Doug Brown was determined to end the season on a high and that determination was evident at Kawartha Speedway on Saturday as the veteran driver recorded third quickest time in pre-race qualifying then went on to a strong sixth-place finish in the final race on the 2008 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule.
The race marked the fifth top-ten finish of the year for the Haldex-sponsored team that ran just ten events in the thirteen-race schedule.
Following the mid-afternoon practice sessions that saw the Haldex Dodge in the middle range of lap speeds among the field of 27teams on hand for the season finale, the crew made some calculated set-up changes hoping to gain added speed on the fast 3/8 mile paved oval located in Fraserville, Ontario.
That move paid huge dividends allowing the veteran competitor -the last of the drivers to take time trials- to start the scheduled 250-lap race inside on the second row.
After a strong early race run, and changing track conditions, the car developed some handling problems causing the Brantford driver to drop to thirteenth place by lap 50 and losing contact with the lead pack.
Despite the problems, the team elected to keep the car and driver on the track during the third caution break of the night but when the caution flag came out again for the 4th time on lap 110 the team made a quick two-tire change and further chassis adjustments getting the car back into the action in 20th place.
When the race went green again Doug wasted little time in moving back into contention and had moved to 10th-place by lap 125 with his sights clearly focussed on the leaders. By the time the race was slowed again on lap 143 by a fine mist that enveloped the track, Doug had moved into sixth-place in the running order and had closed to within a few car lengths of the fifth and fourth place runners.
But with the track conditions worsening, series officials elected to run the race under caution for 32 laps before throwing the red flag ending the race on lap 174.
“I felt I still had some pop left in the Haldex Dodge if the race had continued and might have gained a few more spots but we’ll take this sixth-place finish along with last week’s eighth place run in Antigonish and build upon for next year,” the satisfied driver commented following the event.
Scott Steckly of Milverton, Ontario survived a mid race accident and ensuing steering problems to finish in 17th-place, one lap down to winner Jason Hathaway of Appin, Ontario but salvaged enough points to edge out Don Thomson, Jr. of Ayr for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Championship. Steckly went into the final race with a 67- point margin over Thomson but with Thomson’s 5th-place finish that margin had shrunk to just 24.
DJ Kennington of St. Thomas, finished the year with a second place run followed by Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor with Brad Graham of Glencoe taking fourth-place honours.
Prepared by Ken Spencer // HB Motorsports
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