Full Race Report - Results Below

As the sun set over Peterborough Speedway it showed an all Whitlock front row, with the Avenue Motor Works / NMT Dodge of Dave Whitlock on the pole and track record holder and team-mate Mark Dilley in the NTN Dodge to his outside. Young Pete Shepherd (50) had a great qualifying run and lined up third, just ahead of defending champion Don Thompson in the #4 and points leader Pete Gibbons in the #1.

At the drop of the green flag, Dilley got a good jump and was able to bring his NTN to the bottom ahead of Whitlock where he would run for the next 75 laps. Anyone thinking Whitlock had let his team-mate in had to rethink it as Whitlock looked to Dilley's inside several times over the first 5 laps. Dilley was on a rail though and began to pull away to a 3 or 4 car length lead.

On lap 15 the #81 of Shawn McGlynn, who was very strong in the early going got into the #32 of Mike Alguire with both cars going around on the back straight. No caution flew and by the next circuit Dilley had caugth the back of the filed, putting the #86 of Kenny Forth down a lap only 18 laps into the race. Traffic would remain heavy for most of the night.

Dilley, Whitlock and Thompson made short work of the back markers, slicing through traffic and pulling away from Gibbons and Kerry Micks (02) who had moved to 5'th. Thompson was very fast and had a couple of opportunities to get his nose under Whitlock, but the cagey veteran from Petrolia was able to use lapped cars to his advantage and maintained 2'nd spot. With Thompson working Whitlock it slowed both drivers, allowing Dilley to pull away to as much as an 8 length lead and letting Gibbons close the gap in heavy traffic.

Jeff Lapcevich (23), who has pretty much completed the transition from 'former road racer' to 'short track driver' was off to a strong start from his 7'th place finish but dropped to the pits on lap 30 with a flat left front tire. As bad as that would have been on a track where 4 laps take less than a minute the hood went up while he was on pit road, effectively ending any shot he had at a decent finish. Things only went downhill from there and he finished 19'th.

By lap 40, Gibbons had faded to 5'th and Micks was all over the bumper of Don Thompson, trying to muscle his way to third. DJ Kennington (17) suddenly faded from his top spot and dropped to pits as well. As with Lapcevich, the hood went up and his night was pretty much over. Between attrition and the torrid pace that Dilley was setting up front there were only 13 cars on the lead lap by lap 53. Dilley was fast closing on crowd favourite and former Peterborough track champion Bryan Cathcart. Dilley would lap him on the 54'th circuit.

Lap 58 found Dilley closing fast on Ron Beauchamp Jr. (60) who was obviously driving hard to stay on the lead lap, with the back end hanging out off the turns. Dilley eventually got around but as Whitlock closed on Beauchamp's MOPAR Dodge on lap 63 it went around in the 3'rd turn. Whitlock missed, but the field bunched behind him and Forth and the #88 of Dave Jacombs spun as well. Jacombs would lose a lap, leaving only 11 cars on the lead lap.

No-one pitted from the lead lap. The restart had Cathcart on the inside of Dilley. He got a great jump and regained his lap. Whitlock nosed his Dodge under Dilley on lap 76 and went to the front for the next 70 circuits. Thompson followed him through and Dilley was dropped from the lead to third. Later, in victory lane, Dilley acknowledge that he had let team owner Whitlock take a turn at the front to gain the valuable bonus points for leading a lap. The caution flew on the next lap as Mark Swain (3) went hard into the wall in turn 4.

Gibbons took the opportunity to pit for left side tires, as did Brad Graham in the #19 and Cathcart. Cathcart's return to the lead lap was short-lived as he and Beauchamp were both black flagged for speeding on pit road when they pitted. Things did not get better for either driver as both were black flagged again for speeding on their stop and go pit stops. Neither would be a factor for the rest of the night although they finished in 11'th and 12'th, only 2 laps down.

When the green flew again on lap 87 Thompson had a look under Whitlock off of 2 but the Dodge was strong enough to outpull him down the back straight and by the time they got to 3'rd Whitlock was firmly in control. The caution flew again very quickly as Shepherd went around in 2. He spun all alone but was hit hard by McGlynn. John Fitzpatrick Jr. (84) had a problem under caution, apparently blowing his motor and putting oil down on the track through 1 & 2. The oil ignited under his hood and he came to a flaming stop along the back stretch wall. cont'd

Gibbons dropped to the pits for the first of several stops as his crew worked hard to fix an ailing race car. He restarted 10'th on lap 104 but would have to pit again under green almost immediately. Rejoining the field, he pulled right out in front of Whitlock, who visibly slowed to avoid slamming into him. In his desperate attempt to keep from losing yet another lap Gibbons had apparently sped on pit road and earned a black flag for his efforts. Amazingly, though he pitted twice under green and would again a few laps later, Gibbons passed the leaders only once and yet CASCAR had him scored on the lead lap at the end of the night. He was credited with a 5'th place finish.

The caution flew again on lap 110 when over half the field, including the hard charging Micks, spun in turn 3. Micks lost a lot of track positon and chose to pit. For the lap 115 restart the the top five were Whitlock, Thompson, Dilley, the #22 of Scott Steckly and Graham. Jim Lapcevich led Doug Brown (10), Ron VanEs (11) and Micks in 6'th through 9'th. Gibbons pitted again under green, as did Micks, who lost a lap.

Micks would pit again on the next caution, rejoining the field with fresh tires and cutting a path through the leaders. He tapped Whitlock on lap 129 and regained his lap, with Dilley dropping under Thompson at the same time to regain 2'nd. Ten laps later Cathcart and Jim Lapcevich got together on the back straight and spun in turn 3 giving Micks his free trip around to catch the end of the lead lap line on the restart. Steckly and Lapcevich pitted from the lead lap along with several cars that were a lap down or more.

As the cars circled under caution the track announcers noted that Gibbons, restarting at the front of the inside row was three laps down. With his fresher tires, he got the jump on Whitlock to regain one lap. Dilley took advantage of the opening and regained the lead, leaving Whitlock second. The pair continued to dominate and would finish the night in these positions. Jim Lapcevich was black flagged fell from the lead lap shortly after the restart.

Dilley, Whitlock, Thompson and Graham held the top 4 positions for the next 10 circuits while Micks moved to 5'th. Thompson looked to the inside of Whitlock off of 4 on lap 155, getting into the left rear quarter and loosening him up but Whitlock saved it and held the position. Dilley was pulling away when Graham spun the slower car of Alguire on lap 166 and the caution came out for 5'th time. Both cars drove away and there was no cleanup but it took until lap 175 for the race to be restarted. Graham would pit 3 laps later and fall from the lead lap. The caution flew for the last time on lap 181 for a big wreck in turn 1. Only VanEs of the lead lap cars was affected and he lost a lap. The track announcers had Gibbons in 12'th at this point, two laps down, and noted how Whitlock would be the points leader if the race had finished right then.

The green flew for the sprint to the finish on lap 187. While Micks worked hard on Thompson, the Whitlock Motorsports Dodges pulled away. Micks moved to 3'rd on lap 189 and Steckly ducked under Thompson for 4'th. The lapped car of Beauchamp Jr. remained between Micks and Whitlock but Micks moved to the high side and around him on 192, reaching Whitlocks bumper on lap 195. Unable to get under Whitlock, he tried the high side on lap 197 but did not have the tires or power to complete the pass. As the laps wound down, Whitlock caught Dilley in traffic but with his mirror full of Micks he had enough to do just maintaining 2'nd position. Micks made one last charge on the final lap, getting Whitlock so loose off of 4 that he crossed the line sideways for Whitlock Motorsports first 1-2 finish.

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After a spirited burnout in the front stretch grass an elated Dilley moved the NTN Dodge to victory circle where he credited both Whitlock Motorsports crews for preparing such great cars. "We kid around sometimes about whether I got the fast car, or the boss got the fast car but this just goes to show that it is all first class equipment. I was fastest in practice, and then Dave comes out and takes the pole. Dave led laps, I led laps... , it was just a real good night and it's great to finally win one here and get our first 1-2 finish."

Victory Circle - Click for larger image

Whitlock echoed those sentiments and added, "The timing of this is really special. Mark hasn't won since a few days before my dad passed away three years ago. (June 16, 2001) For Mark to win again and for us to finally get the 1-2 finish we have worked so hard toward for the past 6 years is really something. My Dad was so supportive and had so much to do with all of this, it's just really special.

The official finish had Dilley, Whitlock, Micks, Steckly and Gibbons in the top 5. With his third top 5 of the season, Whitlock trails Gibbons by only 7 points heading for the first road course race next weekend in Mosport. Dilley, with his dominating performance nearly doubled his point total and moved up 8 spots to 7'th in the chase. (Bart Garner, NTech)