VMS turns in 18th Place finish in Edmonton
Edmonton, AB: The road course at the Edmonton Airport is one of the Van Domselaar Motorsports team's favourite tracks and at this weekend's Rexall Grand Prix event the team was glad to be racing there once again.
Driving the Northgate Industries Chevrolet Monte Carlo, James Jr. and the rest of the VMS team logged a 22nd place starting birth for the event, ultimately finishing the ‘NASCAR Canadian Tire Series 100' in 18th position.
The VMS team scaled back their racing efforts in 2007, but the lure of racing under the NASCAR moniker at the Grand Prix event was too much to resist. The team focussed all of its efforts on preparing for the road course event. With the generosity of sponsors like Northgate Industries, CanTorque, Dewar Western, Southfort Chevrolet, and Boston Pizza, the VMS team was able to upgrade its equipment over the off season. With much hard work and preparation to comply with NASCAR regulations, the VMS team was eager to turn the Monte Carlo loose on the 3.11 Kilometre course.
Thursday, July 19th: NASCAR's rigorous technical inspection went relatively well for the team, with only a few modifications required for the body to meet template criteria.
Friday, July 20th: The second day of the Grand Prix event was a busy one, with an early morning practice as well as another practice and qualifying laps slated for the afternoon. Both practices went well for the team. Jr. was happy with the car's handling, and the #14 car posted faster lap times than at any previous event at the Edmonton Airport venue. The team posted the 19th fastest lap time of the 30 competitors in the second practice.
A new set of tires for qualifying yielded lap times which were similar to that of the second practice, but which resulted in a 22nd place qualifying position overall for the Northgate Industries Monte Carlo. Jr. reported some possible transmission problems during the qualifying session and to be on the safe side the crew replaced the transmission and the rear end gears. By the time the horn sounded to close the garage area at 6 pm, the crew had the car and hauler buttoned up and ready for race day.
Saturday, July 21st: Tens of thousands of fans had crowded into the grandstands by race time on Saturday afternoon, with thirty NASCAR Canadian Tire Series competitors gridded on the front straightaway. The field charged hard into Turn 1 when the green flag waved, but all competitors made a clean start to the 32 lap, 100 km event. By the end of the first lap the field had spread itself out. On Lap 3 James Jr. had moved up to 21st position, but over the course of the next few laps dropped back to 27th place. On Lap 10 the first caution was called (possibly for debris), at which time Jr. called in to report a tight handling condition. Green conditions resumed on Lap 12 and Jr. hunkered down to coax the #14 through the 14-corner course.
On lap 16 the #79 entry crashed hard into the tire barrier in Turn 14, causing the spotters in that corner to scatter and bringing out the second caution of the day. Green flag conditions resumed on Lap 21, but only briefly until the #45 car spun out on the front straight. During the caution periods the team sorted out some shift-points with the new transmission and rear end, after which James Jr. felt confident he could decrease lap times and gain a few positions.
Lap 27 brought out the green flag for the last time, with the #14 machine lined up in 20th spot. The restart was clean and James Jr. set about overtaking the competition. On the white flag lap, two competitors just ahead of the #14 car scuffled resulting in a brief traffic bottleneck. Jr. was unable to avoid the #6 machine and made significant contact with the #6's rear bumper. All cars got through the melee however, with Jr. overtaking three cars in the process. Jr. fought hard to keep the gained positions on the last lap, and when the checkered flag flew the VMS team had crossed the line in 18th position.
After the race, James Jr. commented, “It took me 5 laps to figure out the shift points with the new transmission and rear gear combination but once that was sorted out the car was competitive and we were in the thick of things mid pack. From what I hear we are still 75 to 80 hp down on the big boys and that is impossible to overcome on a road course -- we will have to do more homework over the winter if we want to continue to move up.” In speaking about the event overall, Jr. noted, “The car worked great all weekend as usual. I cannot thank our sponsors, the team, and especially Mom and Dad, enough for all the hard work to get this new car on track for the Grand Prix event.”
In his capacity as team oversight, James Sr. commented, “I was pleased we improved our lap time from qualifying at 1:28.6 last year to running a 1:24.5 lap during the race this year and moving up from a 22nd place finish to 18th.”
The VMS team was privileged to represent its primary sponsor for this race, Northgate Industries. The generous support provided by Cantorque, Inc., Dewar Western, Inc., SouthFort Chevrolet and Boston Pizza Fort Saskatchewan was also instrumental in the team's ability to field an entry in the inaugural NASCAR Canadian Tire Series event at the Edmonton Airport. The VMS team wishes to thank all of its sponsors, without whom racing at this level would not be possible:
Northgate Industries, Inc. (Edmonton, AB); CanTorque, Inc. (Edmonton, AB); Dewar Western, Inc. (Edmonton, AB); SouthFort Chevrolet (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); Boston Pizza (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); Mac's Convenience Stores (Calgary, AB); Advantage Signs (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); Quality Group/RR Donnelly (Edmonton, AB); General Auto & Ag Supply (Lamont, AB); Hydro-Scotford (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); RCS Sheet Metal (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); TriStar Collision (Edmonton, AB); Sears Appliance Outlet (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); MacMillan Photography (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); Good Guys Auto Center (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); Aldon Auto Salvage (Lamont, AB); Allen & Associates Accounting (Edmonton, AB); AB); Remax – Zucht Realty Team (Fort Saskatchewan, AB); and H.E.D. Liner Power Boats (Sherwood Park, AB).
