CASCAR: Eighth at Mosport leaves Vanderwyst fifth in Nat'l points
3 September 1999
ST. THOMAS, ON - As the CASCAR Castrol Super Series prepares for the conclusion of its National championship this weekend at Delaware Speedway Park, Loctite Chevrolet Monte Carlo driver Pete Vanderwyst finds himself in fifth place in the National standings, under 100 points out of second place. His standing comes on the heels of his eighth-place result on the legendary Mosport Int'l Raceway road course this past weekend. The St. Thomas, ON racer lined up ninth in the field of 28 starters for the third of fourth CASCAR National rounds and overcame a couple of mechanical problems early in the weekend and a few off-course excursions during Sunday's 64-lap feature race to came home eighth. The day before, the Loctite Chevy finished fifth in its 25-minute, 13-lap heat race. All in all, the results were welcomed considering the #77 car suffered a blown motor during Friday's practice session and had fuel pump trouble during practice on Saturday. "The guys worked their hearts out," said Vanderwyst, who credited his dedicated crew for getting the car in race shape. "We broke a motor in the first practice [on Friday] and didn't get a motor in the car until 10 p.m. that night. Then, we couldn't get out to practice [on Saturday morning] because of fuel pump problems. The guys slaved until four in the morning and were back at it at seven to get this car ready. The first practice we had was basically the time trial session. From there, we went to the first heat race [on Saturday]. We started 10th and came home fifth, which wasn't bad." Following the encouraging run in his heat, Vanderwyst wanted to post a good finish in the weekend's main event. But after losing much of his practice time at a track he was racing at for the first time, the Loctite driver was determined to run conservatively on the up-and-down road course. Once underway, Vanderwyst's plan for the 250 km race was to wait until the two-thirds point before pitting for tires. An early excursion into the tire barrier at the bottom of turn 2 didn't alter the team's playbook. "The plan worked well and we had pretty good pit strategy. We were tagged by another driver and spun in turn 2. We were very lucky, because we didn't sustain any damage then. We had a good car at Mosport," continued Vanderwyst, who is currently also in the running for the CASCAR Super Series East championship. "We were among the late group to pit. We took two tires and fuel and started rocking again. It was the first time I've raced at Mosport, so it was a pretty good day. I think we could have been a top-five finisher, but we got nailed in turn 5, later on. After all we went through with the motors, the fuel pump and the off-track outings, we're pretty happy with how it turned out." This weekend: This weekend, Vanderwyst returns to the track where he got his start - Delaware Speedway Park - near London, ON to chase his second CASCAR Super Series victory. The CARQUEST 500 Race Weekend is Canada's biggest stock car event and is comprised of three days (Sept. 4-6) of stock car action on the half-mile oval. The 100 lap qualifiers are set for Friday evening, with the 300 lap main on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. National Point Standings (After three events, as of August 29, 1999): 1. #1 Peter Gibbons (1,318 pts.) 2. #4 Don Thomson Jr. (1,288) 3. #17 DJ Kennington (1,268) 4. #02 Kerry Micks (1,198) 5. #77 Peter Vanderwyst (#77 Loctite Chevrolet Monte Carlo - 1,192) 6. #35 Kevin Dowler (1,172) 7. #66 Robin Buck (1,158) 8. #76 Al Turner (1,150)
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