GUELPH, ON - A tired Shaw Motorsports crew headed west to Delaware Speedway at 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, after a long night that ended at 2:30 a.m. after changing the car's setup from Jason Shaw's win at Flamboro Speedway. After passing technical inspection, the order of business was to erect the tent to protect the crew from the heat and sunshine during the long day ahead.
The first practice session was used to scuff in four of the six new tires to be used in the 200 lap race later in the day and the second session was used to scuff in the other two. The car was a little pushy during the first practice and a little loose during the second. The crew made a shock change and minor adjustments with an older set of tires that made the car feel its best on the high banked and bumpy track.
13 of the local Delaware cars lined up for a 50 lap race that would be the final opportunity to accumulate points for their local series as well as set the starting order for the outside row for the 200 lap feature.
The Shaw crew relaxed and watched the race won by the #5 followed by the #77 and #22. The #82 Erb& Erb Insurance Ford lined up 5th in the visiting car, 50 lap heat race that would set the starting order of the inside row of the feature.
Jason started on the outside and when he was able to get down to the inside, he was 8th, behind the #44. The next move was past the #44 on lap 10 and after a caution, Jason and the #44 moved forward into 5th and 6th respectfully where they both ran until the half way mark. Jason indicated that the car was pretty good, however, Dave Meades should consider making an adjustment to fix a push condition prior to the 200 lap feature.
After a caution on lap 33, the #44 got a run on Jason and as he passed on the inside, he brought the #7 and #19 with him putting Jason 8th. Another caution, three laps later brought a restart with just 10 to go and the #37 of David Elliott moved past Jason on the outside, putting the #82 into 9th where he would run for the final laps and finish behind the #9, #4, #49, #7, #3, #19, #37 and #44.
The Shaw crew spent the 30 minute break after the 50 lap feature, changing tires, bleeding the brakes, refueling the car and checking the setup to see why the car had such a bad push. What they found was a severe toe out condition that they quickly repaired and sent the #82 Del Metals Fusion to line up 16th for the 200 lap APC special.
The #44 and #7 made unexpected pit stops as the field was heading for the green flag putting Jason up to 14th and early cautions put out even more cars moving Jason up to 11th by lap 10. During the restart, the right rear tire was going flat and fortunately a quick caution came out allowing Jason to come into the pits where the waiting crew jumped into action to replace the tire and send Jason out at the back of the field but still on the lead lap. On lap 24, Jason made his first move forward and gained two positions into 20th out of the remaining 26 cars.
On the next caution, Jason was informed by the crew that a lug nut went missing on the tire change and that he must come down pit road to get the 5th one installed. After restarting 17th, Jason made his way up to 16th by the 50 lap mark.
Three cautions came out over the next 15 laps and one unfortunately involved the #82. A minor amount of damage was sustained on the front right corner, however, the car was still running fine and looked good by the crew, so Jason stayed out at the back of the field.
It wasn’t long before the #82 was up to 13th and then up to 11th by lap 70 as Jason took the position away from fellow Flamboro regular, David Elliott in the #37. Another caution on lap 78 put Jason up to 9th and he was able to move forward to 7th before the competition yellow came out just past the half way mark for a 5 minute timed pit stop.
The Shaw crew with the help of Billy Schwartzenburg as jack-man, went to work fueling the car, replacing right side tires and repairing the damage to the right front as Jason exited the car for a nature call.
With some cars sent to the back for not observing the 5 minute maximum stop, Jason was now in 5th. After a few short cautions, the top three pulled ahead as Jason worked hard on getting past the #10 on the inside before taking him on the high side for 4th. 21 cars remained and despite the top three pulling well ahead, the rest of the field were running nose to tail.
Jason was running fast lap times and was gaining on the leaders as the caution came out on lap 140 bringing the field together. Jason informed the crew that the car was running pretty good despite the rising water temperature. On the restart, things changed as the #10 got a run on Jason taking over 4th, bringing with him the #37 putting the #82 into 6th.
The top three positions changed to the #52, #37 and #5 as Jason was passed by the #77 putting him into 8th with 40 laps to go. The #3 also passed Jason on the outside followed closely by the #9 and that put the #82 into 10th.
With the #3 involved in the next caution, Jason moved up to 9th , however Jason had to fall behind the #20 on the restart putting him back to 10th. The front 4 consisting of the #52, #37, #5 and #28 took off ahead of the field as Jason got past the #20 for 9th and then was able to get ahead of the #10 with just 15 laps to go.
Jason battled the #49 for position 10 car lengths behind the leader as the #37 battled for the lead with the #52. The final laps closed out with the #52 holding onto the position for the win and the #49 staying ahead of the #82, giving the Del Metal Ford a top 10 finish in 8th. Next up for the Shaw Team is a regular series night at Flamboro Speedway on Saturday September 6th. Pit gates open at 4:00pm followed by the main grandstand at 5:00pm and racing is scheduled to begin at 6:30pm.
From Ken Spira
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