August 17, 2002, Bowmanville, Ontario – Louis-Philippe Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres, the 23-year old driver of the AutoValue/MCI/Michel Lebrun Aero-2 entered by AIM Autosport, rewrote the record book of the Canadian Formula Ford Championship presented by Deringer when he demolished the series’ record of five wins in a season set in 1992 by Stephen Adams. Dumoulin scored his sixth victory and clinched the title at the Grand Prix of Mosport today. The exciting 15-lap race was marked by an accident involving two-time series’ champion Didier Schraenen who rolled his CMV twice in Mosport’s infamous Corner 5.

Eighteen-year old Ashley Taws, driving the pink Barbie at Wal-Mart/Ray-O-Vac Aero 2, scored her best finish of the year, arriving in second place and beating another rookie, Frederick Lelievre of Mont-Joli, Quebec, the driver of the Boiseries St-Laurent/Lelievre Karting Vector from the LM La Scuderia team.

Dumoulin started the race from pole position, followed by Ryan Floer in the Britain West Motorsport Van Diemen, Jean-Philippe Papineau in the Mahoney Transport/Trac Racing CMV, Ashley Taws and Kuno Wittmer in the DaGiovanni/AutoSkin Van Diemen. At the green, Floer missed his start slightly and caused some chaos, allowing the 6th place starter Schraenen to vault into second place. Schraenen pressed hard behind race leader Dumoulin early in the race. On lap six he took the lead but Dumoulin retook first place by passing Schraenen in Corner 8. Pickering, Ontario’s Christopher Guerrieri started in eighth place but was already up in third on lap 8. One lap later, Schraenen and Guerrieri engaged in a battle for second position. It ended abruptly one lap later when the two cars collided in Corner 5A, sending Schraenen’s CMV into a series of rolls. Schraenen was shaken but uninjured. Guerrieri continued his race with a bent front left suspension. Taws – who was running fourth before the incident – found herself running second after the crash.

In the closing laps of the race, Dumoulin and Taws battled it out, running only inches apart at times. But the vastly experienced Dumoulin managed to keep the rookie at bay until the chequered fell. At the flag, the order was Dumoulin, Taws, Frederick Lelievre, Papineau, Wittmer, Steve Pickering (Linden Auto/Transmission Unlimited Van Diemen) and John Restemeyer in the Knorr/Coleman/Pennzoil Vector.

Race winner Louis-Philippe DUMOULIN
“What a great race that was! I’m so glad to have clinched the championship and to have beaten the record for the most wins in a season. I battled hard with Didier (Schraenen) early in the race. I had to stay focused to make no mistakes. He passed me in Corner 8 and it was a clean move. I repassed him one lap later. After that, I had to fight with my team mate Ashley. There were no team orders – we were just asked to finish the race. It was really great and I look forward to the next race in Mont-Tremblant.”

Second place Ashley TAWS
“I had a very good start but I had nowhere to go! Ryan Floer had a slow start and blocked me. After that I stayed cool because there was a lot of action... I saw the end of the Scharenen’s crash and that allowed me to take second place. I had a good time fighting with Louis-Philippe (Dumoulin) at the end of the race. We managed to pull away slightly from the rest of the field. I tried to pass him in Corner 8 on the last lap but there was nothing I could do.”

Third place Frederick LELIEVRE
“This is my first podium finish of the season and I am very excited and satisfied. It was a great race. I almost stalled at the start but eventually got away nicely. I made my way up the field and lost a little bit of time passing Jean-Philippe Papineau. When I finally passed him, Dumoulin and Taws were gone.”

::: CLOSE :::

Original Text From: Formula Ford 1600.