FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 29, 2015)
Dale Wilson Fourth in Delaware Debut
WATERLOO (June 27, 2015) – Dale Wilson earned a top-five finish in his first career visit to Delaware Speedway with the Ontario Pro Challenge Series on Friday night.
The fifth race of the 2015 OPC season brought the series to Delaware’s big half-mile which proved an excellent showcase for the series in front of a near capacity crowd.
Wilson began the night with fourth- and seventh-place results in his heat races that featured the entire 13-car field.
The No.3 lined up 10th on the starting grid for the 25-lap feature. The race ran caution-free and provided some of the best racing yet this season.
The 21 year-old ran fourth by the time the second lap was complete, wasting little time in his surge to the front. That led to a side-by-side battle with Patrick Freel’s No.18 for second on lap five.
“We were picking off cars one by one. I was on the outside and I was able to make quite a few passes on the outside,” said Wilson.
A four-car battle for the lead emerged shortly after between Wilson, Freel, Mike Westwood and Ken Lillycrop. Freel took the lead and Westwood shuffled Wilson back to third.
“As I passed Lillycrop, I kind of overshot the corner and that allowed Mike Westwood to get underneath me and put me back in to third,” said Wilson. “It was kind of a back and forth battle, but it was good clean racing so it was exciting.”
Just prior to the halfway mark, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series regular DJ Kennington, making a guest appearance with the Pro Challenge Series, pressed Wilson in a battle for the third position.
“It was a joy racing with him. He and I were side-by-side for a couple of laps and didn’t make contact once. He made a nice clean pass on me,” Wilson explained.
The driver of the AW Millwrights and Rite Way Mechanical No.3 then settled in to fourth, holding off Tim Norris for the position in the latter half of the race. Following the event, Wilson revealed the his car got tight as the race wore on.
“It made driving into one and two a lot more difficult. I had to get on the gas later than I normally would. I couldn’t get a good run out of the corner to stay with the top three guys,” said Wilson.
The Wilson Motorsports team nonetheless walks away satisfied with a top-five finish in their first ever start at Delaware. Wilson had not made a start on a half-mile track since the final night of racing at Mosport Speedway in 2013.
Wilson has earned four top-five finishes through five races this season. The series returns to action at Sunset Speedway on July 11 where Wilson will look to improve on his sixth-place finish on June 20. The Waterloo, Ont. native says he will tweak his style in the return trip to Sunset.
“I’ll need to drive with a little more sense of urgency. At Sunset, it seemed like I was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Wilson.
The Sunset date marks the end of the season’s first half, with Wilson sitting third in the current point standings, just 10 tallies off the lead.
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Dale Wilson’s 2015 racing season is supported by Warren Leis of AW Millwrights, Greg Toneguzzo of Rite Way Mechanical and Willie Da Rosa of Portugal Auto Body & Restoration Ltd. The entire Wilson Motorsports team would like to thank all sponsors for their continued support.
Follow Dale Wilson’s 2015 season with the Ontario Pro Challenge tour on Twitter, @dale_wilson3.
Media Contact: Clayton Johns Media (@cjohnsmedia)
claytonjohns@hotmail.com
Eric Uprichard Photo
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