CASCAR: Gibbons wins CARQUEST 300 and Castrol Cup
9 September 1999
KOMOKA, ON - On Sunday afternoon at Delaware Speedway Park, Peter Gibbons won Canada's biggest, oldest and richest stock car race - the CARQUEST 300 - for the second time in a row. On top of that, the native of Stouffville, ON walked away with Canada's most prestigious stock car trophy; the Castrol Cup. The trophy is symbolic of supremacy on the CASCAR Castrol Super Series National tour, and Gibbons and his Canadian Tire / Slick 50 Chevrolet Monte Carlo team are deserving National champions. The '97 Eastern series titlist won the final two 'National' events of the season - on the road course at Mosport Int'l Raceway (Bowmanville, ON) and on the half-mile oval at Delaware Speedway Park (London, ON) - to demonstrate his versatility and dominance of the National races in '99. On Sunday, Gibbons pitted near the midway point of the 300 lap race and went on to a comfortable 2.5 second win over Kerry Micks (Ford Fast Lane / Mt. Albert, ON), who was followed by Pete Vanderwyst (Loctite Chevrolet / St. Thomas, ON); the third place finisher. The winning pass occurred on lap 258 when Gibbons' Chevy powered around the second-running Dave Whitlock and leader Don Thomson Jr. - in the same turn - to claim the lead in dramatic fashion. From there, he never looked back and won the championship with a decisive 84 point margin over Thomson. "The car worked just great today," said Gibbons, after emerging from his car. "The guys on the team worked so hard for this and we're glad to win the race and be the National champion. I felt good making the pass the way we did. We're here to go for it, and that's what we did." With Gibbons' win, the two-year reign of Dave Whitlock as the champion of Canada's elite stock car tour comes to an end. Thomson was involved in a late-race tangle with Whitlock when the latter driver was a split-second slower in reacting to a caution light on the backstretch. The contact sent Thomson spinning and Whitlock was assessed a stop and go penalty. In the end, however, everything that happened behind Gibbons was incidental. On the strength of his two National wins and a victory in one of the Eastern races (that contributed to his overall points total), Gibbons was truly the class of the field in the hunt for the most prestigious CASCAR crown. CARQUEST 300 Notes: The record Sunday attendance for the CARQUEST 300 was 13,221, which brought the total for the three-day weekend to 21,975... Ford Quality Care Taurus driver Kevin Dowler was the top finishing Western series regular in the final National Super Series point standings. The Edmonton, AB resident was sixth in the final tally and captured the checkered flag in Saturday night's Final Qualifiers' race... Dave Whitlock's appearance on the pole for the CARQUEST 300 was the first time since the season finale at New Brunswick Int'l Speedway in the fall of '97 that he's lined up on the inside of the front row... Heat race wins on the Friday night of the CARQUEST 300 went to Gibbons and Rob Neely (Champion Dodge / Milton, ON)... Finishing fourth in the Labour Day classic at Delaware Speedway Park was Alex Nagy (Charlie's Soap Chevrolet), a former winner of the CARQUEST 300. The Brantford, ON resident has made limited appearances on the Super Series tour and is hoping to secure sponsorship that will allow him to compete on the full Eastern and National tour in 2000... Six-time Delaware CASCAR Sportsman champ Steve Robblee put on a superb show in his Fram-sponsored Ford Taurus, at his hometrack. The former CASCAR Super Series champion was making the first of three '99 appearances with his new sponsor and was up to fourth before being sidetracked by mechanical problems, late in the 300 lap affair. *** National Points Standings after Round #4 of 4 / As of September 5, 1999: 1. #1 Peter Gibbons (Stouffville, ON / 1654 points / Chevrolet); 2. #4E Don Thomson (Hamilton, ON / 1570 / Chevrolet); 3. #17 DJ Kennington (St Thomas, ON / 1564 Dodge); 4 #77 Pete Vanderwyst (St Thomas, ON / 1518 / Chevrolet); 5. #O2 Kerry Micks (Mt Albert, ON / 1486 / Ford); 6. #35 Kevin Dowler (Edmonton, AB / 1430 / Ford); 7. #98 Dave Whitlock (Petrolia, ON / 1422 / Ford); 8. #76 Al Turner (Barrie, ON / 1406 Dodge); 9. #66 Robin Buck (Oakville, ON / 1386 / Pontiac); 10. #33E Neil Fair (Ancaster, ON / 1366 / Chevrolet); 11. #4W Daryl Harr (St. Albert, AB / 1340 / Chevrolet); 12. #64 Mark Dilley (Barrie, ON / 1338 / Ford); 13. #2 Carl Harr (St. Albert, AB / 1312 / Chevrolet); 14. #31 Kelly Williams (Inglewood, ON / 1288 / Ford); 15. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Windsor, ON / 1282 Dodge); 16. #5E Nik Lapcevich (Hamilton, ON / 1240 / Chevrolet); 17. #14E John Fitzpatrick (Ayr, ON / 1228 / Chevrolet); 18. #88 Dave Jacombs (Mt. Hope, ON / 1116 / Ford); 19. #79 Wade Lee (Calgary, AB / 906 / Pontiac); 20. #O4 Andy Farr (Chesterfield,MI / 880 Dodge); 21. #33W Don Sales (Quesnel, BC / 848 / Chevrolet); 22. #20 Kim Richard (Calgary, AB / 820 / Chevrolet); 23. #52 Bill Rowse Jr (Corunna,ON / 812 / Chevrolet); 24. #46 Dan Shirley (Saskatoon, SK / 806 / Chevrolet); 25. #44 Fred DelPero (Edmonton, AB / 802 / Ford); 26. #67 Derrick Tiemersma (Newmarket, ON / 784 / Pontiac); 27. #25 Jim Lapcevich (Hamilton,ON / 768 / Ford); 28. #12 Ron Larson (Quesnel, BC / 758 / Pontiac); 29. #93 Charlie Kirton (Saskatoon, SK / 758 / Chevrolet); 30. #6 Todd Nichol (St. Albert, AB / 754 / Chevrolet)
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