Don Thomson Jr. and the Home Hardware Chevrolet team returned to Ontario to begin the final third of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) season at a track they claimed victory at earlier in the year, Cayuga Speedway. While Thomson was fast during practice and scored his second Bud Pole Award of the season, his race was cut short due to contact from behind.
Already twice a winner this season Thomson and the Home Hardware Chevy team were intent on continuing their strong season that had them second in the overall championship, but weren’t content to just sit back and use follow what they did during the first race of the season at Cayuga Speedway. “You know me, I’m always trying little things to get better” said Thomson. Those subtle differences put the Home Hardware Chevy on pole for the 200 lap main event with a scorching qualifying lap of 20.864 seconds. Thomson would be joined on the front row for the second time this season by teammate J.R. Fitzpatrick.
Race strategy for the Home Hardware Chevy when starting up front is typically, lead a lap early and then begin to settle in and make sure the car is solid for the entire race. As the green flag waved to begin competition Thomson claimed the bonus points for leading a lap and after only a few laps began to feel pressure from the 02 car. After completing only seven laps of the 200 scheduled Thomson was punted from behind, sending his Home Hardware Chevrolet spinning and crashing hard into the wall on the backstretch. “I don’t get it” he shrugged afterwards. “You know me, if you want go that badly so early in the race I’ll let you go, there’s no need for that. We got punted from behind by the 02 car and I don’t know what else to say, our night was finished. The team did a great job getting the Home Hardware Chevy ready for this race, we qualified up front and our night is finished almost before it starts, it’s a shame”.
The competitor that hit Thomson’s Home Hardware car from behind was penalized by NASCAR officials for overly aggressive driving, however the damage was done. Despite the efforts by the team the car was bent and twisted both front and back, too severely damaged to continue.
Don Thomson Jr. and the Home Hardware team are fifth in the championship point standings after nine events.
The Home Hardware team will be back in action this coming weekend as the series makes its second stop of the year at Barrie Speedway on Saturday September 8th. The NCATS run a twelve event schedule on ovals, road courses and temporary street circuits across Canada. You can watch all twelve races this season on TSN. For information about the NCATS including schedule, results and more, log onto www.nascar.ca
This release prepared by TL Sports & Entertainment
No comments:
Post a Comment