Vanderwyst second in CASCAR opener

Vanderwyst Motorsports / EXIDE Racing
For immediate release: May 21, 2002

Vanderwyst nabs second with late charge

LONDON, ON - Pete Vanderwyst went a long way toward erasing the 
frustrations of the past two CASCAR Super Series seasons on Sunday 
afternoon at Delaware Speedway. The Exide Batteries Pontiac driver started 
third and made a dramatic last-turn pass to steal second, by a nose, and in 
doing so, record his best finish in the past few years.
	The St. Thomas, ON driver was thrilled with the result and hopes it's a 
precursor of things to come. Sophomore racer Robbie Thompson won the race 
when he finished less than a third of a second ahead of Vanderwyst.
	Asked if the result relegated the misfortunes of '00 and '01 from his 
mind, Vanderwyst replied, "They're already gone. I don't even remember 2000 
or 2001. We're back in the saddle. I'm making my own calls. Today was about 
patience and making it to halfway before making our stop for tires. We 
never made a chassis adjustment on the car all day; it was just that good. 
I wouldn't have changed anything in the way things went today. The guys did 
an awesome pit stop. Of the other guys who stopped with us, we came in 
fourth and got out first."
	The 250-lap race was slowed by 16 cautions. Like the majority of the 38 
cars in the field, the Exide Pontiac was sporting several battle scars by 
the end of the event. But a few knocks and worn tires couldn't prevent 
Vanderwyst from diving to the inside of Mark Dilley as the pair emerged 
from turn 4, for the last time. At the finish line, the Exide Pontiac was 
less than a fender ahead of Dilley, to edge him by just .245 of a second.
	"We've had a lot of wild finishes in our time," continued Vanderwyst. I 
remember one time in Street Stocks when I was third and drove under both 
the first and second-place cars, to win the feature. This one was almost as 
good as that one. I thought I could have gotten Robbie [Thompson], but that 
Dodge just has so much power."
	The temperatures were extremely cool throughout the entire May long 
weekend and were a distraction to many of the competitors, who are more 
accustomed to battling intense heat than cold. According to Vanderwyst, the 
frigid conditions didn't come into the equation, as far as he was concerned.
	"It was just so intense out there that you had to focus on the track, lap 
after lap. To say if I noticed if the sun coming and going made a 
difference to the car, I can't really do that. I was just trying to keep 
the nose straight and to stay out of the marbles, up the track."
	Vanderwyst's weekend started smoothly with a qualifying time of 19.710 
seconds around the half-mile Delaware oval, on Saturday afternoon. The 
91.324 mph lap was good enough to place the Exide Pontiac on the inside of 
the second row for the season opener. According the Vanderwyst, who was 
involved in just one 'fender bender' during Sunday's race, starting and 
staying near the front was the key to his success. "I don't know what 
happened [in the lap 190 incident], but all the leaders checked up and 
everyone got into the back end of everyone else. I know there was a lot of 
banging, but we qualified up front and stayed ahead of a lot of the stuff 
that was going on back in the field."
	The Exide Pontiac will be back in action this Saturday night at 
Peterborough Speedway (May 25). Races at the high-banked, 1/3-mile bullring 
are traditionally among the most 'physical' on the entire CASCAR Super 
Series schedule.


For more information, contact Pete Vanderwyst at (519) 652-3900, ext. 222 
or visit www.vanderwystmotorsports.com
Prepared by Inside Track Communications