Vanderwyst - Cayuga Report
NELLES CORNERS, AB This past weekend at Cayuga Speedway held its fair share of good and bad moments for Pete Vanderwyst and the crew of the ...
NELLES CORNERS, AB This past weekend at Cayuga Speedway held its fair share of good and bad moments for Pete Vanderwyst and the crew of the #77 Loctite Chevrolet Monte Carlo. On the bright side, over 250 employees and customers of Loctite were at the track for the seventh round of the CASCAR Castrol Super Series East season. Sunny skies, full grandstands and the Loctite hospitality tent made for a great day at the speedway. On the down side, Vanderwyst and the crew of the Loctite Chevy had a difficult time on the track, fighting mechanical woes to a 26th-place finish in the field of 38 racers. The St. Thomas, ON driver currently sits in 12th-place in the Eastern point standings.
"We had a tough weekend," said Vanderwyst, after the race. "We broke a motor on Saturday and even though wed gone down and tested at Cayuga a few weeks before and did really well the car just wasnt right for Sundays race.
"When we pulled in on Friday night, we were very confident. Sunday, during the race, a shock went bad and a brake fitting broke off. The rear-end bracket moved over three inches and just one thing led to another.
"We were happy to bring the car home in one piece, though," continued Vanderwyst. "The guys were phenomenal in the pits and they kept us on the lead lap for a long, long time. They actually changed the broken shock during one caution period, and kept us on the lead lap."
But eventually, the problem with the brake fitting was just too much and Vanderwyst lost several laps in the pits. "We just soldiered on. The only time we went down was when the fitting went, and we had to change that for sure. It was good to see the team working so well together."
Off Track
On Sunday morning, prior to the race, Loctite hosted a hospitality tent behind the main grandstand at Cayuga. According to Vanderwyst, a great number of guests made it to the track for the barbecue and the GM Goodwrench 300.
"Loctite had almost 250 of their customers there for the race," said Vanderwyst. "All the people who came down to talk to us were super-happy. They even had some customers there who came up from the States. Everyone had a good time in the hospitality tent. We talked to them, we had the Loctite Monte Carlo that were taking to the Mosport road course car on display in the hospitality area and everyone had a good time."
So, even if Vanderwysts race result wasnt what hed hoped for, the overall experience on Sunday was very positive. The CASCAR driver spent a good portion of his pre-race time in the tent signing posters and Loctite T-shirts for the invited guests.
"That was the highlight of the day, being with our sponsors and their customers. It was a great way to show everyone how much we appreciate their support."
Team Loctite Notebook
The next race date on the calendar for the #77 Loctite team is the Aug. 28-30 road course race at Mosport Park. Following his impressive third-place finish in the seasons first road course race, in Edmonton on Aug. 2, Vanderwyst is looking forward to trying his hand at going left and right again.
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