LONDON, ON – The ‘Drive for Five’ started last weekend at Delaware Speedway Park on Victoria Day weekend for the Mopar 250, as Don Thomson Jr., and his Home Hardware Chevrolet were looking for his fifth CASCAR Super Series National championship in a row.
The weekend started with an afternoon practice session and Thomson was among the fastest on the speedchart, turning the third fastest time, with a lap of 19.544 seconds.
The first competitive laps of the weekend were turned shortly after practice with the time trial session. In 2004 Thomson set a CASCAR record as he claimed the pole eight times in 12 events, and Saturday he picked up where he left off. Thomson ripped off a lap of 19.534 seconds at just over 92 mph.
He claimed the top spot by a mere .013 seconds over David Whitlock. Thomson was thrilled with the team’s performance on Saturday, explaining, “The day went smooth, and the results were as good as could have been expected. The car was right where we needed it to be off the trailer, and I turned in a good lap.”
Thomson brought the field to the green for Sunday’s feature and immediately raced his way to the front. “That was the plan was to lead a lap early.” Kerry Micks was applying a tremendous amount of pressure to Thomson, before Donnie let him go. “There was no sense taking a chance, so I fell back a few spots and started to ride it out.”
Thomson would stay in the top-three for the first 86 laps, before heading to pit road. “Our car was good early on, but someone had dropped some oil on the track and I thought I had a tire going down, so we decided to make our two-tire pit stop then.”
After taking right side tires and fuel, Thomson returned to action in eighth and immediately started to pick his way though the field again, climbing into the top-five on lap 137. Thomson got as high as second, chasing only Ron Beauchamp Jr. when a lap 173 yellow gave him another chance to visit pit road.
The Fitzpatrick Motorsports Team ripped off another tremendous stop and got Don out in fourth position with a new right rear tire for the final run to the finish. “We were in good shape. We had a fresh right rear, and a decent right front and we had track position.
Thomson quickly jumped to third and was chasing just Mark Dilley, and Beauchamp with 50 laps to go. Whitlock would re-appear at the front of the pack and pass both Thomson, and Dilley, shuffling the Home Hardware machine back to fourth, but despite having a ton of laps to get by Dilley, Thomson would have to settle for a fourth-place finish.
“We battled with Dilley for the last 75 laps, and I just couldn’t get him. We had an awesome race, and it was a lot of fun doing battle with him. This is still a tremendous start to the year. Anytime we leave a track with a top-five, we’re pleased, because you can’t win them all. I’m also proud of my teammates. Young J.R. [Fitzpatrick}, John [Fitzpatrick], and I all finished on the lead lap and in the top-ten, so it was a great day all around for Fitzpatrick Motorsports.”
Beauchamp captured his first feature win since 1998, beating Whitlock to the line by just over a second. He took the lead from Whitlock on lap 144, and Dave had fresher tires making his final charge, but ran out of time.
The next event for Thomson will be Saturday June, 4 just outside of Montreal at Autodrome Ste. Eustache for the Whelen 200. “I’m excited about getting back to Ste. Eustache this year. The last time we were there in 2003 it wasn’t a real good trip, as our hauler was stolen, but we’ve always run well there, and I have a couple of victories there.”
Prepared by Maudsley Motorsports
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