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A STRONG COMEBACK FOR STEVE BERNARD AND A SECOND WIN FOR MARTIN ROY THIS SEASON




GRANBY, QC, August 28, 2004 --- A very spectacular night filled with surprises; this is the card that was served to dirt fans who were on hand to witness the Location d’autos Pelletier program last Friday at Autodrome Granby. First, in the 40-lap feature for the Sportsman class, they witnessed a spectacular comeback from Steve Bernard, Mr. Sportsman, who scored his second straight win. Then, in the Semi-Pro feature, veteran driver Normand Voghell made many rollovers in front of the grandstand, luckily without any consequences for him. Finally, two of the leaders in their respective standings, Michel Dusseault (Sportsman) and Normand Voghell (Semi-Pro) lost their respective positions following some mishaps.

Twenty-second on the grid, Steve Bernard needed only 25 laps to catch up to and pass Alain Mathieu who had taken the lead two laps before from Robin David. Bernard who will climb in the Modified division next season, had the best on Sébastien Gougeon and Mathieu.

A few laps after the halfway mark, Michel Dusseault, the Castrol points’ leader, was plagued by a suspension problem and had to withdraw. His 21st place finish cost him the first spot in the standings, since Gougeon, his most serious challenger, finished second. Dusseault has now a deficit of 15 points.

Then, in the special 10-lap feature for non winners in 2004, François Becksted was in the winner’s circle for a second straight year. Becksted took the lead over André Gauthier at the halfway mark. Pierre Raymond was third.

Very lucky

David Hébert, the S.D. Performance driver, must find himself lucky to still be in the first spot in the CARQUEST Auto Parts standings in the Modified division. After mechanical problems in his heat race, Hébert was able to save his spot by finishing third in the 30-lap final.

Also member of the S.D. Performance team, Richard Chauvin was invited to lend his car to Hébert for the feature. At the very end on the starting grid, Hébert made a strong comeback to finish third.

This race was won by Martin Roy who started tenth. It was his second win of the season. Young Ian Bussière of the Telus Mobilité team had his best race so far this season with a second place finish after leading 12 laps before allowing Roy to take the first spot.

For the second week in a row, Steve Poirier, the defending champion at Autodrome Granby, had to withdraw due to mechanical problems.

Still in the Modified division, Clément Therrien was the winner of a special 15-lap feature for drivers who were not in the winner’s circle this season.

A spectacular crash

For a second week in a row, a driver made a spectacular crash just in fornt of the grandstand. This time, after a contact with another driver on lap 6, Normand Voghell made many rollovers before ending his race upside down in the pit lane. Uninjured, which is the most important thing, Voghell due to his withdraw, lost the first spot in the standings to Stéphane Larivière who finished second just behind Jean-Paul Daigneault.

Finally in the 4 Cylinders feature, Sylvain Gagnon led all ten laps to score his fifth win of the season.

RESULTS

MODIFIED (30 laps) 1- 90, Martin Roy; 2- 21, Ian Bussière; 3- 31, David Hébert; 4- 2, Marco Potvin; 5- 11, Réal Lafrance; 6- 39, Clément Therrien; 7- 3, Claude Brouillard; 8-78, Vince Quenneville Jr.; 9- 10, Patrice McGrail; 10- 5, Mario Moreau; 11- 8S, Richard Salvas; 12- 46, Kayle Robidoux; 13- 09, Alex Fortier; 14- 4k, Jasmin Léveillé; 15- 19, Guy Parenteau; 16- 4, Leon Gonyo; 17- 61, Steve Poirier; 18- 115, Stéphane LaFrance; 19- B8, Adam Barmaty; 20- 125- Alain Lafrance; 21- 22J, Gino Clair; 22- 2X, Mario Lajoie.

Special Modified feature (15 laps) 1- 39, Clément Therrien; 2- 4K, Jasmin Léveillé; 3- 115, Stéphane LaFrance; 4- 10, Patrice McGrail; 5- 2, Marco Potvin; 6- 21, Ian Bussière; 7- 2x, Mario Lajoie; 8- 78, Vince Quenneville Jr.; 9- 4, Leon Gonyo; 10- 19, Guy Parenteau; 11- B8, Adam Barmaty; 12- 8S, Richard Salvas; 13- 09, Alex Fortier.

SPORTSMAN (40 laps) 1- 54, Steve Bernard; 2- 44, Sébastien Gougeon; 3- 77, Alain Mathieu; 4- 15, Pierre Raymond; 5- 51, Michel Fagnan; 6- 8, François Becksted; 7- 648, Mark Cross; 8- 172, André Gauthier; 9- 20, Frédérik Gamache; 10-50, Jocelyn Cordeau; 11- 9, Daniel Messier; 12- 28, Martin Hébert; 13- 63, Éric Haman; 14- 1, David Langlois; 15- 33; Robin David; 16- 72, Mario Lajoie; 17- 7, Patrice Demers; 18- 14, Luc St-Pierre; 19- 99, Benoit Courchesne; 20- 82, Denis Forgues; 21- 27, Michel Dusseault; 22- 90, Robert Gagné; 23- 3, Patrick Délisle.

Special Sportsman feature (10 laps) 1- 8, François Becksted; 2- 172, André Gauthier; 3- 15, Pierre Raymond; 4- 50, Jocelyn Cordeau; 5- 51, Michel Fagnan; 6- 99, Benoit Courchesne; 7- 648, Arnold Cross; 8- 28, Martin Hébert; 9- 3, Patrice Delisle : 10- 82, Denis Forgues; 11- 63, Éric Haman; 12- 1, David Langlois.