NCATS: Doug Brown scores another top 10, at St-Eustache

BRANTFORD, ON - Doug Brown continued his rise in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series points’ standings Saturday night at Autodrome St Eustache recording his third straight top-ten finish of the season, this one coming at the flat 4/10th-mile oval north of Montreal.

The driver of the Haldex Dodge has now risen to 10th-place in the national standings of the NASCAR –sanctioned, Canadian Tire- sponsored series for late model stock cars following a disappointing DNF in the season opener at Cayuga Speedway back on May 24th.

Saturday’s results came after overcoming some pre-race ignition problems and a mid-race pit road penalty (for pitting outside his pit stall box) during a caution flag break that twice forced the veteran competitor to come from the back of the 24-car field.

“We sure had some anxious moments out there tonight”, Brown recounted in recapping the results.

“We couldn’t get the car to fire up for our time trial but thankfully HB (Doug’s dad Harold) was able to put a quick fix on a broken ignition wire. We qualified 14th but had to replace the starter before the race and were forced to start scratch.”

Despite the disadvantage of starting last on the tight track, Doug wasted little time in forging his was through the field and had worked his way into the top-ten by lap 20.

“Yeah, the car was really handling well right from the outset but we got hit with that pit road infraction that put us one lap down to the leaders” he added. “But we caught a break later in the race when we were in the right position before another caution flag to get NASCAR’s “luck dog” award that put us back on the same lap as the leaders.”

“We just ran out of laps to gain a better finish.”

Unlike last season when lady luck was nowhere to be found, the last three weeks have been different for the Brantford-based team.

This season it’s been some of the early season leaders who have be fraught with problems aiding in Brown’s ascent up the standings.

“We’ll take whatever comes our way but we’re determined more than ever to provide the exposure and results our sponsor deserves, especially Haldex who continue to support us in a big way”, the appreciative driver commented.

Milverton’s Scott Steckly continued his torrid pace atop the standings with his third victory of the season. He inherited the lead with the laps winding down when Don Thomson Jr’s car stalled with electrical problems. DJ Kennington of St. Thomas chased Steckly to the checkered flag with Kerry Micks of Mount Albert taking third place in the 250-lap event.

Prepared by:  Ken Spencer  // Marketing and Media Relations  HB Motorsports