|
|
The first ever Can-Am TQ Midget Northern Nationals were to be held at Flamboro Speedway on this night, combining the Can-Am Midget Club with TQ Midget clubs from New Jersey and New York, but things just didn’t work out as planned. The Northern Nationals were cancelled just prior to race day, when the three clubs finally decided it just couldn’t be run due to some disagreements surrounding conflicting rulebooks. The good news was that the clubs would discuss these conflicts over the off-season and, if the issues could be resolved, the Northern Nationals will be run at Flamboro in 2002. The Can-Ams still boasted a full field of cars for the night, and their young gun from Brantford, #49 Adam Walsh, had his hands full trying to keep ahead in the Castrol points battle. Our home track leaders were also trying to stay ahead, while the guys from mid-pack started to show their stuff.
In the Street Stocks, the top two in points, #45 Dave Bennett and #72 Randy Rusnell, grabbed heat wins, and stayed out of the ugly wreck involving #8 Richard Dyson and #57 Craig Albers. Down the front chute Dyson got into the side of the #57, sending Albers up the wall, through the air, and hard into the asphalt. There was a lot of damage done to the #57, and his night was over, leaving second round qualifying wins for #41 Dave Miskolczi and #20 Gary Slama. In the feature those four winners were in the top five, but there was one driver in front of all of them. Andy Wheller got his #90 out front early on, and stayed at the front of the train for the duration. Wheller grabbed the feature win, followed by Slama, Rusnell, Bennett, and Miskolczi.
There was a little more wild action in the Thunder Cars, and it all began in heat one. Steve Cashmore got put around by Randy Richard early, and that left the duel for the lead to be fought between Randy Rutherford and Mike Post. Post won, Rutherford second. Then in heat three the roles were reversed, Rutherford crossed the line first, Post second. In heat two there was a multiple car mess in corner one when some fluid dropped on the track and collected the #89 of Bob Chenoweth, #6 Jim Ball, and #55 Jesse Fair. A quick note, Jesse Fair is the son of CASCAR driver Neil Fair who is usually noticeable in Jesse’s pit. On this particular night Neil was competing in western Canada leaving son Jesse only wanting to do well and take the car home in one piece. He kept the car off the wall and out of trouble in this mess, but remember this note for later. Points leader Kevin Gallant went on to win the race. The feature came later. Off the outside pole Darren Dinner in the #90 grabbed the lead, while in second Rob Vanderveen held up traffic in the #93. The car on the move was the black streak of lightning, Jesse Fair’s #55. Fair went three wide down on the inside to get fifth spot, but was not a part of the wreck that followed when Darren Dinner made contact with Jim Ball and went into the wall. Ball kept his spot and inherited the lead, while Dinner went to the back. Randy Richard was in second, and Jesse Fair had now moved into third, and was charging hard when racing resumed. Fair dove inside Richard in the corner, but backed out when he ran out of race track as Randy cut down the lane. There seemed to be a growing handling problem on the #55 after that, and then, coming high out of corner two, Jesse Fair scrubbed the wall. There was a shower of sparks, and then shooting from that shower was a wheel from the #55. Fair had broken the axle. Down the straightaway Jesse shot, and when he hit the brakes into corner three the car spun 180-degrees and slammed the passenger side of the car into the wall. He went pit-side with the help of French’s Towing, and was likely thinking, “What am I gonna tell Dad?” The green flag dropped again to signal the restart, and #6 Jim Ball would lead the rest of the way. Ball collected the checkers in victory lane, beating a pair of Randys, #91 Randy Richard and #38 Randy Rutherford. Steve Cashmore drove the #29 to a fourth place finish, and Ray Gowan rounded out the top five in the #10.
The Go Fours had a top five battle going all night, and the feature winner was a bit of a surprise. When the green flag dropped for the feature the top five included points leader #85 Rob Allerellie, two recent feature winners #73 Ron Larkin Jr. and #77 Bryn Rennie, a returning feature winner #22 Ken Turner, and then the little pink and blue #17 of Jim Hill. Of all those drivers, Hill would be the underdog, but he came out on top. Climbing quickly to the lead, Jim Hill ran away like a scared rabbit. And why not? With hunters like Allerellie and Rennie on his tail, it was understandable. There was a brief battle for third between Rennie and Turner, where paint and positions were swapped a couple of times, but they worked it all out and came to a clean finish. Jim Hill put the #17 in victory lane, while Robert Allerellie was held to second. Bryn Rennie won the battle for third, leaving Ken Turner to fourth, #71 Barry Westman to fifth, and then Ron Larkin Jr. to finish up sixth.
As always the Late Models put on an entertaining show in the feature. Visiting from Mosport, the #45 Sam Hazelwood, who when last seen at Flamboro on August 11th was loading what was left of his car on to a flatbed truck after a bad wreck on the front straightaway, got out in front of Paul Howse to lead lap one. Howse would not stay back long, diving inside Hazelwood, making light contact, and taking the lead. Cars on the move in the middle included #9 Chris Bochsler, #4 Terry King, and the #7 Petey Shepherd. Bochsler climbed to third, King to sixth, and Shepherd was on his way to the front. Petey made a good move to get by Rob Maas’ #57, and raced to the bumper of rookie mate #77 Kenny McNicol Jr. The rookies touched into corner one, the #7 turned towards the wall, Petey stopped the car, got it turned in the right direction, but headed pit side with what was later discovered to be a broken tie rod on the #7. Paul Howse continued to lead out front, Sam Hazelwood on his back bumper, and then Chris Bochsler riding the back of the #45. With two to go, Howse and Hazelwood pulled away, leaving Bochsler to hold off points leader Bill Jackson, and it was a good thing they were in front. In corner four, Bill Jackson made contact with the #39 of Harry Topp, got sideways, and collected the #20 of Ryan Warris. Luckily, Kenny McNicol was able to sneak by with no damage to the #77. A green, white, checker, shoot out was up next, but the final three laps were uneventful. Paul Howse won the feature, Sam Hazelwood finished second. Chris Bochsler finished third, then #56 Jeff Stewart and #57 Rob Maas.
The Can-Am Midget racing was sponsored by National Exhaust, also sponsor of Petey Shepherd’s #7 Late Model, and were not let down by the racing action. The high-speed, near flying action of the winged warriors was exciting, even without the addition of the two American clubs. A very clean start saw #82 James Gray of Brampton zoom into the early lead, but #49 Adam Walsh was not to be denied. He came to Flamboro Speedway with a single point lead in the points standings and only one feature win on the season. He quickly worked up to the top three and when #43 Craig Mackereth of Toronto dove under the #82 of Gray, Walsh went with him. Within a lap, Adam Walsh got under Mackereth and proceeded to drive away. A couple of caution flags were the only thing to keep Walsh in sight as he blazed away from the field. With five laps to go, half the field was a lap down to Walsh and he was still driving away from Craig Mackereth. At the checkers, it was Walsh across the line first, then #43 Mackereth, #7 Randy May, and #21 Jim Johnstone.
The Canadian Dwarf Cars held their “Race for Wishes” night to raise funds for the Make A Wish Foundation. The Dwarf Cars donated their purse money for the night as well as sold tickets for a draw for great prizes like tickets to different Ontario entertainment centers including Canada’s Wonderland and the Royal Ontario Museum. The grand total of donations rose to over 3000 dollars, and the Dwarf Car Club, and the people from the Make A Wish Foundation, would like to thank everyone who participated. Now, in the racing action, #43 Ken Scott was blazing fast in the beginning of the feature, but he was not to get far away from the flaming #2 John Sharp. Sharp ran down Scott, while the brothers Smith, Jim and Ron, battled in the top five. On the inside John Sharp took the lead from Ken Scott, and at the halfway point was still doing fine. The #2 of Sharp parked solidly in victory lane at the end of the race, with John presenting the cheque to the Make A Wish Foundation. Ken Scott finished second in the #43, followed by #14 Ron Smith, #1, and #15 Jim Smith.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|