After engine problems at Mosport, Kent Nuhn, driver of the No. 09 The Fuel Genie/Nuhn's Auto Recyclers Pontiac Grand Prix, and his team were looking forward to going back to Trois Rivieres, Quebec and improve on their 22nd finish from a year ago.
After their practice session, to which Nuhn parked the car early to save it for the race, the team was happy with their best lap time of 72.824 secs. This left them only 3.351 seconds off of the fastest car of No. 88, Robin Buck.
Nuhn went out in Group A, the first group out on the track for qualifying, as per road course qualifying rules. Along with being 5th fastest in his qualifying group, Nuhn qualified his car in the 20th position with a time of 71.332. This was 1.5 secs. faster then their practice time and only 2.759 secs. off the the top qualifier, No. 84 J.R Fitzpatrick.
"We really couldn't get out in the clean air during our session," Nuhn said. "There was always a car ahead of us." At the start of the race, everything was looking up. Nuhn was quickly moving forward. He had made it all the way up to the 11th positive when bad luck struck again. Coming out of turn 10, Nuhn suddenly went wide and coasted to a stop at the end of pit road with a broken drive shaft leaving them finishing in the 26th position. With no ways to fix the broken piece, they took the car back to the garage and begun to get ready for the next race.
"Lady Luck was on our side for a little while. We just need a little bit more of it." Hugh Nuhn, crew chief for the No. 09 team, said after the race.
With another wild finish, Kerry Micks, driver of the No. 02 Beyond Digital Imagining Ford, took the checkered flag and limped the car to victory lane after making heave contact with the No. 27 of Andrew Ranger. Ranger came home second, with Trevor Seibert, driver of the No. 69 Lake Excavating/EMCO Waterworks Ford, from Williams Lake, British Columbia in third. Coming in fourth was the No. 23 Tim Horton's/EMCEA Transport Chevrolet, of Jeff Lapcevich, followed by the No. 25 EMCEA Transport/Tim Horton's Chevrolet, of Jim Lapcevich in fifth.
Despite the disappointing finish, Nuhn was able to move from 18th to 17th in the points only 78 points behind 16th position Ron Beauchamp Jr. The next race for the No. 09 team is race number 9 on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Sirius Satellite Radio, at Cayuga Speedway Park for the Subway 200.
For further information regarding Kent Nuhn and The Fuel Genie/Nuhn's Auto Recyclers team or for sponsorship information contact Hugh Nuhn at (519)794-2746. For more information on The Fuel Genie visit www.thefuelgenie.com .
By Leslie Bates
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