Dorchester, ON) – Since opening the season with a pair of wins, Jamie Cox and the RCR Racing Team have had some mixed results, but have still managed to keep their London City Chrysler / APC / Total Lubricants Dodge Charger on top of the FT Garage Delaware Late Model Championship Chase as the season works through the second half of the schedule.
June 7 started with practice and Cox was the fourth fastest car before gridding for his heat race. He ran fifth in the early going before restarting third following an incident in front of him late in the event. He quickly blasted to the front on the restart and posted the heat race win.
He said, “It’s always nice to get a heat race win, and the format has been good and bad for us this year. We’ve done well in our heat races, but Matt Pritiko has won a bunch of them. I’m up points over a lot of guys, but he’s the one that is second in points.”
In the feature, Cox rolled off 11th, and by the halfway point, he had climbed his way to sixth-position. He cracked the top-five on lap 22, and picked up two more positions during a lap 24 scramble, trailing only Jay Doerr and Adam Quarrie. Cox worked Quarrie over, finally getting past on lap 27, but despite the pressure that he was able to apply to Doerr, was unable to find a way past. He still recorded a solid second-place finish, as Doerr recorded the win, and Quarrie would up third.
“We were all over Jay late in the race, but I couldn’t get him clean. That was a good points night for our team.”
1. Doerr, 2. Jamie Cox, 3. Quarrie, 4. Shawn Thompson, 5. Stephen Richmond.
The following Friday night it was back to Delaware for another round of the championship, and throughout practice and heat race competition, Cox was again able to show the strength of his Charger, as he was among a tight group of other contenders that looked fast enough to win, including Pritiko and Doerr, as the three finished their heat race in that order, with Cox third-place finish after starting fifth.
The main event closed off the night and Cox rolled from 10th in the feature, climbing to sixth when the 13th lap was flashed on the scoreboard. He continued to race forward, moving to fifth on lap 25, and moved past Mat Box into third on lap 28. He was trailing Pritiko and Doerr, and despite an opportunity late in the event, settled for another solid third-place finish.
“Matt and I have been one-two all season, but I’ve had a few better runs, so while we’re both able to come through the field together, he has started in front of me in a lot of heats and features, and tonight was one of those nights. We’re excited to be leading the points, and have to keep it rolling.”
1. Pritiko, 2. Doerr, 3. Jamie Cox, 4. Mat Box, 5. Stewart.
The RCR Team were also in action at Flamboro Speedway for the first time on Saturday July 6th for the second round of the Grisdale Late Model Tournament. Cox finished ninth in his first heat race, but broke a motor 50 laps into the feature to record a DNF. Cox finished 14th in an event won by Paul Howse – Shawn Chenoweth and Jason Shaw completed the podium.
With the traditional Canada Day 100 rained out, Delaware Speedway elected to change the format of the July 12th event to a 75-lapper complete with time trials. The white #22 was fast out of the box, turning the second fastest lap in practice, before preparing for time trials. In the race against the clock, Cox was third fastest, a position that would put him 10th on the grid for the feature following the inversion.
After rolling off 10th, the night took a turn for the worse early on as a multi-car pileup occurred in turn three on lap two, and Cox was collected. He would bring his car to pit road a number of times and the crew tried to get the front suspension straightened out. He said, “We brought the tierods in as much as we could, and we were still toed in ¾ of an inch. It was evil after that.”
After restarting 15th Cox marched back into the top-ten and on lap 13 had pulled to Adam Quarrie’s bumper running in eighth. One car pulled off with issues, moving Jamie to seventh, and he was able to pass Doug Stewart for sixth, while Quarrie got Stephen Richmond for fifth. For the final 49 laps of the season Cox spent them looking at the back of Richmond’s car, while never being able to mount a serious charge. He still managed a sixth-place finish, but was disappointed with the result.
He talked about the rough night at the track, “The car was a handful after that accident at the start, but we had such a good car for tonight if we didn’t get in that mess. We had to make a couple of minor adjustments to it tonight early on, and then we tried to compensate for the damage, but it was still not handling at all.”
1. Jesse Kennedy, 2. Thompson, 3. Mark Watson, 4. Quarrie, 5. Richmond, 6. Jamie Cox.
Points Standings – 1. Jamie Cox (396 points), 2. Pritiko (388), 3. Doerr (372), 4. Stewart (352), 5. Thompson (351).
For more information on Total Lubricants, London City Chrysler, CANUSA, APC, or Delaware Speedway, please visit http://www.total-us.com/, http://www.londoncitychrysler.com/, http://www.canusa.on.ca/, or http://www.delwarespeedway.com/, or contact Luke Ramsay at (519) 268-7070.
Release and photos by http://www.maudsleymotorsports.com/.
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