By Jamie Hakonson, Team 3 Red
July 10, 2005- Toronto, Ontario- After a long and drawn out weekend at Molson Indy Toronto Team 3 Red suffered disappointment at the 1.72 mile city asphalt course at the ATTO 100 Sunday afternoon.
The Molson Indy Toronto was only the second time that Team 3 Red driver Stu Robinson Jr. had seen a road course configuration since his first road event early this season at the Mosport International Raceway Road Course.
The Team prepared well and were confident in their race machine to take Stu through to the end of the 36 lap race through the tight course. Starting in the 25th starting spot in the large field of 32 cars, the #3 Snap on Tools Dodge was poised for a good race. The green flag dropped on the field late Sunday afternoon and Robinson made it through the infamous first turn at the end of the front straightaway safely. It was then through turns 2 and 3 of the 10-turn road course and onto the long back straightaway of the Lakeshore Blvd. hitting speeds upwards of 140 km/h.
At the end of the 2nd lap Robinson had moved up in the running order to 24th and the car was starting to come to him as he chased down the #71 for position. A full course caution came out on lap 3 and the field slowed. After two complete circuits of the track, the field went green. On the restart just before the end of the back straightaway, the quickest part of the racetrack, Team 3 Red driver Robinson Jr.'s #3 Snap on Tools Dodge spun around on the track.
While Robinson tried to clear his head and re-fire his car, he was hit by another car and was sent hard into the opposite wall of the concrete surrounded track. Molson Indy track services got to Robinson Jr. and spotter Mike Wagner attempted to assess the damage to the car. The team was forced to retire for the day.
Driver Stu Robinson Jr was truly disillusioned sitting in the paddock area after they brought their car back in after the race.
"This was pretty disappointing this weekend. I was just starting to get the hang of the track and the car was working well for us. The crew worked so hard all weekend long to give me a good car and this is pretty upsetting! We'll get the cars back to the shop and get ready to go oval track racing again."
The Team will re-group this week and prepare their race cars for the trip out west to Race City Speedway in Calgary, Alberta July 22nd & 23rd and then on to Sun Valley Speedway in Vernon, British Columbia for July 29 & 30th!
Team 3 Red will be accompanied by Super 8 Motels and Snap-on Tools at the Super 8 Motels Pit Stop Challenge being held at Eau Claire Market in downtown Calgary. It should be an exciting event and always enjoys a great turn out by the CASCAR Super Series race teams and the Downtown community in Calgary!
Team 3 Red is proud to be partnered with Snap-on Tools, Arctic Car ATV's, Super 8 Motels, Advantex Freight Forwarders, Fast Eddie Racewear and Choko Motorsports.
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