May 27, 2007. Don Thomson Jr. and the entire Home Hardware team were excited to be part of the new NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) as action got underway at Cayuga Speedway with the inaugural 200 lap event. They were thrilled with the results afterwards.
Thomson and the Fitzpatrick Motorsports team were on their game right from the start of the days action and during practice The Home Hardware Chevrolet was among the fastest competitors. “We didn’t need to run a lot to know what we had” said Thomson. “This is a new car and we thought it would race well”. Thomson would display the speed of the Home Hardware car during qualifying with the fourth quickest lap.
As the green flag waved on a new era in Canadian motor sports Thomson and the Home Hardware Chevy made their presence felt right away, taking their first lead of the race on lap two. “I wasn’t trying to be aggressive but the spot was their so I took it” said Thomson. “We wanted to settle in and run a bit and see how things went, we just did that mostly from the front”.
As the laps ticked away and after several caution periods occurred the Home Hardware Team made their first pit stop for left side tires and adjustments. “The car was a little bit tight in the early going” said Crew Chief Sandy Hamilton. During another yellow flag period the team made a second stop for right side tires.
In the second half of the 200 lap feature Thomson and the Home Hardware Chevy would take the lead on four separate occasions waging some wonderful racing battles with the top competitors of the series. Thomson would take the lead on lap 187 looking to close out the victory. A significant incident taking some time to clean up resulted in a green, white, checkered finish. Thomson would hold off the competition on the two feverish laps and claim victory in the first ever NCATS race. “I just tried to be patient” said a very excited driver afterwards. And this time it really paid off.
During the off season the owner of Fitzpatrick Motorsports John Fitzpatrick was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. He is continuing his recovery at home and his message to his team prior to this race was to go out and win and bring the trophy and and the money home. “We absolutely did that” said Thomson after the race dedicating the victory to their team owner. “This one if for him, he means so much to all of us”.
The next event of the NASCAR Canadian Tire series will take place at Mosport International Raceway in mid June. The NCATS will run a twelve event schedule on ovals, road courses and temporary street circuits across Canada. Each of the twelve races will also be broadcast on TSN. For information about the NCATS including schedule, results and more, log onto http://www.nascarlocalracing.com/
Prepared by Todd Lewis, TL Sports & Entertainment
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