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PORTER FINISHES THIRD IN DELAWARE TRUCK CHAMPIONSHIP
(Dorchester, Ontario) - Darrell Porter and his L-82 / Perth Auto Dismantlers / A & A Sanitation Chevy arrived at Delaware Speedway for the final event of the 2006 Challenger Truck Series on Friday of the Labour Day weekend. Porter entered the night 11 markers behind point leader Paul Fothergil and three back of Todd Powell.
The night started with heat race action and Porter rolled from the back of his qualifier. He made a couple of tremendous moves early and blasted through to a solid fourth-place finish and two bonus championship points, but Fothergil was able to claim second and extend the point lead to 13 heading into the feature. “I got caught in traffic once, and that kind of did me in. We have a good truck, and I think we’re going to be fast in the feature.”
The main event saw Porter start deep in the field, but as the field was coming around to put the first lap on the board; the # 8 machine was involved in a dustup off turn four. The contact flattened a tire and he blasted to the pits. “The guys did a great job. They got the tire changed for me and I didn’t lose a lap.”
He returned to action at the back of the field and by lap ten had cleared the back of the field and was up to sixth. He continued forging ahead, and when Paul Fothergil broke a motor while he was leading, it brought Porter back into the championship picture. Darrell was up to fourth and started to work on the third-place truck in front of him. Powell was fighting for the lead as well, and Darrell had to find a way around Todd, and win the feature to win the title.
With just five laps to go, Porter didn’t get enough bite off turn two and spun his Chevrolet to the infield. “When Paul blew up he might have left some oil on the track. I think I got into that when I spun.”. The caution came out and Darrell would have to restart at the back of the pack again.
In just two and a half miles, he was able to pass all but four trucks, to finish off a solid fifth-place run. “I was mad after I spun, and was determined to get back as many spots as I could. I made a few three-wide passes and still finished fifth. We would have liked to win our fourth feature of the season.”
Powell passed Kathleen Hosang with just five laps left and captured his first feature win of the season and the championship by 10 points over Fothergil. Porter finished one position behind Fothergil in third.
Porter was thrilled with the 2006 season, despite coming up short in the championship chase. “We missed the first race of the season and still just missed on the championship, but I think more about the wins. We won three features, and had four second-place finishes, and a couple of thirds.”
Porter continued, “I really have to thank my crew guys. They gave me a great truck every night. I also have to thank all our sponsors for all their support all season.”
For more information about Darrell Porter, Porter Racing, or Delaware Speedway, please visit www.team-porter-racing.piczo.com, or www.delawarespeedway.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2006
Porter in Thick of Points Battle Heading to Labour Day Finale
(Dorchester, Ontario) - Darrell Porter and his L-82 / Perth Auto Dismantlers / Glazier Graphics Chevy entered the August 18th card at Delaware Speedway looking to continue his climb up the points ladder as he continues to hunt for the Challenger Motor Freight Truck division championship.
The first event of the evening for Porter was his 10-lap heat race, and he rolled from deep in the field. After starting 12th, Darrell was able to work his way by a few trucks before coming upon Joe Windas. The duo did battle for the remainder of the event, with Porter taking a number of looks on the outside. He wasn’t able to pull off the pass and finished eighth. “Joe and I had an awesome race. We didn’t get into the points, but the truck is in one piece for the feature.”
The night wrapped up with a 25-lap feature and Darrell took the green from 16th position. He deftly sliced through the field, cracking the top-10 in a couple of laps, and making his way into the top-five by the halfway point. “We were in good shape, we had a lot of laps left, and a very fast truck.”
Porter continued his climb and was sitting third, as the field took the white flag, chasing leader Matt Robblee and Shawn Johns. Johns exited turn two, and swung to the outside of a lapped truck, while Porter took advantage of the situation and dove to the inside to make it three-wide. The lapped truck was unaware that the # 8 had went to the bottom and moved to the left to give Johns more room. That put Porter right into the inside wall. He continued to pedal, saving the truck, but the incident cost him a number of spots in the end and he was only able to finish sixth. “That was a bad deal. The driver of the lapped truck obviously had no idea I was there. Sure I could have rode it out and finish third, but where’s the fun in that. I went for it, and lost a few spots, but I would have did it again for sure.”
1. Robblee, 2. Johns, 3. Randy Thomson, 4. Rick Verberne, 5. Todd Powell, 6. Darrell Porter.
Porter entered the night fourth in points, a mere nine markers behind the Robblee, the championship leader.
After practice, the Porter Racing Crew made a number of adjustments to ready the truck for the heat race, and after starting 12th, Darrell went on the hunt for championship points. He would have to get into the top-five to earn some more markers, but by the end of the event he could only manage to climb to sixth. “My guys worked their tails off tonight, and have given me a great truck. I think we’re going to be strong for the feature.”
The first feature of the evening was for the trucks and Porter rolled from 14th position. A lap one yellow would slow the field, with Porter already being in 11th position. He quickly climbed the scoreboard when the green appeared again and moved to third by lap five, all the while, following Paul Fothergil through traffic. “He was lining them up, and we were knocking them down. I just stayed on his bumper and was determined to ride it to the front.”
Fothergil was up to second, and went to the outside of Keith Schwartz. Porter followed Paul and moved by Schwartz to claim second. A couple of yellow flags later, Porter finally got his break as Fothergil slipped up exiting turn two on lap 13. Darrell dove to the bottom and by the time the pair got back to the start/finish line Porter was leading. It would be short lived as on lap 18, Fothergil came roaring back by entering the frontstretch. Porter would get one more shot on a lap 23 restart, but would be forced to settle for a second-place finish behind Fothergil. “Paul and I had the best trucks tonight. We took him, and got us back. It was a lot of fun.”
1. Fothergil, 2. Darrell Porter, 3. Powell, 4. Windas, 5. John Walczak.
For more information about Darrell Porter, Porter Racing, or Delaware Speedway, please visit www.team-porter-racing.piczo.com, or www.delawarespeedway.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2006
By J. Maudsley
Porter Wins Biggest Truck Race of Season at Delaware - 2nd in a Row
(Dorchester, Ontario) - Darrel Porter and his L-82 / Perth Auto Dismantlers / Glazier Graphics Chevy was back in action July 21st at Delaware Speedway, as he chases the 2006 Challenger Motor Freight Truck Series Championship.
The night started with a 10-lap qualifying event and Porter took the green from the back of the pack. He deftly passed a number of competitors, but in heat race competition, you can’t risk taking too many chances, as you have to have a truck left to run the feature. “We were good. Not as good as in practice, but good. I was also keeping the truck clean for the main.” Porter would claw his way back to a fourth-place finish, and a pair of bonus championship points.
Porter started 12th in the field and quickly sliced his way towards the front. He was able to keep his # 8 machine on the bottom of the track, passing a number of trucks and finding his way to the top-five with just a couple laps on the board. “We were working really well and found a couple of holes early. We made some adjustments before the feature and it really made us take off.”
Porter then found himself on the leaders bumper, but after a lap of trailing the point truck Porter took control, making short work of his rival and taking the lead. Darrell would survive a pair of restarts during the rest of the event as he went on to capture his second feature win of the season.
“We survived again. We had a couple of three-wide situations and we were able to make it out of all of them. The truck was working great on the high side, and with everyone wanting the bottom you can usually find less traffic out there.
1. Darrell Porter, 2. Paul Fothergil, 3. Rick Verberne, 4. Matt Robblee, 5. Norm Roy.
August fifth was a special night for all the Challenger Truck drivers at Delaware during the second annual All-Truck night, featuring ARCA Lincoln Welding Truck Series, and an All-Truck ‘King of the Hill’.
For the Porter Racing Team, it was also a special night as they unveiled a new paint job, ‘Petty Blue’. “We’ve had a silver truck for a while, and now there are some other silver trucks out here now, so we switched to blue. We also added some decals on the bottom, got rid of the orange numbers, and added a new sponsor Glazier Graphics, who helped with the design. I think it looks pretty sharp.”
The night started with a qualifying session and Darrell ripped off the sixth-fastest lap. “We put a brand new right rear tire on for qualifying, and it cost us. The truck was really loose, but I think we’ll be okay with the new tire for the feature.”
Following an inversion of ‘11’, Darrell took the green from sixth on the grid, and he was fast right out of the chute. It took all of four laps before Porter had found his way to the bumper of Doug Braunton, and just one more circuit for him to take the lead. He paced the field until lap nine when he came upon a pair of slower trucks. The pair continued to race, and finally Porter gave a tap to one of the competitors about to go a lap down. The driver spun, and Darrell was black flagged for the incident.
He served his penalty, but would finish the race in 22nd-position.
Porter would be force to start the second event from the back of the field, but a lap two incident would be costly. As three trucks got together in turn one, Porter tried to avoid the incident, but hit the pileup with the right side of his new paint job. He would come to pit road and the crew took off the fender and door, leaving the right side of Darrell’s truck exposed. On the restart, there was another wreck and Darrell locked up the brakes trying to avoid it, stopping just shot of the dustup.
When the field was turned loose again, Porter went on a rampage. He passed a bunch of trucks on the outside, and then with seven laps on the board, went to the bottom of a three-wide situation to take second into turn three. Jeff Showler was showing the way, with Porter 2.6 seconds behind. Over the next eight laps, Porter reeled in the leader and pulled to Showler’s back bumper while the pair were taking the white flag. Porter took a stab on the outside entering turn three but came up one truck length short. “We just needed a yellow when we were trying to catch Jeff. I just ran out of time.”
The seven-truck inversion put Porter sixth for the start of the final 10-lap segment, and with a class record $750 up for grabs to win, everything would be brought to the table. The first laps saw Paul Fothergil get black flagged for rough driving, after an incident that ended Matt Robblee’s night. On the next restart, Porter got boxed in and slid back to fifth as Jeff Showler got by on the highside. “I was between a rock and a hard place, and had nowhere to go,” explained the driver. Porter then went to the outside as well, and dispatched Joe Windas. He then tried to make a move on third-place Tom Zagorodny, while Jeff Showler was getting into the back of leader Norm Roy and sending him for a wild ride into the tire barrier at the start of pit road. Darrell was able to avoid the carnage and slip by on the outside. This put Zagorodny on the point for the restart, with Porter nipping at his heels. When the field was turned loose again, Porter took to the high line and when the field put lap four on the board the freshly painted # 8 machine was leading.
Darrell would survive one more restart, before pulling away en route to the checkered flag and celebrating with a tremendous burnout on the front straight. “This was awesome. Trucks were running over each other, but we survived. It didn’t look too good earlier in the night, and we ripped most of the right side off the truck winning, but we’re the ones standing in victory lane tonight.”
Following an emotional rollercoaster of a night, Porter summed up the evening, “We were shafted, then we were vindicated, then we dominated.”
With the victory, Porter moves even closer to the top of the championship points heap, and now sits second in the championship standings, just 19 markers behind Fothergil.
For more information about Darrell Porter, Porter Racing, or Delaware Speedway, please visit www.team-porter-racing.piczo.com, or www.delawarespeedway.com.
PORTER WINS CHALLENGE
August 4, 2006
By: John Houghton
Darrell Porter (#8) of Dorchester was the winner in the final 10-lap segment of the Challenger Motor Freight Truck “Challenge” Friday night at Delaware Speedway. Darrell started sixth after the inversion and started barging through the field. In an earlier segment Porter just about loaded up and called it a night after his truck received damage. He finished the race missing a number of body panels. Finishing second was Tom Zagorodny (#77) of Dorchester and third was Paul Fothergill (#9) of London. Winners of the other segments were Fothergill and Jeff Showler (#56) of Mt. Elgin who earlier in the night set the benchmark truck record in qualifying with a 22.460 second lap.
“I’m a bit mystified here,” Porter said in victory lane. “We were going to put it on the trailer after what happened in that first race, but we decided that we’d better race – so there you go!”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16, 2006
A First and Second for Darrell Porter at Delaware Speedway
(Dorchester, Ontario) - Darrel Porter and his Perth Auto Dismantlers / L-82 / A & A Sanitation Chevrolet were ready to tackle the competition at Delaware Speedway on July seventh, as the Challenger Truck Division starts their push through the second half of the season and the crowning of a 2006 champion. Porter was coming off a hot streak of two second-place performances, which were on the heels of a pair of third-place runs, allowing the Dorchester driver to creep back into the title picture after a terrible opening night.
The evening started off with heat race competition. Porter started at the back, but was able to slice his way through the field, and brought his # 8 machine home with a seventh-place result. “We were tight in the heat race. The guys are going to make some changes to it for the feature, and hopefully we’ll hit on it.”
The 25-lap feature would become a matter of attrition as Porter rolled off 14th in the main event. On the first green flag, a pile-up occurred right in front of Darrell, but he was able to avoid it and would restart again in 12th. On this start the crash would happen in turn three and once more, Porter was able to skate past with no contact. The next restart saw Darrell roll from 11th, and this time the field managed to get one entire lap in before wreck number three. It was also evident that the crew had hit on a great setup, as Porter climbed all the way to sixth on the opening lap.
After getting boxed in on the next restart, Darrell broke free on the outside and started zipping to the front, taking fourth on lap three, and moving to third one lap later. Another caution would slow the field on lap six, but on the restart it was all Porter as he moved around another truck to sit second. He then started to go to work on leader Randy Thompson, moving to the inside down the backstretch on lap eighth. Darrell pulled off the pass, but slid up the track, allowing Thompson to challenge back on the inside. After a little contact, Porter straightened his truck out and set sail. He would survive a couple more restarts over the remainder of the event, as Thompson was too busy trying to hold off Shawn Johns for second to mount a challenge on the leader.
For Porter it was his first win of the season, and also his first feature win since Labour Day weekend in 2004. “It’s so awesome to be back in victory lane. It’s been a long time since our last win, and I wanted it so bad.” Darrell spoke about his battle for the lead, “Randy was blocking on the low side, so I went high. When he went up there to block me I was able to get him on the bottom. I slipped up a bit after I got by him, and he got into my back end trying to get me back, but he let me get straight. After that, the truck was so good, that I only had to hit my marks and the win was ours.”
As for ending the winless drought, Porter explained, “I didn’t think it would take this long to get a win again, so when I crossed that line I screamed as loud as I could, and then just kept telling myself, ‘don’t forget anyone in victory lane’.”
Coming off a feature win the week before, Porter and his # 8 machine made a return to Delaware Speedway on July 14th. The previous week’s win moved him to sixth in the championship point standings, a mere five markers out of the top-five.
The night started off with a qualifying heat and based on his win, Porter would start shotgun on the field. He picked up one spot off the bat, but was caught on the outside groove, and shuffled back to the tail of the pack. “Everyone was two-by-two, and there was nowhere to go.” As the field strung out, Darrell was able to pick up some positions, and made a thrilling pass to gain three spots in the final corner. “I saw the #32 truck slow and everyone climbed on the brakes and slid up the track. That let me get all three of them on the final corner.”
After rolling off 13th in the main, Darrell was quick to challenge three wide in a couple of battles, finding himself in the top-five in just five laps, and was sitting third on a lap nine restart. Norm Roy would take the position from Porter on the restart, but Darrell deftly passed him back for the spot before trying to catch second-place Jeff Showler. Porter finally caught him on lap 19, while leader Paul Fothergil had checked out on the field. Porter kept pressing Showler for the silver medal when another yellow appeared on lap 21. It would relieve the pressure from Showler for a couple minutes, but when the green dropped again it also gave Darrell one more chance to take a stab at Showler with cooler tires and possibly the leader Paul Fothergil “I was glad to see that caution. On the restart Norm got me, and that really cost me. By the time I got by him, the front two were a ways ahead. I was glad to see another yellow to give me a shot at it, but I knew Paul’s truck was pretty fast.”
When the field went green for the final time it only took Darrell two laps to claim second spot, but he couldn’t catch Paul, who won his second feature of the season. “We were still pushing at the end. The more cautions the better, because the truck would come back a bit. When it started to sprinkle it actually helped us, because the truck got looser.”
The finish also moved Porter into the top-five in the standings, just 27 markers behind the leaders. “My guys worry about it, but I don’t. I just take it race by race and try to win every time out.”
May 28, 2006
By.J Maudsley
Darrell Porter on a Roll at Delaware Heading Into June
(Dorchester, Ontario) – Darrell Porter and his Perth Auto Dismantlers / Finish Line Racewear / L-82 Chevrolet have hit the track three times this season in Challenger Motor Freight Truck division action at Delaware Speedway. While opening night didn’t produce the results the Dorchester driver was looking for, nights two and three showed just how competitive the Porter Racing Team plans on being all season.
Last Friday, May 26th, Porter began the night with his 10-lap qualifier and after rolling off 10th had to lift early as a number of trucks in front of him scrambled for position early. After he got rolling, Porter was a force, passing for fifth on the outside, moving to fourth on lap four, and taking two more spots on lap five to move to second. “Todd Powell was out front of us, but I didn’t have enough time to catch him.” Porter was able to pare the lead from three seconds to one second before the checkered flag, coming up short.
In the feature Darrell took the green from eighth, and was up to fifth by a lap four restart. He quickly climbed into contention for the win, but on a restart just after halfway was shuffled back outside the top-five. After falling as far back as sixth, the # 8 truck went on the charge, moving up to fifth by the halfway point of the event, and trailing Jeff Showler, Randy Thompson, Doug Braunton, and Matt Robblee. Thomson, and Robblee would both take the lead temporarily, but Showler was able to seal the deal late in the event. Porter took to the outside as the laps wore down and in a tremendous scramble passed Robblee for third in a brilliant move, good enough to capture the bronze medal. “It was a fun race tonight. At the end we had four guys up front and any one of us could’ve won. When it comes to a late race battle, you don’t get any better than that. My guys did a great job working on our truck all night, but it got just a little push late in the race, and that slowed me up.”
Darrell also explained his late move on Robblee to gain third spot at the end of the feature, “Matt got me in traffic earlier, but I saw the lapped truck down on the bottom and was able to use him as a pick and gain the spot. It was a good run for us.”
Porter’s previous appearance before last Friday night was May fifth. It was a tremendous night for the championship contender, as he claimed a win during his 10-lap qualifier. “Starting up front always helps. I got a good jump at the start and the truck was working well.”
In the nightcap, Porter rolled off from the front of the pack again, and he was able to race his way to the lead. Darrell stretch out a lead before yellow flags put a number of contenders on his bumper. Porter tried to hold off Paul Fothergil in the late going, but couldn’t contain him, as Paul shuffled Darrell back to second. Just before the checkers fell, Porter lost another position to Robblee, for his first of two third-place finishes. Darrell smiled and explained, “This was a lot better than when we crashed on opening night. Our truck wasn’t perfect tonight, but after all the work we had to do on it before this race, we’ll take it.”
Hello Race fans, Lots happening in 2006. Starting with Delaware, this year Nascar and Delaware are parting ways. We are waiting to start the race season to see what changes it will bring.
The team is workin hard to deliver a new and improved chev truck for 2006. The truck from last year was 3rd in overall points and will be kept for back-up or sold off to buy a new create engine for the new #8.
