NCATS: Brown battles back to eighth at Riverside

Doug Brown and his Haldex Dodge teammates snapped out of their three-race slump with a determined and hard fought eighth-place finish in the Atlantic Dodge Dealers 300 at Antigonish, NS Saturday night.

The result was just what the Brantford-based team needed in a season wracked with a lot of disappointments and few highlights.

Saturday’s event at the fast ½-mile Riverside International Speedway saw the racing veteran battle his way from the back of the 23-car starting field twice after on-track contact and ensuing damages saw him drop two laps to the leaders in the 300-lap race.

But unlike the results of the past three races where there was no luck to be found for the Haldex–sponsored team, this week’s contest saw Brown get those laps back by being in position to receive NASCAR’s “Lucky Dog” award.

“We got off to a shaky start with poor practice times and a disappointing 16th-place qualifying speed”, Doug reported. “But a combination of some chassis adjustments and changing track conditions certainly helped our cause.”

“We were actually down on horsepower over the last third of the race when we lost some exhaust components and a header broke, likely caused from one of the earlier hits we took.

“But despite those issues I felt we could have gained another spot or two in the finishing order but we just ran out of laps.”

“This race sure makes the whole team feel better. Hopefully we can carry these results into Kawartha next weekend,” he added.

With a solid run in the season’s finale next Saturday night, the veteran also has an opportunity to move up a spot or two in the standings.

Next Saturday’s event at Kawartha Speedway is the final of 13 races on this season’s NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Scot Steckly of Milverton still leads the points’ standing despite a 13th-place finish at Antigonish but Don Thomson Jr. of Ayr still has an outside chance at the title thanks to his win on Saturday night.

Thomson’s teammate and pole sitter JR Fitzpatrick finished second with Ron Beauchamp Jr. coming home in third spot.

Prepared By Ken Spencer - HB Motorsports