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Mini Stocks – Tony Darmon returned to Flamboro in the pink #66 and quickly let the rest of the “Go Fours” know that he was the car to beat. Darmon won both heat races, followed by #85 Robert Allerellie. Allerellie had won the feature the week before when the #66 was away, and had something to prove, that he could be the dominant car and was fast enough to take the #66. In the feature the #85 of Allerellie and the #66 of Darmon raced to the front with #77 Bryn Rennie in tow, and the top three quickly separated from the rest of the pack. Robert Allerellie pulled up beside Tony Darmon to challenge for the lead. Darmon would pull away on the straight aways but Allerellie was too quick for the #66 in the corners. With two laps to go Robert Allerellie brought his #85 around the #66 and took the lead. With one lap to go Bryn Rennie followed suit, and brought the #77 by to claim second. An ill handling #66 sent Tony Darmon back from first to third in two laps, and as the “Go Fours” raced to the checkers it was #85 Robert Allerellie claiming his second feature win in two weeks, followed by #77 Bryn Rennie, #66 Tony Darmon, #17 Jim Hill, and #73 Ron Larkin Jr.
Street Stocks – Four qualifying races were held for the Street Stocks, and four different cars parked in victory lane for photos with Dave Franks. #20 Gary Slama won the first heat, #41 Dave Miskolczi won the second. The third heat win went to #45 Larry Bennett, and the fourth went to #02 Jim Mannen. Mannen would lead early in the feature, followed closely by Slama, Bennett, Miskolczi, and the #4 of Bill Barfoot. Two packs emerged from the top six, with the front three separating from the back three. Jim Mannen lead Gary Slama and Bill Barfoot away from the trailing #45 Larry Bennet, #41 Dave Miskolczi, and #5 Jeff Bean. The #4 was the car on the move, who quickly got up beside the #20 to race for second, and eventually took the spot on the inside. Another driver to watch was the #72 of Randy “The Rocket” Rusnell, the year 2000 point champion, who had caught up to the top five and was working his way around #41 Miskolczi. The battles at the front of the pack allowed the #41 and #72 to catch’em, and soon there was a five car freight train pulling away from the field. The leaders came up on slower traffic near the end of the race, and this slight delay allowed Bill Barfoot to just get the nose of the #4 inside of Mannen’s #02. With two laps to go Mannen schooled the field and the fans in defensive driving, making the #02 three cars wide and not allowing the #4 to get by. The #72 and #41 both made last lap efforts for positions, going high and low to get around the #4, and it was a breath holding finish. #02 Jim Mannen won his first feature of 2001, followed closely by the #4 Bill Barfoot, #72 Randy Rusnell, #41 Dave Miskolczi, and then the #20 Gary Slama.
Thunder Cars – Ray Gowan is having a great season in the #10
Thunder Car, so far. He won another heat race on Saturday, with the
other going to #91 Randy Richard. Kevin Gallant is stepping up his
game, and after fixing a problem on the car (he had a weak leaf spring
in the car which broke just before racing), the #31 is looking to be in
better shape as it ended up second in both heats. When the feature
came around Kevin Gallant brought the #31 to the top five in a hurry, blowing
by the #50 John Burdick back in seventh. Up front, it was the #12
Mike Post running hard, followed by the #43 Dave Habel. The #43 got
to the bumper of Post, and then dove inside to take away the lead.
Habel lead the front three, the #43, #12, and #91, while fourth place #10
Ray Gowan had his hands full blocking the #31 of Gallant who was on a hard
charge to the front. Then, with three laps to go, trouble struck
the Thunder Cars. #12 Mike Post headed pitside with mechanical problems,
and #10 Ray Gowan spun out in the corners. This brought out the caution,
and left the field in a tight pack for a green, white, checker finish.
Dave Habel was quick to the gas when the green flag dropped, pulling far
away from #91 Randy Richard. The top two would not change as out
of corner four and down to the stripe #43 Dave Habel collected the checkers,
followed by #91 Randy Richard. #31 Kevin Gallant would finish third,
followed by #10 Ray Gowan, and #7 Robert Disher.
Late Models – In the first Late Model Special of 2001, a scheduled
50 lap event, four different drivers scored heat wins. #36 Jim MacDonald,
#19 Trevor Warren, #9 Chris Boschler, and #57 Rob Maas, all won a qualifying
race. In Maas’ case it was not only his first victory of 2001, but
a triumphant return after his hard wreck in corners three and four on opening
night April 28th. Four different heat winners, and yet none of them
would be the driver to lead the opening lap, or the last lap. #10
Grant Edwards, a Mosport car who has run at Flamboro early in 2001, lead
the opening green flag lap with Flamboro driver #49 Drew Spicer in tow,
and #4 Terry King and #83 Ian Bourque behind him. Terry King hasn’t
changed since moving up from Challenger and was his same aggressive self.
3 wide, the Late Models raced into the corners, where King was forced to
let off and back out. As the front couple cars ran away and spread
out the back half of the pack ran close. Soon there was a three car
rocket, headed by #49 Spicer, with #83 Bourque and #36 MacDonald, hooking
up to run down the leader #10 Edwards. Jim MacDonald stole third
from Ian Bourque with a pass on the inside, and then used the same move
to take second away from the #49 of Spicer. Following MacDonald’s
lead, Ian Bourque also came by the #36 and in a matter of laps the three
cars had inverted positions. By half way the front three were all
spread out, the #49 Drew Spicer had gone pitside with problems, and the
battle to watch was for fourth between #7 Petey Shepherd and #9 Chris Boschler.
After a caution for a 3 car mess in corner four, the late models set-up
for a 3 lap green, white, checker finish. Jim MacDonald took the
chance, and raced all over the back end of Grant Edwards’ #10. Up
and down, looking inside and out, MacDonald could just not find a way to
get by the #10. As they crossed the line for the final time it was
#10 Grant Edwards winning the first Late Model special of 2001, followed
by #36 Jim MacDonald. Then it was #83 Ian Bourque, #9 Chris Boschler,
#4 Terry King, and then the #7 Petey Shepherd.