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A VERY POPULAR VICTORY FOR MARIO MOREAU




GRANBY, QC, July 3, 2004 -- In front of one of the largest crowd of the season due to the five-dollar admission night, Mario Moreau registered a very popular win in the 30-lap feature for the Modified division last Friday at Autodrome Granby. His first visit of the season in the winner’s circle was well received by the fans who had their money’s worth in action during that spectacular night. Moreau’s last win goes back to August 9, 2002.

With a limited budget compared to other Modified teams, Moreau who never quit despite many problems in the past seasons, finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Fourteenth at the green flag, Moreau moved up slowly avoiding many incidents to find himself already sixth on lap 8. In the following laps while the early leader Stéphane Michaud was slowing down and Steve Poirier, the leader, caused a yellow flag, Moreau found himself in third place at the fourth restart of this 30-lap feature behind Clément Therrien and Michaud.

At the drop of the green flag, exactly at the halfway mark, Moreau got his car in front. Two laps later, Therrien was able to get back his first spot but not for long. During the next circuit, Moreau regained his lead heading directly for the first place in the winner’s circle. He was followed by Réal Lafrance who besides starting 16th on the grid, had to go at the back of the field on lap 16 because he had passed in pit road to avoid an accident. Again, with a solid performance, Clément Therrien was able to obtain the third spot followed by David Hébert, the CARQUEST Auto parts points’ leader, and Kayle Robidoux.

While he was looking for his first win since his comeback at Autodrome Granby this season, Steve Poirier suddenly stopped in turn two on lap 13 while he was leading the race. Back at the end of the field, he was still able to finish seventh while Claude Brouillard had also his share of problems. Earlier in the evening he was plagued by a differential problem and had to borrow Bert Robidoux’s second car to make a few laps in the feature race in order to still gain a few points.

Leon Gonyo, Alex Fortier, Richard Chauvin, Mario Lajoie and Luke Plante were also bothered by mechanical problems.

Earlier in the evening, Vince Quenneville Jr., Steve Poirier and Kayle Robidoux were the winners in their respective heats.

A perfect night

Veteran of more than 20 seasons, Robin David scored a perfect night in the Sportsman division. After winning his heat, David who was sitting first on the starting grid of this 20-lap feature, didn’t loose a second and led all the way to claim his first success of the season. In this race slowed by only one caution flag, he was followed by François Becksted and Frédéric Gamache. Sébastien Gougeon, the Castrol points’ leader, who started twelfth wasn’t able to do better than a sixth place finish in this 26-car grid.

Like David, Jean-Paul Daigneault had a perfect night in the Semi-Pro division. In the 15-lap feature, his victims were Stéphane Larivière and Gaétan Gatien while in the 4 Cylinders division, Sylvain Gagnon took his second checkered flag of the season.

RESULTS

MODIFIED (30 laps) 1- 5, Mario Moreau; 2- 11, Réal Lafrance; 3- 39, Clément Therrien; 4- 1, David Hébert; 5- 46, Kayle Robidoux; 6- 66W, Wallace Stacey; 7- 61, Steve Poirier; 8- 90, Martin Roy; 9- 78, Vince Quenneville Jr., 10- 21, Ian Bussière; 11- 22J, Gino Clair; 12- 4K, Jasmin Léveillé; 13- 8S, Richard Salvas; 14- 24, Stéphane Michaud; 15- 8G, Tom Gonyo; 16- 86, Aaron Bartemy; 17- 2, Luke Plante; 18- 31, Richard Chauvin; 19- 4, Leon Gonyo 20- 2X, Mario Lajoie; 21- 09, Alex Fortier; 22- 10, Patrice McGrail; 23- 3, Claude Brouillard.