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The Castrol Can-Am Midgets made their return appearance to Flamboro Speedway on this gorgeous Saturday evening. Also scheduled was the King of the Hill tournament, Cruise Night, and the regular show of Street Stocks, Thunder Cars, and Go Four Mini Stocks, as well as the Flamboro4 Modifieds. A full night of racing excitement that started with the cars with wings, which fly but rarely leave the ground.
In the opening qualifier for the Can-Am’s, #10 Bob Crawford and #3 Todd Cresswell piled into the corner three wall. Not a good sign of things to come, because in the next heat, points leader #49 Adam Walsh piled his car into the corner one wall and left the track with only three out of four wheels still attached to the car. Learning from the previous two races, the drivers in the third heat took it a little easier in the beginning and raced caution free. Those races were won, respectively, by #23 Randy May, #43 Craig Mackereth, and #74 Ken Lorenz. In further Can-Am action, the ITB Transport sponsored Dash for Cash was dominated and won by #52 James Friesen; and the last chance qualifier was won by Adam Walsh, whose team worked so hard to put the #49 back together in time for that race. It paid off.
As only the Can-Ams can do, they saluted the crowd in four-abreast formation around the track before receiving the green flag for their feature race, but once that flag dropped their would only be one car at the start of the line. Ken Lorenz got off to a good start, and took the lead on lap three. Lorenz won the Can-Am feature race when they had raced here earlier in the season and after a taste of victory was looking to repeat. The man with the best shot of dashing Lorenz’s hopes for two in a row at Flamboro was driving the #23, Randy May. May moved into second spot, right behind the #74 of Lorenz, and proceeded to apply pressure to the back of the #74. Racing nose to tail around the 1/3 mile asphalt oval hat is Flamboro Speedway, at about 15.5 seconds per lap, through traffic, the front three pulled away from the field. It was Ken Lorenz leading Randy May, and the new car in the battle was #6 Jeff Riberdy. As the battle heated up out front, the action was cooled by a couple of cautions in the closing laps. Ken Lorenz was forced to go through the pressures of a restart three times before the Can-Ams would finish their final ten laps. Lorenz held off the charging Randy May, but the car to watch was the #49 of Adam Walsh, who was on the move in the end to gain some needed points to stay at the top of the standings. As the cars flew out of corner four and down to the line it was #74 Ken Lorenz who would claim victory, his second feature at Flamboro this season, followed by #23 Randy May, and #6 Jeff Riberdy. #21 Jim Johnstone Jr. finished in fourth, and after all of the team’s hardwork and his own drive, Adam Walsh brought the #49 home in fifth. The high-flying excitement of the Castrol Can-Am Midgets returns to Flamboro for the final time in 2001 on Saturday August 25th.
The Street Stocks ran well all night, with familiar faces filling victory lane, until the feature. Steve Stockford made his 2001 debut in the #10, starting up front, and staying there for the duration. Stockford’s biggest threat came from the “The Rocket” Randy Rusnell, who was quick to gain second spot but couldn’t muscle his way around the #10. One bad wreck brought out the caution, when Craig Albers lost the engine in the #57 car and laid a trail of oil between turns one and two. The unfortunate cars who were collected in the slippery mess were #02 Jim Mannen, #67 Sean Leslie and #45 Dave Bennett. Bennett was able to continue, Leslie limped off, and Mannen was given the free ride back to the pits on the hook of the French’s Tow Truck. Steve Stockford held on to the lead on the restart and would never let go as he brought the #10 to victory lane. Randy Rusnell finished second in the #72, followed by #03 Bob Gilbert, #90 Andy Wheller, and #45 Dave Bennett rounded out the top five.
It was a similar story in the Thunder Car division, with familiar faces in victory lane, but the exception was that the feature winner was even more familiar with the checkers by the end of the night. #31 Kevin Gallant picked up two heat wins in qualifying and earned a top five starting spot in the feature. He had to work hard to get to third, and even harder to get around the experienced #10 of Ray Gowan. Gallant, now in second, set his sights on the leader #29 Steve Cashmore. Down the front straight the Thunder Cars got three wide at the front, Gowan, Cashmore and Gallant all pushing to be the leader. Gallant was the victor when he his #31 around the #29 of Cashmore and proceeded to drive away from the rest of the field. With two laps remaining Kevin Gallant was well out in front, with a half-track lead on Steve Cashmore. The win well in hand as he came out of corner four, Kevin Gallant picked up the feature checkers, followed Steve Cashmore in the #29, Ray Gowan in the #10, and #12 Mike Post.
In other racing action, our King of the Hill tournament continued, with our Canada Day King, Glen Hils, returning with his Honda Prelude to defend the crown. Though he put forth a valiant effort, in the end he fell victim to snake bite. Jack MacDonald faced Hils in the final round, and blew the doors off the Prelude with his 2001 Mustang Cobra. MacDonald now reigns supreme in the court of speed, and rules with a heavy foot. Our next King of the Hill race will be July 28th, along with a demolition derby and kids ride night. So if you think you could conquer the cobra, or just want the fun experience of taking a lap, come on out and run the gauntlet.
Now tonight is going to be a busy one. Not only is there a scheduled autograph session with the Late Models, who are scheduled to run Twin 25 lap races, but there are some add-ons as well. The Mini Stock feature from July 14th was postponed until tonight, and the Street Stock and Thunder Car features from July 7th still need to be run. We have 5 scheduled classes of racing, and double features to run for four of those classes. A whole lot of racing action ahead, what better present for Christmas In July!
Note: The F4 Modifieds will run double features when they return on July 28th. #27 Doug Pokupec has already won both qualifying races was no doubt the car to beat. But with a two week hiatus other drivers have the opportunity to better their cars for the July 28th race, to give them a chance at knocking the dominant ruler of the F4’s from his thrown. Exciting racing action is expected, and as an added bonus, July 28th will also be Kids Ride night, where the kids can go for a lap around the track in a race car, and later that night to cap things off there will be a demolition derby! You won’t want to miss that one, July 28th, double features for F4’s, Kids Ride Night, and a Demolition Derby!
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