September 22, 2012. Fraserville, Ont. – Ron Beauchamp Jr. closed out the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season with a hard-fought race narrowly missing out on a top-ten finish at the Kawartha Speedway in the Pinty’s 250.
Beauchamp Jr.’s #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge performed well in practice, and he earned 8th place in qualifying.
He managed to hold on to his positioning in the early going and continued to run among the top ten drivers. However Beauchamp soon found himself down a lap after an incident with another driver interrupted his pace. His vehicle sustained minor damage, but being behind an entire lap was a tougher hole to dig out of.
#60 raced hard to be the lead car among those that were down a lap, and his hard work paid off when he was given a free pass on the next caution. Once he caught up to the lead lap with the rest of the field, the team worked to improve the car and make minor adjustments during scheduled stops to put him back in contention.
“The car was a little free early on which made us a bit vulnerable,” he said after the race. “We made some adjustments when we stopped for fuel and then again on our stop for left side tires and again on the stop for rights and the car got better.”
The Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries Dodge was notably better after the team made their changes, and Beauchamp started to move forward and regain his positioning in the top ten.
“Suddenly I’m thinking I’m back in the hunt,” Beauchamp said.
On the green-white-checker finish, #60 was restarted in 9th place and the possibility of a top-ten finish was back on the map.
But once again, Beauchamp’s hunt for the top was obstructed by an incident on the track.
“I think I was up to 6th place, racing to the finish, and then all of a sudden, we got turned around,” he explained.
Beauchamp’s car slammed into the inside wall with such force that he shook the wall made of jersey barriers. Until he sees the video, #60 still isn’t sure what lead to his demise at the end.
“Coming back from early adversity is not a bad finish,” he said. “But when you’re running near the top five at the close, it’s disappointing.”
Beauchamp concludes the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season in 5th place overall with 422 points, 8 top ten finishes and 1 top five finish.
To get more information about the #60 Mopar Parts/Mobil 1/Exide Batteries team you can log on to www.beauchampmotorsports.com andwww.mopar.ca
