Motorsport News (August 01, 2004)

Three-time CASCAR Super Series National champion Dave Whitlock won his fourth career MOPAR Parts 300 at Calgary’s Race City Motorsport Park on July 31st. The Avenue / NMT Dodge driver started fifth in the 25-car field and took the lead from his Whitlock Motorsports teammate, Mark Dilley, on lap 293 following a lengthy side-by-side battle for the lead.

Dilley’s NTN Dodge was one of the fastest cars on the track for much of the race. The Barrie, ON racer recovered a lost lap caused by an early-race flat tire, but in the end was unable to hold off Whitlock, who came home just over a second in front of Dilley.

“We were off a little bit yesterday [in his Twin 100] but we changed a bunch of things before the race and all throughout it,” said Whitlock, who hails from Wyoming, ON. “I knew that I could run side-by-side with Mark [Dilley] for as many laps as we had to. I trust him and he’s a great teammate.”

Whitlock won this race in 2003 after Dilley tangled with lapped traffic, while leading, with just a handful of laps to go. Even though he’s seen two MOPAR Parts 300 victories slip through his grasp in the past two seasons, Dilley was pleased with the outcome.

“We raced really hard to get back into contention and it wore out the right rear tire,” said Dilley, after the race. “The car was good, especially on the outside. Second is a good result after having to get our lap back after the flat.”

Third place went to Kerry Micks, driver of the Power Water Taurus. The Mt. Albert, ON racer led 48 laps prior to the two-thirds point of the race in spite of handling troubles with his car. In the end, he was left to fight for third place with rookie driver Pete Shepherd, who was having the best race of his CASCAR career prior to mechanical troubles with just a few laps to go. Prior to that, the young Dodge driver refused to back down from the veteran race leaders. After dropping off the pace, Shepherd soldiered on to a ninth-place finish, just behind the top finishing rookie, J.R. Fitzpatrick, who was eighth.

Kevin Dowler of Sherwood Park, AB finished sixth in the MOPAR Parts 300 to record the top finish by a western racer. The EMCO Ford driver struggled in his Twin 100 race on Friday night at Race City and improved eight places from his 14th-place starting position.

In terms of the National points chase, Peter Gibbons retained the lead he has held from the start of the season. The Canadian Tire Chevy driver started second in Calgary and led a total of 188 laps before a flat tire derailed his hopes for a fourth MOPAR Parts 300 win. The Stouffville, ON racer finished seventh in Saturday night’s race, one lap behind the leaders.

Don Thomson leaves Calgary in second place in the points following a fourth-place finish in the MOPAR 300. The Home Hardware Chevy started on the pole and led twice for a total of 15 laps but his late-race pit stops didn’t improve his car’s handling for the final run and he was out of contention for the win.