Castrol Super Series - Mac Tools 250 Cayuga Preview
Castrol Super Series For immediate release / August 10, 2001 Castrol Super Series to race under the lights at Cayuga Castrol Super Series // Round #9 // Mac Tools 250 // Nelles Corners, ON LONDON, ON - On Saturday night (August 11), the Castrol Super Series will make its lone visit of the summer to Cayuga Speedway. The 5/8-mile track, located south of Hamilton, ON, is the largest oval on the Super Series schedule. A new twist for this year's CASCAR Cayuga visit is the fact that the Mac Tools 250 will be run under the lights. In the past, Castrol Super Series events at Cayuga have taken place on Sunday afternoons. Qualifying during the day - and racing at night - will present a new challenge to even those who have extensive experience at the high-speed oval. Entering the ninth race of the season, the points chase for the Castrol Cup is still very tight. A failed clutch in the car of points leader Don Thomson Jr. - on the last lap of the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières last weekend - whittled away at his cushion to the point where rival Kerry Micks sits just 24 markers behind the Home Hardware Chevy driver, with four races remaining. Blue Streak Intrepid driver Al Turner is third in the standings, 42 points back of Ford Taurus driver Micks. Thomson will have his work cut out for him if he's going to head west for Rounds #10 & #11 (in Calgary and Vancouver) with his points lead intact. Micks has a reputation for success at Cayuga Speedway and leads the Castrol Super Series drivers with four career feature victories at the legendary stock car oval. Turner is another driver to watch at Cayuga. The Barrie, ON racer won last year's battle at Cayuga. If momentum counts for anything, Peter Gibbons could be the favourite for victory in the Mac Tools 250. The Canadian Tire Chevy driver experienced a frustrating first half of the season, which effectively knocked him out of contention for a third consecutive Castrol Cup. But the Stouffville, ON racer has been on fire of late and is heading to Cayuga riding a two-race winning streak. Gibbons has a history of being almost dominant late in the season, and his desire to make amends for his slow start could spell trouble for the rest of the field at this high-horsepower track. One driver who has been very strong all season has been Castrol SYNTEC Intrepid racer DJ Kennington. The St. Thomas, ON racer had a hiccup in tech lane at the Delaware opener in May, which cost him his points for the event. Since then, Kennington has been the series' most consistent competitor and has clawed back to fifth in the points chase since the setback at Delaware. The winner of the Mosport road course race, on June 24, has several other top finishes to his credit and could take his second win of the campaign on Saturday night at Cayuga. MAC TOOLS 250 SCHEDULE: The first practice session for the Castrol Super Series cars will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Thunder Cars, a regular fixture at Cayuga, will be the support class for the Mac Tools 250. Time trials for the CASCAR Late Models will commence at 6:00 p.m. The starting field for the 250-lap race will be set following the 'Final Qualifiers' race at 7:30 p.m. The green flag is set to fly on the Mac Tools 250 at 9:00 p.m. NOTEBOOK: On June 3 of last year, Peter Gibbons set the Castrol Super Series qualifying pole record at Cayuga Speedway, with a lap of 21.060 seconds / 106.838 mph… The 'Budweiser 150' Castrol Super Series race, held July 1 at Kawartha Speedway, will be broadcast Tuesday, Aug. 14 on Sportsnet. The track's inaugural CASCAR race will air at 8:00 p.m. on Sportsnet EAST, ONTARIO and WEST. The PACIFIC region will see the show at 7:00 p.m. POINT STANDINGS (After Round #8 of 12): 1. #4 Don Thomson Jr. (Chevrolet / 1172); 2. #02 Kerry Micks (Ford / 1148); 3. #76 Al Turner (Intrepid / 1106); 4. #88 Dave Jacombs (Ford / 1094); 5. #17 DJ Kennington (Intrepid / 1082); 6. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Intrepid / 1045); 7. #35 Kevin Dowler (Ford / 1037); 8. #31 Kelly Williams (Pontiac / 1036); 9. #99 Pete Vanderwyst (Pontiac / 1023); 10. #9 Robbie Thompson (Intrepid / 1017); 11. #04 Andy Farr (Intrepid / 1002); 12. #64 Mark Dilley (Ford / 997); 13. #33 Neil Fair (Chevrolet / 988); 14. #14 John Fitzpatrick (Chevrolet / 982); 15. #8 Teri MacDonald-Cadieux (Chevrolet / 980); 16. #22 Scott Steckly (Chevrolet / 971); 17. #80 Donald Theetge (Chevrolet / 924); 18. #1 Peter Gibbons (Chevrolet / 909); 19. #3 Chris Fowler (Chevrolet / 906); 20. #98 David Whitlock (Ford / 847); 21. #19 Brad Graham (Chevrolet / 816); 22. #57 Joe Goncalves (Chevrolet / 770); 23. #25 Jim Lapcevich (Chevrolet / 532); 24. #00 Bill Innes (Ford / 530); 25. #23 Jeff Lapcevich (Chevrolet / 464); 26. #41 John Tsoumaris (Chevrolet / 444); 27. #75 Kevin O'Hara (Chevrolet / 420); 28. #29 Kevin Trevellin (Ford / 404); 29. #66 Robin Buck (Pontiac / 403); 30. #36 Rod Sauder (Intrepid / 396). Contact CASCAR at (519) 641-1214 or visit www.cascar.ca Prepared by Inside Track Communications. Contact: Greg MacPherson (416) 561-2320 (cell). If you know of someone else who would like to receive these releases, please send a note to: greg@insidetracknews.com If you wish to be removed from this release list, please send a note to the same address. Thank you.