Kawartha season finale preview

Kawartha Speedway is set to play host to the Dodge Charger 250 CASCAR Super Series finale

TORONTO, ON -- This Sunday, the 2006 CASCAR Super Series season will draw to a close at Kawartha Speedway. The event will be special for several reasons. Heading into the Sept. 16-17 race weekend at the high-banked, 3/8-mile Peterborough-area oval, 18-year-old racer J.R. Fitzpatrick leads the points by a healthy margin. The talented Ayr, ON resident is poised to dethrone his Fitzpatrick Motorsports teammate Don Thomson Jr., who has dominated the CASCAR Super Series championship for the past five seasons.

Thomson (Home Hardware Chevy) enters the 'Dodge Dealers of Ontario Dodge Charger 250 presented by MOPAR' in third-place in the standings, a full 69-points back of young Fitzpatrick (Milwaukee Tools Chevy). Sitting between the youngster and his mentor is former Super Series champ Kerry Micks (Cdn. Detailing Svcs. Ford), who is 51 markers back of points-leader Fitzpatrick.

In all, the top six competitors are within 100-points of each other as the 2006 Super Series season has been as competitive as any before it, producing eight different winners in the 10 feature events held so far. Only Micks (Mosport Int'l Raceway & the G.P. de Montreal) and Dave Whitlock (Mosport Speedway & Cayuga Int'l Speedway) have made more than one trip to victory lane this season.

The Dodge Charger 250 will also be notable in that it will signal an end to a glorious chapter in Canadian motorsports. The Sept. 17 event will be the final CASCAR Super Series race ever. Taking its place in May 2007 will be the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, which was unveiled on Tuesday morning at a press conference in downtown Toronto.

Initial reaction to the news has been swift and positive. The CASCAR racers and teams are eager to join the NASCAR family, and are honoured to be invited to become part of motorsports most successful sanctioning body.

Peter Gibbons, who has flown the Canadian Tire colours for a decade on the Super Series, is extremely pleased to see the new series announced, and is looking forward to being in the starting field for the first ever NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race, next May. "This allows the existing people and the new people to create something enormous," said the two-time National champion, following the press conference. "I talk to a bunch of the racers and they've been on the edge of their seats, waiting for the time when they could tell people that NASCAR and Canadian Tire are involved. We're looking to go into 2007 bigger than ever."

Sunday afternoon's 'Dodge Dealers of Ontario Dodge Charger 250 presented by MOPAR' is the headline event in a busy weekend of racing at Kawartha Speedway. The Sportsman Series and Ontario Legends will take to the track on Saturday, while the CASCAR Super Series will complete its entire qualifying and race program on Sunday. See below for a full schedule of events.

KAWARTHA RACE NOTES: On Saturday, the CASCAR Sportsman Series will hold its fifth and final race of the season, at Kawartha Speedway. The 100-lap feature race will take the green flag on Saturday night (Sept. 16) at 9:00 p.m. Defending series champ Dion Verhoeven enters the race two points ahead of recent race dominator Shawn McGlynn-- DJ Kennington is the defending winner of the Dodge Charger 250 Super Series race at Kawartha. He also led the way in qualifying in '05, earning the pole with a time trial lap of 18.166 seconds around the 3/8-mile oval-- This year's top Super Series rookie, Jason Hathaway, won last year's Sportsman Series closer at Kawartha-- DaimlerChrysler is poised to win its second-consecutive CASCAR Manufacturers Championship, on Sunday at Kawartha. Two consecutive podium sweeps by the MOPAR-powered, Dodge Charger contingent -- in the last two races-have laid the groundwork for the longtime Super Series sponsor to earn this prestigious honour for a second year in a row -- The CASCAR banquet will take place on Friday, October 6 in London, ON. Contact CASCAR for details.

<pre> SCHEDULE: Kawartha Speedway

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2006 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. CASCAR Sportsman Series Practice 6:00 p.m.-6:45 p.m. Legends Practice 7:00 p.m. Legends Heats (2) 7:20 p.m. CASCAR Sportsman Series Time Trial Qualifying 7:50 p.m. Legends Heats (2) 8:10 p.m. Legends Feature Race 9:00 p.m. START: CASCAR Sportsman Series Feature Race (100 Laps)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2006 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. CASCAR Super Series Practice 1:30 p.m. CASCAR Super Series Time Trial Qualifying 2:15 p.m. Driver Autograph Session 3:00 p.m. Driver Introductions 3:30 p.m. START: CASCAR SUPER SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

-credit: cascar