CUT TIRE COSTS KENNINGTON AND CASTROL DODGE A GREAT FINISH

Courtesy TL Sports & Entertainment

September 4, 2006. Castrol Dodge driver DJ Kennington was looking to build on the strong effort his team put together last weekend at Cayuga Speedway in round nine of the CASCAR Super Series. However one flat tire would take away any chance of a top finish.

Kennington was among the quickest cars during practice and qualifying and lined up for the 200 lap feature at the 5/8 mile oval on the inside of row five. “The car felt really good all day” said Kennington. “We just worked on trying to be ready for the changing conditions”.

Even with several caution periods in the early going Kennington was able to assess the condition of the Castrol Dodge as being too loose. While he was able to run amongst the leaders, experience had taught him that an early pit stop for tires, fuel and a handling adjustment was necessary. “We didn’t have a winning car at that point, but we knew what changes to make” said Kennington.

The Castrol crew had a solid stop and returned DJ to the battle. “The car was much better after Dave Whyte and guys did their work” said the driver. “Now it was up to me.”

As pit stops for the rest of the competitors cycled through Kennington worked through the race traffic and had the Castrol Dodge up into third position just past the half-way point in the race. “We were in good shape, out strategy was really working and we were set to run the rest of the race”.

It was just after another caution period and green flag racing had resumed that DJ detected a problem with the Castrol Dodge. “I knew it right away, the handling wasn’t there and we had a right front tire going down”. After losing several positions Kennington was forced to make a green flag stop for a new tire.

“After we went down a lap it was all over” said the frustrated driver. “We just tried to do our best, but had to settle for a finish outside the top ten”.

Kennington and crew will now ready the Castrol Dodge for the next event at St. Eustache. “I’ve won at that track before” said DJ “hopefully we’ll have some luck on our side next week”.

You can watch DJ Kennington in all the CASCAR Super Series races on Rogers Sportsnet all season. Check your local listings for times in your area. To follow the CASCAR Super Series all year long check out http://www.cascar.ca/.