It was a professional thief, not driver, that led police on truck chase: CTA

TORONTO, Ont. -- The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) says a much-publicized truck chase in Ontario is an indication that cargo crime is a growing problem.

The organization says while media reports focused on the 'trucker' who led the police chase along the QEW in a tractor pulling an empty flatbed trailer, in reality the trailer carried a load of wafer board when originally pilfered from a Niagara area truck stop.

The CTA also takes issue with the driver being referred to as a 'trucker' when it appears he was a professional thief - not driver. The driver was out on bail after being charged in December 2010 for possessing a load of stolen Sony Playstations valued at $1 million, the CTA indicated.

"Yesterday's incident highlights the need to take cargo crime more seriously and it demonstrates how truck drivers work together to protect themselves and to fight cargo crime," CTA CEO David Bradley said in a statement yesterday.

The CTA has also discovered an observant truck driver played a role in capturing the thief. The driver was a colleague of the owner/operator who owned the stolen truck and became suspicious when he saw it travelling along the 401 without a load. He called his friend's cell phone and found out his truck had been stolen. He then called police to report the location of the rig.

CTA's Bradley said it's alarming the truck was stolen from a well-lit, secure yard, where the owner had been safely parking it for 20 years. Further, the trailer was equipped with an immobilizing device.

"And, yet, the thief was still able to take the unit," said Bradley. "Thankfully, the event ended peacefully. The police should be commended for keeping the travelling public safe and bringing the stolen truck to a safe stop. But it could have been much worse. What happened shows us that the industry, government and the enforcement agencies must do a better job of working together to develop countermeasures to combat this serious area of criminality."

Bradley said truckers are at risk of personal harm during truck and cargo thefts while the cost to the industry is enormous.

"Often, there is little to no risk but potentially huge profits to be made (by thieves). If perpetrators keep getting out on bail or serve only very short sentences, what's stopping them from doing this again? Much tougher sentencing is needed," Bradley said.

The CTA, meanwhile, has developed a Cargo Crime Incident Report in partnership with the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Truck fleets are encouraged to report cargo theft incidences so the industry can better understand the true costs and strengthen its lobbying efforts for harsher sentences.

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The 2011 Chase Class Is Set

Kevin Harvick wins the race at Richmond and gains three more bonus points for the chase seeding. Harvick and Kurt Busch are tied for the top spot with Kurt being seeded number one and Harvick second. I think that Kurt is on top by laps led and not just thrown up there for no reason at all. They are tied in points though so I can’t put either on top of the other. Did you get to watch that race Saturday night? That was a classic barnburner of a race, I just love that ¾ mile short track at Richmond. I wish that Richmond were on the list of chase tracks because it is just plain exciting racing. We do have Martinsville though and that will be another good one. So how do they stack up among each other in the chase rankings? I will look into that in a moment but first I want to address an issue that came up during the post race interviews.

Jeff Gordon was not happy with the late caution that Paul Menard brought by spinning out on the front stretch. The radio traffic between Menard and his Crew made mention of a flat tire. Yet all four tires were up on Menards car. I watched the video and didn’t see why he spun out.

            Here is what Gordon had to say about the spin. “Well, I wasn’t real happy I had to start that last restart on the outside,’’ “My car all night was not good on the outside, and I -- to know with 20 laps to go you’re driving away with the lead, I was feeling pretty good about that.  I didn’t want to see a caution.  I thought it was interesting when I saw a Childress car sitting down this in the grass. “But we dealt with it.  We didn’t have the best of pit stops.  I didn’t do them any favor.  I didn’t get into the box as good as I needed to.  We got beat off pit road, plain and simple.

With that simple statement a whole subject for discussion was born steeped deeply in conspiracy. Jeff Gordon has a point, here we are with a little over 20 laps to go, Gordon has a one second lead over Kevin Harvick who is fading. Then you get a Childress car that is many laps down, spinning on the front stretch all by his lonesome. Harvick gets to pit and wins the race off of pit road and starts on the inside knowing that Gordon’s car is not good on the outside. The green flag fly’s and Harvick pretty much checks out on the field. Jeff Gordon rebounds and holds on to third place but he is not happy about the caution. It is a subject for the fans, bloggers and talking heads only because Nascar didn’t say a word about it as far as I can tell. They will however be watching closely in the chase for any blatant team assistance if you can call it that. I really don’t know what the sanctioning body’s stance is on this subject with the whole “Boys have at it” deal and all. This wasn’t an obvious incident as it is almost impossible to prove that someone spun out intentionally, unless you advertise it on the radio like Dale Junior did once it is very hard to prove. You can bet money though that if you see some one’s team mate wreck another chase driver during the chase Nascar will get involved in that.

That said lets look at the seeding of the 2011 chase. Everyone’s points were reset to 2000 points and drivers with wins were awarded 3 points per win. So the points in the chase now look like this.

Kyle Busch 4 wins 2012 pointsKevin Harvick 4 wins 2012 pointsJeff Gordon 3 wins 2009 pointsMatt Kenseth 2 wins 2006 pointsCarl Edwards 1 win 2003 pointsJimmy Johnson 1 win 2003 pointsKurt Busch 1 win 2003 pointsRyan Newman 1 win 2003 pointsTony Stewart 0 wins 20 00 pointsDale Earnhardt Junior 0 wins 2000 pointsBrad Keselowski 3 wins 2000 points (WC) (Wild card spots don’t get bonus points)Denny Hamlin 1 win 2000 points (WC)

Does making the chase relieve a team of all pressures that accumulated from the attempt at getting in? What I mean, is making the chase enough of a spark to rebound a team that has been either fading at the second half of the season or just holding on enough to make the chase? You have Dale Earnhardt Junior, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin that made the chase in just that manner. Can any of these three teams turn it on in these last ten races? If you include Ryan Newman in that group do you have a chase that is really going to be ran between the top seven? Dale Earnhardt Junior has not seen the top ten in the last five races, this team has to turn it around right now or they will not have a chance to win the chase. The rest of the chase teams have visited the top ten in the last five races so the team that really needs to turn it around is the 88 team of Dale Earnhardt Junior.

If things stay the way they have been in the past five races I would put my money on Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Jeff Gordon is at the top of the power rankings with Kyle Busch in second. Then you have Edwards and Harvick 3rd and 4th. Dale Junior is listed in 13th below A.J. Allmendinger who isn’t in the chase. Man is that a slap in the face for a driver that fought like hell to get into the chase. Performance is everything when it comes to Nascar Power Ranking and the 88 team just hasn’t had it. It has been a “Keep your head above water” kind of run to the end of the regular season. The first chase race is at Chicago this year; maybe they can get the stands full by having the first chase race there? Good luck. Gordon has 41 wins at Intermediate tracks including one win at Chicago back in 2006, plus he is on a hot streak. Those stats put him at the top this week starting the chase at Chicagoland Speedway. Jeff Gordon, by far, has the most wins at intermediate tracks out of all the drivers in the chase. Tony Stewart follows him in second with 20 wins at intermediate tracks but his recent performance has him down at 14th in the power rankings.

             I have a dark horse in this chase that has been coming on strong at the end of the regular season and that is Brad Keselowski. The driver from Michigan is on a roll and I don’t see that ending in the near future. If you think that any of these teams are resting up after making the chase you are sadly mistaken. The top twelve teams are now in overdrive mode as the wick has just been turned up big time. Testing is at a premium along with pit crew practice getting kicked into overdrive as well. Its going to be a great chase.

I’ll be back soon with a look ahead at Chicagoland Speedway. Until then I’m in South Carolina waiting on a load of flour that doesn’t seem to want to load early.

Stay Safe

TW

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With The Win At Michigan Kyle Busch Locks Himself Into The Chase

It was a “Green, White, Checkered” finish for the win at Michigan for Kyle Busch who beat Jimmy Johnson to the line by less than a second. Winning the Pure Michigan 400 last Sunday mathematically locked Kyle into the Chase for the Sprint cup, Matt Kenseth can do the same this weekend at Bristol by finishing 90 something points ahead of twelfth in the points standings. I think there are some other scenarios where other drivers can do the same but I am far from a mathematician so I’ll leave that headache to someone else. I love the racing at the Michigan International Speedway; this track is so wide and fast that there is plenty of action to watch. The first caution came out at lap 30 for debris and the pit stops ensued. Greg Biffle was leading when the caution came out and he and Matt Kenseth came out one and two to re-start the field. This is usually a Ford dominated track as the headquarters of both Ford Motor Company and Roush Industries are not far away; this was not to be a Ford day as shortly after the re-start Carl Edwards headed back to pit road where the crew opened the hood. That was not a good omen for the Ford teams. Edwards heads for the garage area confirming the worst.

            After another debris caution that slows the pace of the race a bit, Kyle Busch takes the lead from Biffle on lap 94.Biffle and Busch swap the lead a couple of times, then Kyle takes the lead again and starts pulling away by more than a half a second when another debris caution again bunches up the field on lap 102. Kyle loses the lead by taking four tires but that four tire change pays off in dividends of grip later in the run and he makes his way back up to third and is trying to catch Jeff Gordon and Kenseth when the caution comes out again when Dave Blaney is slow in the track. The three leaders all take four tires leading me to believe that they all will be pretty even on the restart. I love the double file re-starts. At this point (lap 173) Jimmy Johnson is in the lead and feeling like winning his first ever race at Michigan.

            Then at lap 197 the laundry is flying again as the caution is out once more. Kyle brother Kurt hits the wall causing the green, white, checkered finish. It was not that big a deal though as Kyle cleared Jimmy Johnson coming out of turn two and from there to the finish Johnson could not seal the deal. All Jimmy Johnson could do was watch as Kyle Busch and not himself, would get his first win at Michigan.

            The engine scare for the Ford teams would end up only being Carl Edward’s problem with the rest of the Roush boys finishing in decent spots. Kenseth came in 10th, Ragan in 12th, and Biffle in 20th. My boy Junior came in 14th seating him currently in 9th place, 6 points ahead of Tony Stewart. We are now in go or go home mode for anyone not locked into the chase at this point. There are only three races left before the chase starts, Bristol’s night race, Atlanta, and Richmond. Its time for some folks to get it in gear, like Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and A.J. Allmendinger. All three of these drivers have more than enough talent to pull off the wins or top finishes that they need to get into the chase. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin currently occupy the two wild card spots; Keselowski has two wins this season and Hamlin one. Denny needs to win a race to solidly claim that second wildcard slot. Paul Menard and David Ragan are looking at Denny’s spot at the moment both with a win apiece and both residing in the top 20 in points. If either of those guys win a race in the next three and Hamlin doesn’t, Denny could find himself on the outside looking in.

            Here is how they crossed the line Sunday at Michigan down through the top ten. As usual head over to Nascar.com for the full field finishing order.

Kyle BuschJimmy JohnsonBrad KeselowskiMark MartinRyan NewmanJeff GordonKasey KahneClint BowyerTony StewartMatt Kenseth

Here are the points after the Pure Michigan 400.

Kyle BuschJimmy JohnsonKevin HarvickCarl EdwardsMatt Kenseth Jeff GordonRyan NewmanKurt BuschDale Earnhardt JuniorTony StewartBrad Keselowski (wild card)Denny Hamlin (Wild Card)

Bristol is the location for all your short track action this weekend! Actually there is racing there tonight with the Nascar Whelan Modified tour racing there tonight on the worlds fastest half mile. That is running as I write this on Speed TV. Then the O’reilly 200 Truck series race will run right after the modifieds tonight also on Speed. The Nationwide series will be in action on Friday night and the Cup series on Saturday night. It’s all about Night racing this weekend. If you happen to be traveling near Bristol this weekend and have some spare time and cash, there is plenty of truck parking there, go see a race.

I’m headed down the road and will have to listen to it on the radio. I may get home in time this weekend to watch the Cup race.

Stay safe

Tw

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