Click on picture for video from May 24th at Flamboro

Wreck Dashes Hope of a Three-peat for Elliott

Coming of two-straight wins at Flamboro Speedway, the David Elliott Racing Team was full of optimist about their chances of winning the first race in the Grisdale Triple Crown Series. As the car was running so well, the only change the team made was an adjustment in the carburetor to allow for the hot, humid weather.

David started fourth in his heat race and quickly passed three cars to take the lead. The #52 of Scott Lyons stayed on David’s bumper for the entire race, but wasn’t able to get by and David won the heat by one car length.

A field of 24 late models lined up for the 50-lap feature race. David’s heat win qualified him in 3^rd spot. The top-5 qualifiers were inverted for the start, so David kept his spot on the inside of row two.

As they came for the green flag, the pole-sitter, the #41 of Steve Adams and the #8 of Paul Howse bumped, causing body damage to Adams car and allowing Gary Elliott’s #36 to get by David on the outside. Later that lap, a crash brought out the first of many yellow flags for the night. Adams had to pit to repair his damage.

The field lined up for the restart with Howse leading, followed by Gary Elliott, then David’s #37 Pennzoil Chevrolet. The top-3 ran this way through numerous caution flags, each of which presented a problem for David. The adjustments that were made to the carburetor caused the car to frequently stall out at the slow caution-lap speeds. However, David was able to keep re-firing the car and maintained his spot.

David was hoping his father would be able to get under the leader and he would follow his father past the #8 car, giving the team a 1-2 finish. Unfortunately, the #36 of Gary Elliott began pushing up in the turns at the end of the race. David got the nose of the #37 inside his father a couple of times but backed out going into the corners.

With two laps to go, the #36 pushed high coming off turn two and David got a good run on the inside, pulling up well inside the Quaker State Chevrolet. The #36 made his usual entry into turn 3, but apparently didn’t realize that David’s car was there. The contact between the two cars sent the #36 into the wall, wrecked the front end of the #37 and brought out the yellow and checkered flags.

It was a very disappointing finish for the #37 Pennzoil Chevrolet, but the team will make repairs and will have the car on display at Centennial Park Mini Indy’s 20^th Anniversary Celebration at Centennial Park in Etobicoke next Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm.

 

This picture taken just before Gary and David go in to the wall