DORCHESTER, ON – Jamie Cox and his RCR Racing Team returned to action at Delaware Speedway on Friday, June 29, for the annual Sifton Canada Day 100-lapper at the historic ½-mile. Cox was ready in his Total Lubricants/London City Chrysler/Stubbs Communications/APC Dodge Charger looking to turn his season around.
The evening started with practice, followed by individual Time Trials to set the grid for the 100-lap feature. Jamie ripped of a quick lap of 19.292 seconds, just a little over 1/10th of a second behind fast qualifier Andrew Gresel, who timed in at 19.184 seconds.
It put Cox seventh of the cars that made attempts, and the driver said, “Our car was decent off the trailer. We made a few minor adjustments during practice to get ready for qualifying, and I think we should have a good car for the feature.”
Cox rolled off fourth in the 100-lap main event, and settled into third-place early, but as the yellows mounted, he wasn’t able to stay up front, fading to sixth by lap 24. On lap 32 Cox slowed down the backstretch while sparks flew from underneath the car, the result of a flat right front tire. The RCR Team would jump into action, changing the tire under green and returning Jamie to action, but he was a number of laps off the pace. “That has just been our luck all season. They guys had a great stop, and we only lost a few laps, but it was disappointing.”
Jamie continued to battle, earning some ‘lucky dog’ awards, and never quitting on his team. By the end of the race, he had earned enough laps back to be shown on the lead laps, and was credited with a ninth-place finish. “Obviously, it wasn’t the result that we were looking for, but the guys never gave up, and we were fast enough to get a bunch of laps back. It was a little discouraging, because I would work to pass a bunch of cars, but there were so many yellows that when another caution came out we had to go right to the back of the pack again.”
Jesse Kennedy took the lead just before halfway and cruised to his second victory in the Canada Day 100, with Kirk Hooker, and David Elliott rounding out the podium. 1. Kennedy, 2. Hooker, 3. Elliott, 4. Andrew Gresel, 5. Steven Mathews, 9. Jamie Cox.
The RCR Racing Team were back in action on Saturday, July 7, at Flamboro Speedway for the second round of the Grisdale Triple Crown at the Hamilton-area race track, and looking to put the season back on the rails with a solid run on the 1/3rd-mile track.
The night started off with heat race competition and in the first 10-lap qualifier Cox was able to bring home a sixth-place finish. In the second heat race Jamie raced to a third-place finish, and would secure himself a top-10 starting position in the feature. “Our car was pretty good, and we made a bunch of changes to it for the feature. We just have to have a solid run and finish one of these races.”
Cox rolled from the outside of the fifth row for the 75-lap feature, but the night would turn South early. While racing into turn one, Jamie was hit from behind and spun, before being hit by another competitor in the side. Cox spoke about the incident that relegated him to the pits, “We punctured the radiator in the car and the crew started to fix it, but when we were 10 laps down and well out of contention we called it a night. There was no sense taking the car back out there and risk tearing it up when we were that far behind.”
The next event for the RCR Team will be Wednesday, July 11, at Sunset Speedway before returning to Delaware on Wednesday, July 18, for the APC Summer Showdown. “We’re looking to turn our season around, and have some finishes that are worthy of how good our car has been,” Cox said of the upcoming events. “It’s really frustrating, but we aren’t giving up.”
For more information on Total Lubricants, London City Chrysler, Stubbs Communications, CANUSA, APC, Delaware Speedway or Flamboro, please visit http://www.total-us.com/, http://www.stubbsco.com/, http://www.londoncitychrysler.com/, http://www.canusa.on.ca/, http://www.delawarespeedway.com/, or http://www.flamborospeedway.ca/, or contact Luke Ramsay at (519) 268-7070.
From Jamie Maudsley
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