      |
| Lime Rock Park - 10/1/05 - 6th |
|
EDDIE
MACDONALD POSTS SIXTH PLACE FINISH AT LIME ROCK PARK By Dick Casey Eddie MacDonald’s sixth place finish in the Busch North Series Burnham Hydronics 200k Presented by Mohegan Sun at Lime Rock Park was especially pleasing after the recent string of bad luck that has plagued the team. The One Stop Toy Shop Chevy started in the 14th spot for the 82 lap event and was able to move up through the field into fifth by lap nineteen and was hoping to lead a lap if the front runners pitted under the yellow. “ The strategy almost worked but one of the cars in front of us stayed out so we decided to pit for gas only. We have been struggling lately so getting the five points for leading would have helped but it was not meant to be,” said MacDonald. After pitting, MacDonald restarted in the fourteenth position again and was cruising in that position waiting for a chance to move up. “ We really had a good handling car and it kept getting better, so I just needed to be patient and I felt we would have a car to compete with at the end,” said the Rowley, Mass. driver. By lap 60, MacDonald moved into eighth and was gaining on the frontrunners and passed Joey McCarthy on lap 71 to take over fifth but fell back to sixth when McCarthy regained the spot on the next lap. With the field now spread out, MacDonald was not challenged from behind and set his sights on the 55 car but ran out of laps and took the checkers in the sixth spot. The finish was the best one for the team in some time and hopefully got the monkey off its back. ” This was good. We needed a decent finish especially after all the problems we have had lately. I was looking for the top five but we’ll take sixth. The car was pretty good. The crew worked hard and this morning they made a bunch of changes to everything. We were not good in practice and Rollie came in this morning and threw a bunch of things at it and it worked out great. The car handled awesome and it was a lot better than it was yesterday,” stated MacDonald. While engine problems in the last four races have been disappointing, MacDonald hopes the bad luck is a thing of the past saying, “ This really feels good and hopefully we can go down to Thompson and have a real good run. We are looking forward to that. We have had a tough time but this run lifts everyone’s spirits and the excitement is there again.” Crew chief Rollie LaChance expressed his satisfaction with the run saying, “ This was good. I think this is my best finish at this track. We didn’t put the best car together but it did okay. The motor stayed together and that is cool after what we have been through lately.” LaChance quipped, “ The car has a little bit of damage but we didn’t like that fender anyway.” Triple Crown Team owner Jerry Morello breathed a sigh of relief saying of the finish, “ It was unexpected but good. The guys worked their butts off. Yesterday we had a mediocre car in practice and Rollie came in this morning and totally changed the car and it was a different car on the track today and all that work paid off as you can see.” Hoping the dark cloud is lifted from the team, Morello assessed the day saying, “ The motor is still running which is a good thing, the car is in one piece and we had a top ten. We are looking forward to more of the same next week at Thompson. MacDonald won The Most Improved Drivers Award for his sixth place finish, an improvement of 20 positions from last week’s run at Dover. The One Stop Toy Shop Chevy will close its regular season when the Busch North Series travels to Thompson Speedway for a 100-lap feature on Saturday, October 8th. |
|
Burnham Hydronics 200K presented by Mohegan Sun Results |
|
Media Contact: Jennifer MacDonald - jennymac29@hotmail.com |