For more info, please visit CANUSA and Delaware Speedway .
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2005
(Dorchester, Ontario) - Three of the four members of the CANUSA / APC / Havoline
Racing Team hit the track on Saturday September 17th for 'Championship Saturday' at
Delaware Speedway. For Jamie Cox, he was looking to start the feature and claim his
seventh consecutive Powerade Open Wheel Modified track championship, while veteran
drive Pete Vanderwyst was seeking his first ever championship, as he battled Scott
Lindsay with a trio of crowns on the line. Vanderwyst was looking to beat Lindsay
straight up for the Delaware Cintas Late Model title, as well as re-claim the track
lead in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series standings. Vanderwyst also entered
the day with the lead in the province wide Weekend Warrior Series. Doug Stewart was
also looking to finish the season with a successful run, and solidify his place in
the top-ten in Delaware Speedway point standings.
Cox was the first teammate on the track, but would have to compete in a borrowed car
after wrecking on Labour Day. After starting sixth, Cox faded to a seventh-place
finish. "I just took it easy and made sure that we got the car to the feature,
because we need to take the green to win the title. I hate racing like this, but we
didn't have another motor after we blew ours up on Labour Day, and the car is still
wrecked."
The Late Models hit the track next and Stewart got off to a tremendous start, moving
to second early in the affair. For the remainder of the event, Stewart chased Jay
Doerr, but couldn't pull off a pass and brought home a second-place finish. "I
think we were better than Jay, but I just couldn't get a good enough run on him, and
he never made a mistake."
In the second qualifier, Vanderwyst started on the back and sliced through the
field quickly, before grabbed second late in the affair. He closed in on Sean
Dupuis, but settled for a second-place finish, and gained three championship
points on Scott Lindsay, who finished fifth. "Our car was loose in practice, so
we made a ton of changes while we were chasing the setup. We dropped the panhard
bar, adjusted tire stagger, and put some wedge in to try and tighten the car up.
It was better in the heat race."
The Modifieds were up next for feature action and Cox started at the back of the
pack. When the green came out, it locked up the championship for Jamie, his seventh
consecutive in the division. He would pedal on, and fell into line in
ninth-position. He climbed to eighth, by the halfway point, and would gain two more
positions during the second half of the affair for a sixth-place finish. "I was
only planning on starting the race and pulling in, but as we got rolling, some cars
dropped out and I thought we could make some money. I just rode around, because the
last thing you want to do is to run into trouble with someone else's car."
Up front, Barry Newman took the lead from Bob Merrifield and held off Mark Watson
for the feature victory, with Lloyd Rawlings joining them on the podium.
1. Newman, 2. Merrifield, 3. Rawlings, 4. Jim Wiersma, 5. Merrifield, 6. Jamie Cox.
Cox's seventh straight championship was a tremendous feat, but he
admitted, "It still really hasn't sunk yet. It's been a pretty awesome
run for us. We were pretty fast all year, and it was great to race
Barry Newman for the championship. I didn't want to win it this way.
We would have rather had our own car here, but we had no motor. I think
if we had our car here we would've been racing for the win in the
feature."
Championship Point Standings - 1. Jamie Cox (828 points), 2 Barry Newman (787), 3.
Lloyd Rawlings (759), 4. Paul Shipway (732), 5. David McCullough (729).
The afternoon concluded with the Late Model feature and Stewart started
11th, while Vanderwyst started from mid-pack. Vanderwyst was able to
jump to third early in the race, and after working Dale Timmermans for a
couple of laps took second with just five circuits on the board. For
the next 45 laps, Vanderwyst found himself in the same situation as his
teammate earlier in the evening, as he tried to find away around leader
Doerr. Vanderwyst tried high, and low, but with Scott Lindsay behind
him in the running order, Pete knew all he had to do was finish second
to wrap up the championship.
Stewart moved to ninth early, and climbed to sixth just before the
halfway mark. He was trailing Jason Hathaway, but for the second half
of the race the top-six ran single file, with no one being able to pass
on the outside, and no one wanting to step out of line and risk going
backwards. Doug wound up with a sixth-place finish. "The top-six were
all the same speed, and the outside lane wasn't very good at all. We
got nose to tail and couldn't go anywhere."
The result gave Stewart eighth position in the standings, and he was
pleased with the season. "We had a couple of bad wrecks, and a feature
win. That was the highlight of the season. It was on CANUSA night, and
we were in a brand new car. To do that on our sponsors night was
awesome! I really have to thank Ivor and all the CANUSA Team for
believing in me all season long."
Vanderwyst chased Doerr until the final lap, and came home with a solid
second-place finish, and a Delaware championship. "This is the first
championship I've ever won racing, and it feels pretty good right now.
All the guys worked so hard all season, and I really have to thank them,
because they were just as much a part of this as I was. In the end, we
raced Scott right down to the end and got him by just a few points, but
it was enough. Delaware has put together a really good package among
cars and motors and it was a lot of fun to race here again weekly this
year for the first time in a long time. I also have to thank CANUSA for
a tremendous season. It was a pleasure to work with all of them during
the season."
The finish was not enough for Vanderwyst to overtake Lindsay in the
NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series points, so Lindsay will go to the
banquet as Delaware's NDWRS champion. That series uses a different
points system than Delaware does, hence the different results than the
Delaware standings.
1. Doerr, 2. Pete Vanderwyst, 3. Lindsay, 4. Dupuis, 5. Hathaway, 6. Doug Stewart.
Championship Point Standings (Final) - 1. Pete Vanderwyst (1404 points), 2. Lindsay
(1393), 3. Ron Sheridan (1350), 4. Dupuis (1334), 5. Hathaway (1333), 8. Doug
Stewart (1260).
A week later, Jamie Ramsay would hit the track for the final time on
Street Stock championship day and the afternoon started with a heat
race. After rolling from fifth on the grid, Ramsay was able to work his
way to third early. As the laps wore down, he was almost able to use a
lapped car for a pick and take second, but came up one position short.
"I could have used that extra point, but I think we're in pretty good
shape for the feature regardless."
The final 25-lapper of the season saw Ramsay start mid-pack as he
prepared to race Ray Morneau, Dave Lawrence, and Dan Monaghan for the
division championship. Everything was going fine for Jamie in the early
going, until he got a flat tire as the green flag came out just a
handful of laps in, while running in the top-five. "We had a great run
going. We had a shot at winning and that's what we needed to do to have
a chance at the title."
Jamie hung on for two more laps before coming to pit road for a fresh
tire. The CANUSA Crew sprung into action and whipped off the tire,
replacing it and sending Jamie back onto the track, but he lost two laps
in the process. The timing was very unlucky for Ramsay, who saw a
caution flag just one lap after he returned to action. "If I had've
stayed out on the flat, we would have caught a break with the caution
and stayed on the lead lap." Jamie raced his way back to fifth on the
track, but the two laps were enough to give him a 14th-place finish.
Dave Lawrence and Jason Hathaway had some contact late in the race with
Hathaway leading, and Lawrence was penalized for the incident. It
turned to lead over to Monaghan, who put the stamp on his
championship-winning season, beating Brian Verburne and Darrell Lake to
the stripe for the win.
1. Monaghan, 2. Verburne, 3. Lake, 4. Andrew Perkins, 5. Jeremy Oulette, 14.
Jamie Ramsay.
The result allowed him to overtake Morneau for third in the points. "That was our
goal today, and I really didn't think a 14th-place finish would be enough to do it,
but Ray had problems today as well and we were able to pass him. We had another
great season. We won a number of races, and finished third in the points. Our only
problem was at the start of the season when we couldn't find the miss in the motor
and it cost us finishes of 15th and 16th, which put us in a big hole. We also lost
a number of races to rain, and if we could've had those races back it may have been
a different story."
Championship Point Standings (Final) - 1. Monaghan (859 points), 2. Dave Lawrence
(844), 3. Jamie Ramsay (824), 4. Ray Morneau (823), 5. Scott Nagy (797).
The final action for a CANUSA Motorsports member was not at Delaware,
but Peterborough Speedway for the annual Autumn Colours event, and
Vanderwyst made the trek, chasing the Weekend Warrior Series points
championship.
Pete entered the weekend's affair just five points behind David Elliott
for the title and was looking to score a solid finish to capture the
inaugural crown in the province-wide championship.
Qualifying was first and Vanderwyst ripped off the third-fastest lap of
the session. "Our car was good, and I think we're in good shape for the
feature."
Following a six-car inversion, Pete took the green from the outside of
the second row for the 100-lap shootout. He fell into line in third and
looked like he might have a shot at winning through the early portion of
the feature, but during the second half of the event he faded to a
sixth-place finish, while Elliott wound up 10th. The results left
Vanderwyst 1.87 points behind Elliott in the final standings, as Pete
missed the championship by the narrowest of margins. "It's a little
disappointing, but we'll still take it to finish off the season. With
our package, and the crate motor, we have to be 300 lbs. heavier and we
were fine through the early part of the race, but for the second half, I
didn't have any tires left. That extra weight just wore our rubber out.
We also could have played the point game, and sandbagged in qualifying
to start further back, but we didn't. You get bonus points for passing
more cars, and Elliott started further back. We could only get three
bonus points from where we started. We also missed a race a few weeks
ago at Flamborough, and if we had've went, it would have been enough to
give us the win. I can't take anything away from David, because they
did all they needed to do to win the championship, but we're still
really proud of what we accomplished."
Weekend Warrior Standings
For more information on CANUSA, the CANUSA Racing Team, Delaware Speedway, or the
NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series, please visit www.canusa.on.ca,
www.delawarespeedway.com, www.nascar.com. Or contact Maudsley Motorsports at
maudsleymotorsports@sympatico.ca.