(Aylmer, Ontario) – Abe Harder and his Tri-Corp / Blue Beacon of Canada Pontiac Grand Prix were in action on Friday June third for their third attempt of NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series action at Delaware Speedway.
Harder led off the night starting on the pole for the CANUSA Eliminator in his Cintas Late Model, and Abe was able to hold the point for the first three circuits. By the time lap four came, there were no old style cars left on the track, and Harder was nothing more then fodder for Ron Sheridan and his new style Late Model, as Harder was credited with a fourth-place finish. “We got a good start and were running well, but when the new cars came, I knew I was in trouble.”
The night continued with the heat races and Harder rolled off sixth in his 10-lapper. He pressured Josh Fantin for the early portion of the race, before picking up a spot to gain a fifth-place finish. “The car is pushing going into the corners, but other then that it’s really working well. We were flying the first couple of laps on the outside, and were putting a ton of pressure on the #91 [Fantin] before the checkered flag fell.”
The 40-lap feature finished off the evening and Harder took the green from 11th-position. After doing battle during the opening laps, Abe found himself 12th after the races first yellow flag flew. Harder slid to 13th at the halfway point, before being involved in a tremendous late race battle with Andrew Thompson and Tony Bawden as the trio battled over 11th-position. Harder would lose that battle in the closing laps, but still came home with a respectable 13th-place finish. “I think we had a tire going down at the end. We were all over those guys and then the car started to go away just before the checkered flag came out. We were really good on the long runs tonight, but the tire made it tough at the end.”
Ron Sheridan held off a furious charge from Jay Doerr to win his first feature of the season, while Pete Vanderwyst rounded out the podium.
The Harder Racing Team was back in action on Friday June 17th after one week off and the night started for Abe with heat race action. The black # 58 machine rolled off third in his qualifier, and was able to follow Doug Stewart to second-place. Stewart was very fast and pulled away from Abe, but Harder was still able to hold on for a second-place finish and four bonus championship points. “It was a really good run. We didn’t have anything for Stewart, but we were putting distance on the cars behind us.”
Harder took the green for the main from the outside of the front row, but the pole-sitter jumped into the lead and Harder would struggle in the outside lane. “We’ve always struggled on the outside lane. We just can’t get our car to work out there, and we lost a lot of spots early before we could get to the bottom.”
Abe was able to hang in the top-ten, but unfortunately he was lapped just before a lap 14 yellow and would spend the rest of the evening racing one lap behind the leaders.
On the restart, Harder stayed in the top-ten, until seven laps to go. “I got chopped by one of the leaders as he was lapping me and I was lucky to save it. I kept going and there was no caution, but I lost two spots.”
Harder gained one position back and caught Tony Bawden, hounding him for the final four laps. As the white came out, Harder swung to the outside of Bawden in turn one and pulled alongside him on the backstretch. As the pair raced out of turn four Harder came up half a car length short, with a ninth-place finish. “That was a great night for us, a second and a ninth in the feature. We did a lot of work on the car last week, and we were much better then last time out. It was a great night for our team.”
Doug Stewart was able to take his brand new chariot to the front early and was too much for Sheridan and Doerr in the closing laps as he claimed his first feature win of the season.
Harder will be back in action on Friday July first at Delaware, and Abe is already looking forward to it. “We’re still not perfect, but so much better then before. We have some more adjustments to do before next time out and I think we’re going to practice on Friday night and see what effect the changes will have.”
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