Roger James picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series career in Monday's Velocity Prairie Thunder at the Auto Clearing Motor Speedway when his #29 La Cite De Mirabel Inc. Dodge fell out with camshaft problems after completing 19 of the 30 laps.
The finish, which came in his 6th career series start, was his first on the circuit since the Jiffy Lube 100 Presented by Snap-On at Circuit ICAR where he completed all 6 laps under power; 2 races ago. In the SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series, it's the 2nd for car #29 and the 2nd for camshaft issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 5th for the #29 and the 40th for gearbox issues.
After trailing the field for the first time in not only his Canadian Series career but SCRL career, James was determined to find redemption in the next round at Motoplex, but he would once again struggle on the short tracks, starting 19th and finishing 14th.
The entry list for the fourth time this season would be 20 as only the full time drivers would be competing with the part-time drivers not scheduled to return until Trois-Rivieres in two races.
In qualifying, rookie Boston Jones scored his first career pole, posting a time of 15.041 seconds. James would struggle in qualifying around the 0.333 mile short track, posting a time of 15.224, 0.183 seconds off Jones's time, it would place James 14th on the grid. Starting last in the race was CTMP Oval last-place finisher the #52 Best Buy Pieces d'Auto Dodge of Noelle Holiday, who posted the slowest time of 15.298, 0.257 seconds behind Jones's pole winning time.
When Sunday's race started, one driver would forfeit his original starting spot and pulled to the rear of the field on the pace lap, that being the #14 Steel-Craft Door Products Chevrolet of Brian Fox, who had qualified 13th, due to unapproved adjustments.
When the green flag waved, Fox would trail the field for the first lap but it didn't take long for the battle for last to heat up as coming out of Turn 4, the #5 EMCO / Rheem Dodge of Sebastian Torres, who was running in the 18th spot, was spun out after making contact with the #7 National Exhaust / Diamond Material Handling Dodge of Killian Breen, bringing out the first caution of the day. Torres would trail in the final spot as the field went back racing and held that spot until Lap 8 when the #67 LubeSource / Thorsons EVT Chevrolet of Samet Ozkan was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire. Ozkan would remain in the final spot, remaining on the tail end of the lead lap for the next eleven laps until the battle for last came to an end.
At this point in the race, James had worked his way up inside the Top 10 and was running 9th when exiting off Turn 4, his car began to smoke. James would pull to the inside of the track and limped across the start/finish line to compete Lap 19 before stalling just before Turn 1, bringing out the race's second and final caution. James's car would be towed to the garage, taking over the final spot on Lap 20 and would be listed as "out" by Lap 23, the camshaft broken in his car.
Finishing 19th was the #9 Fielding Estate Winery Ford of Ignazio Alberti, who had also pitted earlier in the race with Ozkan, would actually lose a lap during the final laps and was the only other driver to not finish on the lead lap.
The remaining Bottom Five were: 18th was the aforementioned #14 of Brian Fox, 17th was the #52 of Noelle Holiday and 16th was the #51 Prairie Dodge Dealers Dodge of Nick Kennedy.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #29 has finished last in a SCRL Tim Hortons Candian Series at Auto Clearing.
*This is the first time a driver has trailed due to "camshaft" issues since the Season 1 Keystone Light 200 at the Delaware Speedway when Nitahbk's #48 Mid West Combustion Chevrolet fell out with camshaft problems without completing any of the 30 laps; 27 races ago.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #29-Roger James / 19 laps / camshaft
19) #9-Ignazio Alberti / 29 laps / running
18) #14-Brian Fox / 30 laps / running
17) #52-Noelle Holiday / 30 laps / running
16) #51-Nick Kennedy / 30 laps / running
No comments:
Post a Comment