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Vancouver: Practice one report

Thomson quickest in practice for the Canadian Tire 100 CASCAR race at the Vancouver Indy VANCOUVER, BC - For the second weekend in a row, the CASCAR Super Series will be in action in western Canada. Twenty-eight stock car teams have made the trek ...

Thomson quickest in practice for the Canadian Tire 100 CASCAR race at the Vancouver Indy

VANCOUVER, BC - For the second weekend in a row, the CASCAR Super Series will be in action in western Canada. Twenty-eight stock car teams have made the trek to the Vancouver Molson Indy for the Canadian Tire 100, which takes place on Saturday afternoon at 3:45 p.m.

The drivers took to the track this morning (Friday) for their lone practice session in advance of this afternoon's half-hour qualifying session. A crash involving veteran driver Ron Beauchamp Jr. cut short the available practice time, limiting the teams to just a few hot laps of the 12-turn temporary street circuit.

Two-time and defending Super Series National champion Don Thomson Jr. made just three tours of the Concord Pacific Place track, but still managed to record the fastest time. The Home Hardware Chevy driver sped around the 2.866 km course in one minute and 26.945 seconds, which translated into a speed of 118.668 km/h. Thomson enters the Canadian Tire 100 with a three-point lead over Kerry Micks.

Jeff Lapcevich, the winner of the CASCAR race at the Toronto Molson Indy, two weeks ago, was second fastest in the morning practice session with a time of 1:27.346 / 118.123 km/h. Beauchamp posted the third-quickest time, prior to the accident that damaged the front-end of his MOPAR Parts Intrepid.

Robin Buck won last year's CASCAR race at the Vancouver Indy. Buck is not participating in the Canadian Tire 100, although the 2001 winner of the inaugural CASCAR race in Vancouver will be in the field. Blue Streak Intrepid driver Al Turner will be making his second start of the season in a car he sold to Whitlock Motorsports, last winter.

CANADIAN TIRE SPONSORSHIP: On Thursday afternoon, CASCAR and Canadian Tire jointly announced Canadian Tire's title sponsorship of the CASCAR race at the 2003 Molson Indy Vancouver event; the Canadian Tire 100.

The Molson Indy events in Toronto and Vancouver are two of the most prestigious events on the Super Series schedule, and CASCAR is proud to have one of Canada's leading retailers to help bring the action on the track to race fans across the country. Canadian Tire will have a strong corporate presence throughout the event site, and on the television broadcast of the race on Rogers Sportsnet and SPEEDChannel.

A long-time supporter of Canadian Motorsports, Canadian Tire has sponsored CASCAR's two-time national champion Peter Gibbons for the past 7 years. The title sponsorship of the Vancouver race marks the first time Canadian Tire has sponsored a CASCAR event, and Canada's top motorsports sanctioning body is delighted to carry the Canadian Tire banner at one of Western Canada's largest spectator events.

"We are extremely proud and excited that Canadian Tire has chosen to sponsor the CASCAR event at the Molson Indy Vancouver," stated Richard Coughlin, CASCAR director of marketing. "Canadian Tire is one of Canada's longest standing and most prestigious brands, and we are delighted that they have chosen to bring the CASCAR event at the Molson Indy Vancouver to the tens of thousands of fans who will be in attendance."

"As the country's leading retailer of automotive parts and accessories and a proud sponsor of CASCAR driver Peter Gibbons, we are thrilled to be involved with an event that enables thousands of race fans from coast-to-coast to experience the excitement of CASCAR and motorsports," says David Roussy, vice president, Automotive, Canadian Tire.

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