May 22, 2005, Delaware Speedway, London, ON 

R after the hometown denotes Rookie contender.

TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 55 minutes and 41.247 seconds
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.013 seconds
CAUTIONS: 7 for a total of 54 laps
LAP LEADERS:
#4 Don Thomson Jr. (Pole-15)
#02 Kerry Micks (16-38)
#39 Dave Whitlock (39-143)
#60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (144-250)

UNOFFICIAL POINT STANDINGS (TOP 15):

1. #1 Peter Gibbons (167);
2. #23 Jeff Lapcevich (156)
2. #39 Dave Whitlock (156);
4. #22 Scott Steckly (152);
5. #4 Don Thomson (149);
6. #60 Ron Beauchamp Jr. (148);
7. #17 DJ Kennington (145);
8. #77 Pete Vanderwyst (138);
9. #64 Mark Dilley (136);
10. #33 Neil Fair (132);
11. #84 J.R. Fitzpatrick (130);
12. #19 Brad Graham (128);
13. #52 Ron Sheridan (126);
14. #28 Steve Robblee (126);
15. #76 Jason Hathaway (124).

Race Statistics - Credit Greg MacPherson, Inside Track Communications

Beauchamp Jr. Charges to Victory Ahead of Whitlock Dodges

Under threatening skies the CASCAR Super Series competitors took to the track for the 12'th Annual running of the MOPAR 250 at Delaware Speedway Park. Four time and reigning Series Champion Don Thompson Jr. put his Home Hardware Chevrolet on the pole, edging out Dave Whitlock's Avenue Motor Works/NMT Dodge by a scant 13 thousandths of a second. The top 5 were within 6/100'ths.

As the field rolled away from pit road, the MOPAR Dodge Charger of Ron Beauchamp Jr. (60) fell to the rear of the field as a result of being found too low on the front end after his qualifying run. When the green dropped, Whitlock went deep into 1 trying to get around Thompson for the early lead but backed off and tucked in line to protect second before Kerry Micks (02) edged underneath. Micks would not be denied however and moved Whitlock high to take second spot by the 3'rd circuit. The first caution flew early when Chad McGlynn (18) and Marv Wilder (44) got together in the 4'th turn.

At the restart on lap 10, the 14 car of John Fitzpatrick, who qualified 4'th pushed high in turn 1 allowing Peter Gibbons (1), Pete Shepherd Jr. (50), Dilley and DJ Kennington (17) in the Castrol Dodge Charger by. Meanwhile, the top 3 pulled way with Micks pushing hard on leader Thompson. Micks got hard into Thompson's rear bumper in turn 3 of lap 14, forcing the leader high and slipping past. Whitlock capitalized and moved back to second.

Beauchamp was fast out of the gate and was charging through the field on his way to the front. Forced 3 wide down the backstraight on lap 23, Beauchamp made it work but as cars checked up behind him the inevitable chain reaction wreck happened coming off of 4 when Joe Goncalves went around. Stu Robinson (3) got his Snap On Tools Dodge Charger stopped without contact but was hit hard in the rear end by Ron Van Es (11), lifting the car off the ground.

None of the front runners pitted, but several struggling teams headed for pit road. Tara MacLeod (37) in what was likely her first ever competition pit stop made an unfortunate mistake on pit road when she turned into the 42 of Sean Stafford who was exiting his pit. It took several laps to separate the 11 and 3 cars and when the restart came on lap 31 the early attrition and fast pace of the leaders left only 25 cars on the lead lap.

Whitlock took command of the race in convincing style, coming strong off turn 4 and powering under Kerry Micks as they crossed the line for lap 38, Thompson followed the Avenue / NMT Dodge through the hole moving Micks back to 4'th.  Within 5 laps Whitlock and Thompson had pulled away to a sizeable lead. Dilley had been methodically working his way to the front, driving around Shepherd for 5'th on lap 56 but Beauchamp was the real hard charger of the race, having passed 19 cars to move into 11'th by lap 62.

Micks headed for the pits on lap 67 with no oil pressure losing several laps and removing himself from contention. Kennington was the next victim of mechanical gremlins slowing on lap 75, the victim of a burnt plug wire. With Whitlock's torrid pace up front only 16 cars remained on the lead lap by lap 80 when Wilder spun right in front of the leaders bringing out the caution again. Fitzpatrick Sr., Ken Forth (86), Dave Jacombs (88), Steve Robblee (28), and the Lapcevich brothers (23 & 25) all pitted for right side tires. Shepherd initially stayed out but was forced to pit on the following lap with a flat right rear tire.

Action resumed on lap 88 with Thompson pressing Whitlock for the lead but Beauchamp had now moved to 6'th. The caution flew again on lap 102 when Jim Lapcevich spun on the front straight.  Thompson, Gibbons, Dilley and Beauchamp and Ron Sheridan (52) all pitted for right side tires. Dilley whose Dodge Power Water Charger pit crew is among the fastest in CASCAR won the race off pit road and restarted in 5'th, leaving Whitlock with only 4 cars between himself on his old tires and the fast guys who now had fresh rights.

Roblee, who had pitted earlier charged past JR Fitzpatrick on the restart and set his sites on Whitlock but the perennial Delaware track champion and part time Super Series competitor had nothing for the Avenue / NMT Dodge and could not get around on either the bottom or top. Dilley meanwhile had moved to 3'rd around the super sophomores JR Fitzpatrick and Shepherd. Whitlock began to move out to a sizeable lead but everyone was beginning to wonder if luck would run out for the 3 time Champion who calls Delaware his home track. The car was obviously still strong even on old tires, but how long could they last? Whitlock needed a caution badly but the field had thinned and the race had settled into a good rhythm at this point. A yellow did not seem imminent. In a prelude to the strong MOPAR finish, there were now 4 Dodges in the top 5.

By Lap 133 Ron Beauchamps charge to the front was nearly complete. He had passed the entire field, some of them more than once and the only man he had not passed was directly ahead. Whitlock, with his old tires was a sitting duck and 11 laps later finally slid high off of turn 4 allowing the MOPAR Dodge Charger to slide through, taking Shepherd with him. Beauchamp, who had not won since back to back wins in in 1998 when he claimed the Eastern Series crown, simply checked out once he had the lead. Whitlock fell to the intense pressure of Thompson and Dilley but stayed in the top 5, moving back to 4'th when Shepherd fell form the race on lap 167 with a blown engine. The caution that Whitlock so desperately needed finally flew on lap 172, again for a spin by Marv Wilder. In a heads up move, Gibbons took to pit road to miss the spinning 44 car, Jeff Lapcevich looked like he was going to miss the wreck but got collected, tearing the front end up but not suffering any serious damage.

Thompson, Dilley and Whitlock all pitted as did JR Fitzpatrick, Jeff Lapcevich, Sheridan, Roblee and Gibbons. Whitock took two right side tires. Dilley and Thompson got right rears only. Gibbons crew intended to change the right rear but the left rear was going flat so they changed it instead. Fitzpatrick Sr. and Jacombs pitted on the following lap. When the green flew again on lap 178 Dilley, whose crew was again the fastest on pit road, was 3'rd and Whitlock was 6'th. Beauchamp had stayed out and maintained the lead over Jim Lapcevich.

Beauchamp simply drove away from the field. The top 5 moved away from the lapped traffic but Whitlock did not appear to be coming up to speed and remained mired in traffic. Ron Sheridan, who always runs well at Delaware was all over the Avenue / NMT Dodge. Dilley slipped by the 25 of Lapcevich for second on lap 185. The caution flew for the 6'th time on lap 187 when Stafford, Mark Swain (20) and Forth got together on the back straight. Whitlock again dove for the pits as did Gibbons and the Lapcevich brothers. Whitlock and the Lapceviches each took left rears and Gibbons finally got his right rear. Whitlock now had the freshest tires in the field and 60 laps to get it done. As the fans have come to expect, the Whitlock crew got their driver off pit road first and Whitlock restarted in 8'th place. No-one ahead of him had better rubber when the green flew on lap 194.

Within 20 laps, Whitlock was back in the top 5, moving under Sheridan going into turn one on lap 209 and clearing him on the back straight. He was 12 car lengths behind the 84 of JR Fitzpatrick. By lap 214 the difference was down to 6 lengths and by lap 216 he was there. Again the Avenue / NMT Dodge moved to the bottom and powered past. When Whitlock cleared Fitzpatrick he was a mere 2.5 seconds from a podium finish and closing on the lead. By lap 230 he trailed Thomson by only 5 car lengths and word had come to the Whitlock team that Thompson was going to let him by when he got there. He was closing fast when Roblee went around in turn 3 and smacked the wall, losing a lap, falling from the top 10 and bringing out the days final caution.

The green flew again on lap 237. Whitlock drove around the outside of Thompson on lap 238 and closed on team-mate Dilley for second place. Dilley, whose tires were beginning to drop off slipped in turn 2 on lap 240 allowing Whitlock past but he managed to get down before Thompson could press the issue and also slip by. Whitlock was clearly the fastest car on the track and the gap to Beauchamp was narrowing but the real action now was the fight for 3'rd place. Thompson, while he could not run with Whitlock and Beauchamp, was more than a match for Dilley's Dodge. He tried high and low, applying a bit of chrome horn in the bargain but could not rattle the Barrie veteran who will hold on like a bulldog on a bone in the late going of every event. The Dodge Power Water Charger was sideways several times over the last 10 laps but Thompson could not get through. Kudos to Thompson for racing fair and not wrecking Dilley, it was the only way he was going to get around and would have been too easy.

With 5 to go it was clear that Whitlock did not have time to catch Beauchamp who cruised to victory in a story book ending for Dodge's new Charger in a MOPAR sponsored race. Dilley maintained 3'rd, with Thompson fourth and JR Fitzpatrick an impressive 5'th. Bart Garner, NTech