Castrol Super Series - Mosport Preview

Castrol Super Series

For immediate release / June 21, 2001

GIBBONS GOES FOR THREE-PETE AT MOSPORT INT'L RACEWAY

Castrol Super Series // Round #4 - June 23-24, 2001 // Mosport Int'l Raceway
'Blue Streak presents the Mosport 250'

LONDON, ON - This weekend, the Castrol Super Series takes to the road 
course for the first of its four road race outings this season. The 'Blue 
Streak presents the Mosport 250' takes place on the legendary 2.459-mile 
Mosport Int'l Raceway circuit, located an hour northeast of Toronto.
	Stouffville, ON racer Peter Gibbons has won this event in each of the past 
two seasons, using the race as a springboard to winning the Castrol Cup in 
each of those campaigns. Currently, the Canadian Tire Chevy driver sits 
24th in the standings after three Castrol Super Series races. For a driver 
accustomed to winning races and championships, Gibbons is hoping to once 
again put in a strong performance at Mosport, in hopes of closing some of 
the distance between himself and series points leader Kerry Micks. Entering 
the 'Blue Streak presents the Mosport 250', the gap between Micks and 
Gibbons is 201 points.
	According to Gibbons, he's been victimized by bad luck so far in 2001. 
"We're not doing anything different, we just need to have some better luck. 
We've had some stupid problems that have been out of our control. 
Hopefully, we can put them behind us this weekend."
	Always one to push the performance envelope, Gibbons has a reputation for 
scouring North America for the cutting edge parts that have allowed him to 
become the undisputed horsepower champion of the CASCAR circuit in recent 
years. Following last summer's outing on the Mosport road course, almost 
every driver in the field told of having the #1 Canadian Tire Chevy blow 
past them - like they were standing still - on the long, Andretti Straight.
	But there are risks associated with pushing the envelope and early in 
2001, Gibbons has experienced some uncharacteristic parts failures. "A lot 
of people have been bit by the same sort of thing. We bought some 
performance stuff down south that has been a problem. There are people down 
in the U.S. who are having the same problems as us with these parts. Last 
weekend, we took a set of new roller rockers out of the box and put 'em on 
the motor. We were just setting the valves and there was one split right in 
half and we hadn't even put it through a run."
	So, for this weekend, Gibbons is taking a more conservative strategy to 
Mosport. "We improved the motors a lot [during the off-season] and now 
we've had to de-tune them. We've had some really strong pieces on the dyno 
that we tested all winter and they worked great. You can test on the dyno, 
but it doesn't always show you what can happen in the car."
	One other 'wild card' Gibbons will have to deal with at Mosport is his 
new, purpose-built road racing car. "Yeah, it's our first time there with a 
real road racing car, but we haven't been out testing it," said Gibbons, 
tentatively. "We'd probably be better off with our old car there. This car 
has hardly any laps on it. We don't have our old one anymore because we're 
continually selling our old stuff. There are just so many unknowns with new 
cars. We need to test this car and we haven't been out with it at all."
	In both of his Castrol Cup winning seasons, Gibbons experienced a 
relatively slow start. But the beginning of the 2001 season has been 
especially difficult for the driver who tries to win every race he enters. 
Asked if Mosport could be the turning point he's hoping for, Gibbons 
replied, "I hope so. We prepared the stuff a lot more this winter than we 
ever have and we just ran into stupid problems that should not happen. We 
built new cars and a lot of new motors, but we're also a lot busier in the 
engine shop with new customers, which takes our time. We should have four 
or five Gibbons Motorsports engines out at the track this weekend, in 
different cars, so it should be interesting to see how the rest of them run."

MOSPORT SCHEDULE: The 'Blue Streak presents the Mosport 250' is the 
centerpiece of a busy weekend of racing at Mosport Int'l Raceway this 
weekend. In addition to Round #4 of the Castrol Super Series, there will be 
Formula Ford 1600, Canada GT Challenge Cup, Grand Am, ChampCar Lights and 
Formula V 1200 races on the schedule. Some divisions will practice and 
qualify starting Friday (June 22). The Castrol Super Series Late Models 
take to the track for the first time Saturday (June 23) at 8:30 a.m. and 
have half-hour qualifying sessions at 12:45 and 2:15 p.m. On Sunday (June 
24), following a morning of races in the other divisions, the Autograph 
Session for the Mosport 250 starts at noon. The green flag will follow at 2 
p.m.

Contact CASCAR at (519) 641-1214 or visit www.cascar.ca
Prepared by Inside Track Communications. Contact: Greg MacPherson (416) 
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