Shaw Motorsports: Delaware Partsource 141 report

GUELPH, ON - The threat of rain was in the air as the Shaw Motorsports crew headed west to the Delaware Speedway for the Partsource 141, Canada Day Special. The Barking Fish decal was freshly mounted on the car in honor of the busload of Shaw fans that made the trip as patrons of the popular Café located in the Hespeler section of Cambridge.

For the first practice, the #82 Barking Fish Ford was bad, bad loose according to the driver so the crew put a spring rubber in the right front and put on 4 new tires to scuff for the feature. Although the car was handling better, Jason pulled off early as he felt something very strange with the brake pedal. The crew quickly looked over the brakes and decided that it may have been some air in the lines so they bled them, changed a shock and put the old tires back on for the final practice. Jason said the car started off feeling real good but the more laps he ran, it was loose coming out of the corners. Another shock change was made and the #82 lined up 15th for the time trials to set the starting positions.

The #82 National Fire Equipment Ford qualified 10th  for the 141 lap feature. Caution laps were to count in the total and a competition caution was scheduled between lap 65 and 70. The crews would have 5 minutes to change 2 tires, add fuel and make any adjustments that they could fit into the time slot. Jason started on the outside of the #48 and on the second lap was given the all clear to drop down in front of him in 9th.

The first 10 laps ran smooth with Jason finding a momentum and position that would carry him near the front for the first segment. A car spun on its own to bring out the first caution and the front 10 cars remained the same except for the #5 and #7 who swapped positions. Jason said the car felt pretty good and that he was just taking it easy trying to stay out of trouble and save the tires. The #77 took the restart followed by the #20, 52, 10, 38, 28, 7, 5 and #82.

The front of the field remained unchanged until lap 40 when the #38 of Kirk Hooker got around the #10 for 4th. The field had to deal with lots of lapped traffic on lap 50, however the order stayed the same until lap 60 when the #28 got past the #38 were they would run until the competition yellow came out on lap 69. Jason brought the car down pit road where the crew sprung into action to change two right side tires and fill the car full of fuel.

The driver had a drink and was generally happy with the handling of the car despite having a little push going in and being a little loose coming off the corners. It was decided to make no changes and Jason lined up the Del Metals Fusion for the final 72 laps. Jason got off to a good start as he passed the #5 and then the #20 before the caution that came out for the #7 who got squirly after the #10 got into the back of him at the start / finish line, however despite the #7 making contact with the inside wall, he was given his position back as officials claimed he maintained his momentum and based on the cautions count format they would restart from where they were positioned.

On the following laps, the #20 had to drop out of the top 10 to enter the pits for a fuel leak, putting Jason up to 7th behind the #77, 52, 28, 7, 38 and 10. On lap 100, Jason had the #36 of Gary Elliot on his tail as he had 20 car lengths ahead of him to the pack of leaders. The #48 got past the #36 who now followed the #82 well behind the leaders. As the #48 passed Jason to put him into 8th, the #77 who had been leading the entire race, brushed the wall at the starters stand and pulled off the track to surrender the lead to the #52 and put Jason back into 7th.

With 31 laps to go, the car was getting very loose and the #42 and #5 took advantage of the ill handling #82 by passing him and putting Jason back to 9th. Despite gaining on the #5 ahead of him and putting some space between himself and the #36 who was on his tail, the #27 came from behind and passed the #82 on lap 123 putting Jason back to 10th. Positions remained the same for the final 18 laps that had the #52 take the win followed by the #28, 10, 38 and 48 to round out the top 5 and the #82 would finish 10th.

Next up for the Shaw Team, is a return trip to Flamboro Speedway on Saturday June 28th to hopefully maintain their points lead at the 1/3 point in the season. Pit gates are to open at 3:00pm, the main gates at 5:00 and racing is scheduled to begin at 6:00.

From Ken Spira // Spira Fire Protection Ltd.