly, who qualified second, was still thrilled with the finish for his team, “This is a great way to start the season, a win at Mosport, a second at ICAR, and a second here. Track position was everything tonight, and early on we were caught deep in the field. We were able to get back to the front, and I was working hard to try and pass Don. He was getting a little loose off turn two on the restarts, and I thought that would be my best chance of getting him. I was able to get in line quickly, and could get the car to turn under him, but we didn’t have enough forward bite. I also had to worry about the #15 [Steven Mathews] who was beating up my bumper. Now we just have to carry this momentum forward, have a good run on the road course at Mosport, and head out West to a couple tracks that we’ve won at before.”
Steven Mathews (#15) of New Liskeard, was in line for his first career podium finish before being passed by D.J. Kennington for the position on the final lap. For Kennington, who was victorious during the Series’ first two visits to the track, it was a good run to get his team back on track following a sub-par results at ICAR in the second race of the season. The defending series champ spoke about the run to the finish, “Mathews roughed me up to get by in the first place, so he had to know it was coming. I just moved him, and we were able to post a solid finish. It was just so tough to pass here, and track position was very important. We were great when we were out front, but when we were back in traffic we couldn’t go anywhere. We’ll take this result and get ready to head out West.”
Mathews would hold on to record a career high fourth-place finish.
Fitzpatrick led a race-high 48 laps, and rounded out the top-five.
Pete Shepherd (#7) of Brampton, recorded his first career pole with a lap of 19.482 seconds, missing on the qualifying record of Mark Dilley (#9) of Barrie, that was set in 2009. Shepherd would lose a rear gear early in the race after leading the first 16 laps, and finished 17th.
Kerry Micks (#02) of Mt. Albert, made a late charge after a lap 188 spin to finish sixth, while former Delaware Speedway Late Model champion Brad Graham (#19) of Glencoe, ran as high as second before finishing seventh.
Two more former Delaware Speedway Late Model drivers, Jason Hathaway (#3) of Appin, and Ron Beauchamp Jr. (#60) of Windsor, finished eighth and ninth, with Jason White (#21) of Sun Peaks B.C. rounding out the top-ten.
Fothergill Finally Finds Flag
After moving to the Dynamic Fluid Super Stock division this year Paul Fothergill (#33) of London, has been the fastest horse in the race in 2011, but has yet to celebrate in victory lane. That all changed Saturday night as he finally visited his old Demar Aggregate Truck stompin’ grounds on the front straightaway, under the flagstand, with a black and white flag in his hand.
The field was set through time trials and Fothergill turned the fastest lap with a 21.293 second trip around the ½-mile, just short of the track record of 21.168 seconds. Jason Lidster (#11) of St. Thomas, was second-quick, by less than a tenth of a second.
The top-five cars were separated by less than 2/10ths of a second, but the inversion buried them deep in the field.
Scott Nagy (#99) of Strathroy, and Ken McNichol (#17) of Exeter, were on the front row for the 50-lap main event, and after a short battle McNichol took command with Darrell ‘Hollywood’ Lake (#77) of London, moving to second on lap six.
Fothergill started tenth, took two spots on the opening lap on the outside, and then picked his way through traffic to climb to third on lap 10. He then put the heat on Lake, moving to McNichol’s bumper next. On lap 24, Fothergill finally put his red #33 out front while Lake and McNichol made contact on the frontstretch. Lake would wipe out both ends of his racer, while McNichol was held in the penalty box for five laps.
The race would ended up being shortened to 35 laps as a result of a curfew, and Fothergill was able to capture his first feature of the season, holding off a late charge by Jeremy Reid (#76) of Kerwood.
Fothergill spoke about the teams struggles so far in 2011, and how much this win meant to the six-time Truck champ, “The first week, we lose to JR Fitzpatrick, so that cost us points. We lost 20 points in tech one night, and we had a flat tire last week with less than five to go while leading. Tonight, we had the brake callipers spin around the axle and cut the flex line. We were hoping to get some practice, and we didn’t get any because we were fixing the brakes. We managed to get one of the rear brakes working, and we got to the qualifying line at the last possible moment. Then we had a good lap and turned the fastest time.”
Fothergill was able to work the outside line all night, “At the start, I just drove around some guys while they were fighting for the bottom. I got a run on the #77 [Lake] to get by him, and then I had to work to get around the outside of the #17 [McNichol] for the lead. I was out there a long time before I finally cleared him. Then, when I saw the yellow I thought they might go back to the last lap, and I would’ve been behind him again, but they kept me out front.”
The win was also the first for him outside of a Demar Aggregate Truck, “For all the years I’ve been racing, this is the first time I’ve won in something other than a Truck. I’ve won heat races, and an Enduro All-Star race, but never an actual feature in anything else. Heck, there were times that I had a five lap lead in an Enduro and couldn’t win, so this is great.”
‘Cowboy’ Kris Lawrence (#28) of London, entered the night as the point leader, with himself, Steve Smith (#84) of Arkona, and Lidster separated by five points. Lawrence finished third, while Smith went out on the first lap, dropping to fourth in points, 29 back. Lidster’s experienced problems as well, finishing 15th, and dropping to 20 markers behind Lawrence. With the win, Fothergill has closed to within 24 points in third.
Both Andrew ‘Sparky’ Perkins (#3) of London, and Jake ‘Juicebox’ Ott (#60) of Ayr, both spun early in the event, and came back through the packs for top-five finishes, with Perkins fourth, and Ott wheeling the ‘Electric Banana’ to fifth.
Story and photos by Jamie Maudsley and www.maudsleymotorsports.com
