@OSCAARRacing • Beautiful late summers' weather welcomed the race fans to Sunset Speedway for an exciting night of OSCAAR racing. The Outlaw drivers where racing in memory of long time OSCAAR competitor Bruce Gowland, and they put on a show that Bruce would have been very proud of. The HOOSIER Mod drivers continue to show the race fans why they are the premier open wheel modified show in Ontario.
Dickies Outlaws By London Recreational Racing:
For the second consecutive year the Outlaw drivers raced in the memory of Bruce Gowland for their fifty lap feature event. Last years' memorial winner Dwayne Baker was not in attendance so a new name was going to be engraved on the trophy.... The question was who?
Four 10 lap heat races would start the evening off for the Outlaw drivers. JR Fitzpatrick would be the first to flex his muscles by picking up heat race #1 and #4 giving him the distinction of being the top qualifier on the evening. Glenn Watson and his #22 machine recovered from mechanical problems in practice to take the win in heat #2 over a close battle with the #29 of Sean Grosman. Kevin Cornelius entered the night with a perfect win streak in feature competition and would take the win in heat race #3 on the night.
The 50 lap feature would see the #22 of Watson on poll along side the #9 of Brandon Watson who was making his first series start in two years. Brandon had his template CRA car in competition and would score a 12th place finish in feature competition. From the drop of the green flag it was a four car race at the front. Glenn Watson lead the first 22 laps of the feature with a fierce battle going on behind him. The #84 of Fitzpatrick, the #17 of Cornelius and the #7 of Derrick Tiemersma where all battling door to door lap after lap all looking to mount a challenge on the #22 of Watson. On lap 23, Kevin made his move for the lead and was able to pull away for the second place battle.
Every race fan kept their eyes on the battle for second.
Watson was on the outside and Fitzpatrick on the inside raced side by side for lap after lap in front of the excited crowd. The two drivers put on a great display of racing giving each other the room and the respect to race it out. With about 10 laps to go Fitzpatrick was finally able to complete the pass for second, but by then the #17 was far enough in the lead that a challenge for the win would not happen. When the checker flag waved it was the #17 of Kevin Cornelius keeping his feature win streak alive, followed by the #84 of JR Fitzpatrick and the #22 of Glenn Watson rounding out the top three. Derrick Tiemersma would finish the night in fourth place followed by the #82 of Corey Jones. Throughout the practice and heat races Corey battled mechanical issues, so the charge from his 14th starting spot to fifth gave the team the momentum heading into his home track Flamboro Speedway next weekend.
The #17 of Cornelius will be looking to continue that winning streak next week at Flamboro Speedway for the Biederman Memorial. Several drivers have next Saturday circled as they look to return to their home track. The #82 of Cory Jones, #39 Shane Gowan, the #89 of Shawn Chenoweth are all looking to use their home track advantage to add their name to the Biederman Trophy. OSCAAR has also received notification that 2015 OSCAAR Champion #81 Andrew Gresel will have his outlaw out for competition.
Racing will start at 3:00pm on Saturday August 29th as the Outlaws honour Don Biederman at a track where he forged his racing history.
Dickies Outlaws By London Recreational Racing feature: 1st #17 Kevin Cornelius, 2nd #84 JR Fitzpatrick, 3rd #22 Glenn Watson, 4th #7 Derrick Tiemersma, 5th #82 Cory Jones, 6th #b10 Kelly Balson, 7th #39 Shane Gowan, 8th #8 Paul Howse, 9th #29 Sean Grosman, 10th #07 Todd Campbell, 11th #27 Roy Passer, 12th #9 Brandon Watson, 13th #16 Robert Bickle, 14th #13 Gary Passer, 15th #3 Rob Gibdon dns, 16th #71c Ethan Cournyea
Top Five Championship: 1st #17 Kevin Cornelius 417 pts, 2nd #b10 Kelly Balson 373 pts, 3rd #22 Glenn Watson 360 pts, 4th #29 Sean Grosman 359 pts, 5th #84 JR Fitzpartick 358 pts
HOOSIER Mods:
With the racing season inching ever closer to the final event of the 2015, the drivers in the HOOSIER Mods know that every point counts in the close battle for the 2015 championship. With 20 of the top modified teams in the province signed in to battle, fans knew they were in for a great night of racing.
Heat race action would start the night off and see the #20 of Mike Hearty pick up his first checker flag in OSCAAR competition. Mike makes the long drive from Sault St Marie for each event and the hard work and dedication paid off in heat #1. Brian McLean picked up heat #2 win and has shown he has the speed each and every week as he searches for his feature win in 2015. Current point leader Gary McLean picked up the win in heat race #3 making him the top qualifier of the night. The final heat race would go to rookie contender #79h Corey Horner who looked poised to take a run for the feature event.
The field for the feature event would be lead to the green by #79h Cory Horner and #79 John Harper with the #79h of Horner getting the jump on the field. Cory would lead the first 8 laps of the feature event before giving up the top spot to the #8 of Gary McLean. It was on lap 21 of the 30 lap feature event that things would take a drastic change. While the leaders were putting a lap on some slower cars, contact was made on the front straight which would see about 12 cars come to a sudden stop. When the smoke cleared several cars would see their night end early. Three of the top five would see their feature end, #79 of Horner, #47 McLean and the #14 of Davey Terry would not get the finish they had hoped for. The #15b of Brad Pearsall would also see his night end along with rookie #18 of Dave Lewis.
The green would come out with nine laps remaining and the racing was not over yet. Gary McLean set sail and would come home with the feature win. Behind him though it was a night of firsts for many drivers, the #79h of John Harper would record his series best finish with a second place finish. Matt Barton would race his #2 up to third place round out the podium. The #09 of Dan Price would also record his best finish in OSCAAR with a fourth place. Chris Milwain also scored his best finish in OSCAAR with a fifth place in the final run down. Making his return to the series was the #61 of Dustin Jackson who would score a sixth place finish, showing that he still has what it takes to compete with the best in OSCAAR.
The HOOSIER Mods will also be in attendance at Flamboro Speedway this coming weekend, and the question is can anyone stop the #8 of McLean, I guess only time will tell, and as a race fan you will want to ensure you are there to see!
HOOSIER Mod feature: 1st #8 Gary McLean, 2nd #79 John Harper, 3rd #2 Matt Barton, 4th 09 Dan Price, 5th #21 Chris Milwain, 6th #61 Dustin Jackson, 7th #26 Terry Baker, 8th #63 John Baker JR, 9TH #99 AJ Emms, 10th #20 Mike Hearty, 11th #36 Gary Elliott, 12th #96k Monty Kelly, 13th #12 David Balych, 14th #41 Duane Cinnamon, 15th #79h Cory Horner, 16th #47 Brian McLean, 17th #14 Davey Terry, 18th #15b Brad Pearsall, 19th #18 Dave Lewis, 20th #19 Dean Scott dns
HOOSIER Mod top five: 1st #8 Gary McLean 489 pts, 2nd #36 Gary Elliott - #63 John Baker JR 422pts, 3rd #79h Cory Horner 419 pts, 5th #47 Brian McLean
From: Dan Little/ OSCAAR Webmaster
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