True Teamwork Helps Hathaway At Kawartha

September 24,
2011-Fraserville, Ontario– Jason Hathaway, in this #3 Snap on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge had high hopes of finishing up the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tires Series schedule at Kawartha Speedway with a strong showing and capture the highly contested 8^th place in the Driver Points Championship.

The car practiced well and Hathaway was comfortable with his race machine heading into the 250 lap event. “We like this track and it has been good to us in past years. We are starting from a good spot in the field tonight and we are looking forward to the race tonight!” Said Hathaway during the fan favourite autograph session trackside.

Starting 9^th in the deep 26 car field, in true Hathaway form, Hathaway got to work right away with the drop of
the green flag. By lap 10 Hathaway was already on the move. On lap 90 Crew Chief Craig Masters brought Hathaway’s race machine to the attention of his over the wall crew; changing left side tires and filling it with race fuel.
Hathaway went back out 15^th on the grid and put the hammer down working his way up the running order and by lap 100 was up to 11^th place. Hathaway’s car was working well and the Team was looking for a solid finish.

The Teams’ luck took a drastic turn on lap 142 when an accident in corner 2 collected the #3 Snap-on Tools/Rockstar Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge and forced Hathaway behind the wall for front end repairs. The Team worked feverishly on the car replacing the radiator and the braking system on the car. The Team caught a break when the caution flag flew on the on track activity. This gave the team some more time to get their job complete. Hathaway rolled back out on the track in only 22 laps and went to task to earn driver points. Hathaway ran quick laps and made up some
positions, finishing 21^st in the field. Hathaway and his #3 Snap-on Tools/ Rockstar
Energy Drink/Vortex Brake Pads Dodge finished 9^th in the Driver Points Standings.

Hathaway summed up the Team’s night and year. “This is a hard way to finish off this season. The boys really worked
well together tonight and got our repairs done pretty fast. Their hard work really showed what kind of team we have! This season we have had great cars each and every week and our cars looked great on the track and on the TSN TV coverage. The cars handled well, the crew worked on them to fine tune them and my Crew Chief Craig ran a great box during the race. We ran into some bad racing luck, like everyone has had every once and a while. After I got my cast off from my hand and wrist injury, our luck turned and Barrie was really a great race to show what we were capable of a team. Thank you to all of our sponsors for their support this season. It really meant a lot to us.”

The Kawartha 250 will air in a 90-minute special season finale on Saturday October 15 on TSN at 12:30 pm.

Ed Hakonson Racing is proud to be partnered with Snap-on Tools, Rockstar Energy Drinks, Vortex Brake Pads, Napoleon Grills, Castrol, Fast Eddie Racewear, Choko Motorsports, Praxair and Cathcart Trucking.

Photo: Jason Hathaway and his crew
Left to Right & Hometown
Jason Hathaway ( Driver)- Appin, Ontario
Don Brock (Tire Carrier)-Oshawa, Ontario
Craig Masters (Crew Chief- Tire Changer)-Ingersoll, Ontario
Derek Stone-( Tire Carrier) Buckhorn, Ontario
Phil Arnold( Spotter)- Oshawa, Ontario
Bryan Watts ( Jackman)- Uxbridge, Ontario
Ed Hakonson (Owner)- Stouffville, Ontario
Missing:
Josh Arnold (Tire Changer)- Oshawa, Ontario
Jamie Hakonson (Team Manager)- Uxbridge, Ontario
Rich Hischer (Fuel ) Havelock, Ontario