DELAWARE, ON – Hometown favourite Jason Hathaway, in his #3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge returned to his home track of Delaware Speedway on Saturday with a podium finish in mind and he didn’t disappoint his fans or his team. Hailing from southwestern Ontario, Hathaway made his mark on the racing scene running street stock all the way up to late model. His experience at this track and feel helped him practice near the top of the speed chart on Saturday afternoon. A twitchy racecar after a delay in the qualifying process landed Hathaway 10th in the starting line-up for the EMCO 200.
Hathaway wasn’t discouraged by their starting spot. “The car was off in qualifying, but that is okay, we have 200 laps and the car will be good once we start racing.” Starting 10th, Hathaway went straight to work with the wave of the green flag. Hathaway came in on lap 56 for fuel and to repair some front end damage to the car that happened when passing a lapped car and set his sight back on the leaders. By the half-way point Hathaway was 5th. On lap 150 Hathaway came in for right side tires and a chassis adjustment to free his racing machine up and raced his way up into 4th. In a strange turn of events the power on the front straight went out and the race was red flagged. When the lights came back on Hathaway showed his talent and the crowd saw some great side by side racing that earned Hathaway the 3rd spot with 40 laps to go. He held off some great challenges and posted his first podium of the 2012 season in his #3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge.
“We had a great night tonight and this team is building momentum for the Western swing coming up! It feels good to be running up front at Delaware in front of friends, family and my sponsors. The guys were strong on pit road and the crew did great job getting the hood off the racecar when we came in for fuel,” Hathaway said, post-race in Victory Lane. “We love coming back here and running like we did tonight. Thanks to all the fans for sticking around to watch a heck of a finish after the power went out at the track tonight.”
Hathaway’s 3rd place helped to propel the team up to 6th in the new point standings with four races out of twelve complete. The team will make their annual trek to the western part of Canada in few weeks’ time racing at Motorplex near Vernon, BC on July 14, Edmonton Indy on July 22 and Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon on July 25.
The EMCO 200 will air on TSN on July 8 at 3 p.m. EST. Fans came follow the team on Twitter @ehrt3r and @jasonhathaway3 and on Facebook:team3red.edhakonsonracing.
Ed Hakonson Racing is proud to be partnered with Snap-on Tools, Rockstar Energy Drinks, Vortex Brake Pads, Napoleon Grills, Castrol, Fast Eddie Racewear, Choko Motorsports, Praxair, Cathcart Trucking and King Brewery.
From Jamie Hakonson/EHR
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