FLAMBORO, ON- Home-track standout Dale Shaw utilized a crossover pass of race leader Jamie Cox with less than 20-laps remaining in Saturday’s APC United Late Model Series presented by Grisdale Racing Products-sanctioned Meineke 100 for his first career victory on the upstart tour.
“This is a huge win for us,” beamed Shaw in victory lane. “I’m just happy that we all get to celebrate as a team. This gives us a boost of confidence heading into [Round 3 at] Delaware in a few weeks”
The third-generation competitor started in the 8th position after the post-qualifying redraw, and wasted little time advancing through the field – breaching the top-3 before the halfway mark.
“Honestly, no,” replied Shaw when asked if his strategy was to push the pace from the early going. “I just knew that we had a car good enough to save our stuff and move forward at the same time”
“My Dad made a great call with the brake bias around lap-50 that may have made all the difference,” added Shaw.
After hounding race leader Cox for the bulk of the event’s second-half, Shaw made his play for the lead with a beautiful maneuver with less than 20-laps remaining.
Once clear, the 2014 Flamboro Speedway champion began to pull away, remaining unchallenged through the final 15-laps.
“We had a car that was just good enough off the corner to get by Jamie [Cox] at the end,” explained Shaw.
“We came out here testing last Tuesday and found the right balance that we needed – it’s pretty similar to what we’ve used in Grisdale Triple Crown races and other big events at Flamboro in the past”
On the topic of home track advantage, Shaw remarked, “That’s what makes this series so cool. Trying to beat the home track guys on their turf. It was us tonight, but it’ll be guys like [Matt] Pritiko when we go to Delaware next. Or guys like [Dan] McHattie at Peterborough, or [Jason] Parker at Sauble. It’s all part of the challenge.”
With a second-straight runner-up finish to his name, former Delaware Speedway champion ‘Quiet Storm’ Jamie Cox left Flamboro with the series points lead – but insisted that his team’s goal remained capturing a tour event before the end of the season.
“We’re going to win one of these,” smiled Cox post-race. “We had a strong car. I knew, based on the last few races that it wasn’t going to fall off”
“I tried to save some for the end,” continued the veteran. “I thought I saved enough, but we just got a little tight and Dale was able to get past us”
With Delaware Speedway hosting Round 3 of the tour, the Dorchester, ON exuded confidence when asked about his turn at enjoying a home track advantage.
“The nice thing about Delaware is that I know the track well enough – all we’ll have to do is get the car tuned,” said Cox. “When we go to each event on this tour, there seems to be 3 or 4 guys with a bit of a home track advantage. Hopefully, at Delaware, we have that”
“I want to win as many races as we can – but I’d love to win this championship,” admitted ‘Quiet Storm’ when asked about his current points lead.
“Look at the talent on this tour,” continued the former Delaware titlist panning his arms around the pit area. “If you can run at the front with these guys – you know that you’ve accomplished something.”
After struggling with engine woes in the season opener at Sunset Speedway, championship-hopeful Brandon Watson earned a 3rd place finish in his first start at Flamboro since 2013.
“It’s always good to have a bounce back race after some mechanical problems,” mused Watson post-race. “It’s been a little while since we’ve been to Flamboro, but it was good to know that we can still find our way around here”
“We had a great car tonight,” continued Watson. “We just had a few restarts that didn’t go our way and we ended up stuck on the outside and headed in the wrong direction. That made things a little difficult, but we battled through it and raced our way back to the podium.”
The tour will next head to Delaware Speedway on June 26th for Round 3 of 8. Details, including gate times and ticket prices, can be found at www.DelawareSpeedway.com.
To learn more about the APC United Late Model Series presented by Grisdale Racing Products visit www.APCRacingSeries.com or follow us on Twitter @UnitedLMSeries.
1. #83 Dale Shaw 2. #22 Jamie Cox 3. #9 Brandon Watson 4. #8 Jason Parker 5. #89c Shawn Chenoweth 6. #27 Mat Box 7. #21 Matt Pritiko 8. #86 Billy Schwartzenburg 9. #2 Rick Burbridge 10. #Josh Stade 11. #44 Steve Laking 12. #22M Chris Mitchell 13. #48 Dwayne Baker 14. #15 Matt Lockwood 15. #31 Shaun McWhirter 16. #54 Kevin Allen 17. #24 Nick Goetz 18. #99 Linc Brown 19. #81 Andrew Gresel 20. #26 Terry Baker 21. #23 Shawn McGlynn 22. #51 Mike Bentley 23. #97 Trevor Collver 24. #71 Dan McHattie 25. #3 Mark Watson 26. #87 Willie Reyns
With files from Spencer Lewis
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