Cascar: Whitlock Motorsports - St. Eustache Report
21 June 1999
Whitlock third at St. Eustache / Dilley scores first pole PETROLIA, ON - Dave Whitlock took a step forward in the CASCAR Castrol Super Series East points chase with a third place showing at Autodrome St. Eustache on Saturday night. The Ford Quality Care Taurus driver started sixth in the field of 31 CASCAR Late Models for the 150 lap race and progressed steadily throughout to notch the podium finish. In doing so, Whitlock moved from sixth to third in the Eastern point standings, and now finds himself just 82 points back of points leader and St. Eustache race winner Don Thomson Jr. "The car just wasn't perfect. Today was a day when we took a seventh place car and brought it up to third. We struggled with it all day. We were trying to find a magical setup here, and I don't think there is one," said the three-time National champion. "We might have to go back to basics again. But we're glad to have a third here at St. Eustache. We had a good day with qualifying and all in all, it wasn't too bad of a day for the team." Whitlock's teammate, Mark Dilley, also had a mostly positive outing at St. Eustache. The Barrie, ON racer put his NTN Bearings / Herbrand Tools Ford Taurus on the pole for the race, after setting the fastest lap during time trials. In the race itself, Dilley was running near the top when he was involved in an incident with race leader Steve Robblee and finished a lap down in 12th place. "The car was good all night. We were fast and it was a little unfortunate what happened," said the Ultra Motorsports team driver. "Steve [Robblee] had a tire going down, but it looked like we turned him around and we got a 'stop and go'. That put us a lap down and that ended it for us." On the bright side, however, Dilley was still able to muster a smile for winning the pole. "The pole was good. We were really fast, and for that we're happy." After four events, Dilley is sixth in the overall Eastern points. The next event on the team's schedule is this weekend (June 26-27) at Cayuga Speedway in Nelles Corners, ON. Race Summary: Don Thomson collected his second CASCAR Super Series feature win of the season on Saturday night at Autodrome St. Eustache. Thomson took the lead on lap 35 of the 150 lap main event and survived a late race challenge from Kerry Micks to solidify his lead in the points chase after four events. After grabbing the lead from Thomson for a single lap (142), Micks' Ford Fast Lane Taurus ended up second at the finish.