Fitzpatrick Finishes Eighth at Cayuga – Point Leader Into Ste. Eustache

Courtesy Maudsley Motorsports

(Nelles Corner, Ontario) – J.R. Fitzpatrick and his Milwaukee Tools Electric Tools Chevrolet Monte Carlo returned to his home track last weekend, Cayuga Speedway, for the Hot Head Henry 200 at the 5/8th-mile track. Fitzpatrick entered the weekend as the points leader in the 2006 CASCAR Super Series championship, with an 11-point advantage over Kerry Micks. Following an all-day rain on Saturday, the entire program would be run on Sunday.

The day started with practice, and Fitzpatrick was able to turn one of the fastest times of the session, giving the entire crew a morale victory following a finish outside the top-five in Montreal the weekend before. “Our car was awesome right off the trailer. We came with a great setup and the car has run in the top-three every race this season, so I think we’re ready for anything today.”

Next up was the race against the clock in time trials and while Peter Gibbons was setting the fastest time with a lap of 21.024 seconds, J.R. was second, at a 21.135 second lap. The pair were well over a tenth of a second faster than the third-place car. “Peter is fast. We have a great car too, and I think it’s going to be good for the long haul, but Peter is just fast.”

Fitzpatrick would start on the pole for his 50-lap qualifying event, and it was all J.R. Ron Beauchamp Jr. would start on the outside of the front row, but Fitzpatrick was able to walk away from him, winning the race handily, and extending his point lead in the championship heading to the 200-lap feature. “I knew after we got rolling that this was the best car we’ve ever had at Cayuga. I just go out front and fell into a race pace.”

As the sun dipped behind the grandstand, J.R. and pole sitter Gibbons brought the field to the green flag. Fitzpatrick tried to hang tough on the outside and challenge the two-time National champion, but was slowed by a number of early yellows. On one of the restarts, he was able to get to the outside of Gibbons, but couldn’t pull off the pass. “Our strategy tonight was to ride it out. I took a couple of shots at Peter to see if I could lead a lap and get some bonus points, but I was content to make some laps, wait for my pit crew to have a fast stop, and then see if we could be in contention to win at the end.”

Fitzpatrick would take the lead from Peter Gibbons on lap 104 while a number of the leaders made pit stops. The crew was able to make another brilliant stop, getting J.R. out first among all the lead lap cars that pitted, and third overall, behind leader Ron Beauchamp Jr., and Micks. J.R. got past Micks early in the run and was using his fresh tires to put pressure on Beauchamp when the car lost horsepower. He dropped back to fifth almost immediately, and struggled for the rest of the night. “We broke a rocker stud and had to run the rest of the race on seven cylinders, and hope it held together. We were still getting through the corners fine, we just didn’t have any power.”

J.R. fought off a number of challenges during the second half of the race, trying to survive and salvage as many points as he could. He was still fifth with 50 laps to go, but would be shuffled back to ninth during the next 49 laps until a final lap spin by the third-place car allowed J.R. to move back up to an eighth-place result. “Our night was going awesome until that happened to the motor, and we were looking at having a great shot at the win. Luckily, most of the guys around us in points had a tough time and we didn’t get hurt in the standings.”

David Whitlock wrestled the lead away from Beauchamp on lap 143 and was able to hold off Ron for his second consecutive oval track victory. Don Thomson Jr. and Brad Graham made contact in turn three on the final lap, allowing Mark Dilley to claim third.