Courtesy Ken SpencerTROIS RIVIERES, QC – Doug Brown’s run came to an early end at the Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres this past weekend when engine problems befell the Brantford-based motorsports team.
“It sure was a long weekend, especially for us,” the veteran driver lamented following his early exit from the “Arctic Cat 100” –a scheduled 42-lap run through the streets of the Quebec community on the St. Lawrence River north of Montreal. “First we had clutch problems during practice sessions of Friday and again during qualifying on Saturday. Now this,” he added obviously upset by the weekend results.
At the beginning of Sunday’s late morning race, it appeared Doug had settled into a smooth rhythm that saw him manoeuvre his NAPA Autopro-sponsored Monte Carlo into fourteenth place by lap nine after starting eighteenth in the 25-car field.
“The car felt good from the start but I noticed the oil pressure gauge was fluctuating on lap 10 and then saw a puff of smoke though the mirror. “ he noted. “That’s when I knew a problem had developed and decided to pit before more serious damage was done to the motor”.
He was credited with completing 11 laps and a 20th-place finish. He has now dropped to eleventh in the points' race since heading west in mid-July.
Don Thomson of Hamilton recorded his first win of the season leading teammate JR Fitzpatrick (Ayr, ON) and Ron Beauchamp Jr. (Windsor) across the finish line. Robin Buck (Campbellville, ON) subbing for Dave Jacombs finished fourth followed by Mark Dilley (Barrie, ON.)
A lot of teams left Trois Rivieres with broken, bent or bruised race cars following their exploits on the unique street circuit.
Pole sitter, Kerry Micks (Mt. Albert, ON.) lasted only 2 laps and Ron Van Es (Stoney Creek, ON.) departed on lap 6 with engine problems. Seventh-place qualifier, DJ Kennington never made it to the green when his car sustained heavy damages on the white flag lap. The crash was reportedly triggered by the actions of an aggressive competitor who was charging to pass those in front of him entering a turn causing several of the front-runners to brake suddenly. Kennington was caught in the melee and done for the day.
The instigator was subsequently ordered to the pits for a number of laps before being allowed to rejoin the race.
Others who departed early due to accidents were Kent Nuhn (Williamsford, ON) -lap 8, Jeff Lapcevich Caistor Centre, ON) -lap 10 while damages hindered the efforts of Bertrand Godin, (St-Hyacinthe, OC) and Marc Miller (Holland, Mich).
After two straight road course events and away from Ontario for the past five weeks, CASCAR teams return to the oval track scene this weekend (Saturday, August 12th at Mosport Speedway.
They will then have a week to prepare for their fourth and final road course test of the season at the CHAMP Car Grand Prix event in Montreal, August 25th-27th.
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