Michael Gold nets 5th on first visit to Cayuga Speedway

Courtesy Don Brooks

Wyoming, ON – Jul 20 2005: Rain washed out the complete Saturday evening schedule at Cayuga 2000 Speedway, forcing a move to Sunday for this 100-lap Round #3 of the CASCAR Power Water Series. This marked the only visit scheduled for Sportsman racers at this fast 5/8 mile oval, which is always a driver favorite.

For 22-year old Michael Gold of Sault Ste Marie ON, it was his first view of the famous race facility. During practice, Gold’s Whitlock Motorsports-prepared #97 Compass Imaging Group Dodge was as fast as any of them. But when it came to qualifying, the 6’3” youngster came up a bit short mustering a 10th place start.

Gold steadily worked his way forward, carefully saving the tires. A great battle ensued when he reached Barrie Event #2 winner Ron Lethbridge, who was fighting Brad Graham for position. But Gold persevered and eventually got by both drivers to move into 4th. Meanwhile, Steve Munro had captured the lead at lap 47and was being hotly pursued by pole-sitter Dion Verhoeven and 6th-place starter Steve Robblee. gold opened up a considerable distance from 5th place Mike Alquire until it all vanished when a caution flag appeared with two laps to go. Rules dictate a single file restart so as to avoid issues with lapped cars when there are less than five laps remaining. Veteran Alguire got up on the wheel and slipped past Gold on that restart to claim 4th, relegating Michael to a 5th place finish.

“That restart was so disappointing” said Gold, who was quick to point out that until now, he had never been passed by another car this year, apart from his spin during the first event at Mosport. “There is so much to learn in this Series, and I just learned a big one the hard way. Mike was doing what he had to, and I just messed up. We need to step up our qualifying to get better track position, which should bring better finishes. This is an awesome track and I was really getting into it, although my tires had gone away after my battle with the 95 and 6 cars, and I didn’t really have anything for the leaders. I was going to be happy with my 4th …”

With half of the Series events now complete, Gold sits 7th in points just 26 points behind leader Verhoeven. Lethbridge leads the Rookie chase, being hotly pursued by Gold who had never seen any of the tracks that hosted these first three events. Since all remaining races will be at now-familiar tracks, young Michael is confident he can improve his results. The Series returns to Barrie Speedway next on August 13th.

For more info about the Power Water Series and CASCAR, see http://www.cascar.ca/