WHITLOCK GETS IT DONE AT CAYUGA

Courtesy Linda Jones

Hamilton, ON, Monday Sept. 4, 2006: Dave Whitlock driver of the #39 NTN Bower/Griddly Headz/Nitrex Metal Technologies Dodge Charger, got it done Sunday night at Cayuga and captured his second checkered flag in three events after a long two year drought from the winners circle. "We weren't going to wait another two years," stated three time National Champion Dave Whitlock after the event. "We had a bit of a dry spell but our new car Wiley has two wins in three starts."

Saturday's practice, time trials and fifty lap qualifiers were rained out as Ernesto made himself felt in southern Ontario. The schedule for Sunday would see all events from both days being incorporated into one day. Whitlock practiced the #39 Dodge in the top five and then went on to time trial fifth quickest out of twenty seven competitors. This lined up the NTN/Griddly Headz/NMT Charger third in the first fifty lap qualifier. "The car was tight during the fifty but we found out the stagger closed up on us," said Whitlock. They held on for a second place finish which lined them up third on the grid for the Hot Head Henry 200 powered by Griddly Headz later that evening.

The 200 lap main event saw Whitlock quickly settle into the third position.behind leader #1 Peter Gibbons and second place #84 J.R. Fitzpatrick. They remained in that order until pit stops on lap 104. The #39 headed to the pits for two tires and fuel beating former leader Gibbons out of the pits to line up for the restart in seventh. It wasn't long until Whitlock was back into the top five and then he just continued picking them off one by one. He followed then leader #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. in the Mopar Dodge for several laps and when Beauchamp slipped up in turn one Whitlock dove underneath him to take the lead on lap 143. The two of them dueled for the remaining 57 laps but Whitlock was up to the challenge and he brought the NTN-Bower/Griddly Headz/NMT Charger home for the win. "It was really neat tonight winning here," said Whitlock. "Our sponsors NTN, Griddly Headz and NMT were all here with staff and customers and Griddly Headz sponsored the race event so that all made it extra special. There were also three Dodge Chargers on the podium so we couldn't have asked for anything more."

Finish: 1. #39 Dave Whitlock 2. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. 3. #9 Mark Dilley 4. #1 Peter Gibbons 5. #3 Jason Hathaway 6. #88 Patrick Carpentier.

The points chase has tightened up considerably with seventy-six points between first and fifth. Dave Whitlock moved up two positions to third just one marker behind second place Kerry Micks and forty-five points behind leader J.R. Fitzpatrick. Four time CASCAR champion #4 Don Thomson Jr. currently sits fourth with #22 Scott Steckly is shown in fifth.

Cayuga Speedway Park has undergone some big changes with the new ownership group working to make the facility fan friendly. There were lots of new seats in the grandstand area, camping was very popular and the band shell was busy every night with music and entertainment. A big thank you to everyone at Cayuga Speedway Park for a job well done.

The CASCAR Super Series teams move on to race event number ten of their eleven race schedule next weekend just outside of Montreal at Autodrome St. Eustache. Gates open at 2:30 and racing action will follow.

In other team news, the #39 team also fielded a Sportsman car in the 100 lap Texaco Havoline event on Sunday afternoon (car #9). They were shown at the top of the charts after practice and put down the second quickest time trial time, however early in the 100 lap event the motor expired with Whitlock running in second chasing eventual winner Shawn McGlynn.