From Maudsley Motorsports
(Barrie, Ontario) – As the 2006 CASCAR Super Series season opened last weekend in Barrie, Hamilton’s Don Thomson Jr. and his Home Hardware Chevrolet Monte Carlo were prepared to defend the championship for the fifth time, as Thomson looked to add a sixth National championship to the trophy case.
The weekend started with practice on Saturday afternoon, and Thomson was the second-fastest car of the session, turning a lap of 14.325 seconds, a mere .049 ticks of the clock behind Doug Brown. A short while later, it was payoff time and Thomson ripped off a lap of 14.313 seconds around the 3/10th-mile track, besting Brown by .036 seconds, and claiming his CASCAR record 26th pole position.
Festivities continued with a pair of 50-lap qualifying races, and Don led the field to the green in the first twin event, with second-place starter D.J. Kennington tucking into line behind the black # 4. Thomson would have his way with the field, pacing all 50 laps and keeping D.J. at bay to pick up the win. “The car was really good early in the race. It got a little tight later in the run, but nothing major. It was a great way to start the season. We got the pole and led every one of the 50 laps.”
Sunday night’s feature would get ‘frozen out’ leaving the go-racing.ca 250 to be run on Victoria Day Monday. Thomson brought the field to the green with Brown alongside him, and immediately jumped into the lead. “I knew right off the bat we had a good car. We made a couple of changes to the car Sunday morning and it was awesome as soon as the green dropped.”
Thomson would pace the field, surviving a number of restarts before taking an opportunity to pit on lap 142 under yellow for new right side tires. “That’s a little later than when we wanted to pit, because that was at the end of a long green-flag run.” A number of the leaders darted to pit road for service, and the Fitzpatrick Motorsports Team whipped off a tremendous stop, getting Don back into action in sixth. The traffic on the tight track was tense, and while Thomson was trying to move to the front, he was also under attack from behind. He was still shown in sixth with just over 50 laps to go, but started to climb back into contention, reaching fifth by lap 230, with his teammate, J.R. Fitzpatrick behind him.
Shortly after a lap 230 restart, Kennington and Kerry Micks collided in front of Thomson, but Don did a tremendous job of avoiding the wreck and keeping the wheels straight. He found himself in third with a handful of laps remaining and only Mark Dilley and Scott Steckly - who took the lead when Don pitted – in front of him. As the field went green near the closing stages of the race, a layer of oil coated turns one and two. Steckly made it through, while Thomson made contact with Dilley as the pair tried to slow down enough for the corner. “It was a bad deal. I saw Mark start to slide, and I was all over the brakes, but I just slid into him. There was a lot of fluid down there and nothing anyone could do.”
This would leave Thomson on Steckly’s bumper for the final three-lap run to the finish, but Don couldn’t do anything with Scott as he chased him to the checkered flag. Teammate J.R. Fitzpatrick filled the final step on the podium. “We’ll take this run, and the points lead to start the season,” Thomson explained after the race. “I think we were better than Scott at the end, but never got a chance to prove it. This place is very tough to pass on, and we just needed the track position that we lost pitting when we did. Scott pitted on the caution before us and it was enough to get him the win.”
1. Steckly, 2. Don Thomson Jr., 3. J.R. Fitzpatrick, 4. Brown, 5. Dilley.
Unofficial Point Standings (after one event) – 1. Don Thomson Jr. (249 points), 2. Steckly (238), 3. Brown (230), 4. J.R. Fitzpatrick (228), 5. Micks (223).
Event number two for Don Thomson Jr. and the Fitzpatrick Motorsports Team will be Saturday, June tenth at Autodrome Ste. Eustache, just outside of Montreal. Don is excited about visiting the flat 4/10th-mile track, where he has tasted victory before, “Ste. Eustache is a great track to race at. It’s a challenge, because both ends are so different. Turns one and two are so tight, but three and four have almost a double apex to it. We always seem to run well there, so I’m pretty pumped up about it.”
For more information on Don Thomson Jr., Fitzpatrick Motorsports, CASCAR, Barrie Speedway, or Autodrome Ste. Eustache, please visit http://www.cascar.ca/, http://www.barriespeedway.com/, or www.autodrome-st-eustache.com.
For more information on Home Hardware, please visit http://www.milwaukeetools.com/.
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