Dwayne Baker goes back-to-back in Limited Late Model Autumn Colors Classic

For the second straight year, Dwayne Baker would win the Autumn Colors Classic after taking the lead from Chris Mitchell with three laps to go. It adds to Baker’s season after winning the Garry Reynolds Memorial at Barrie Speedway last month and coming second in the Velocity 250.

Ryan Kimball would start pole beside Chris Mitchell. The pair of them locked in the front row virtue of their 1-2 finish in the Chase for the Colors. Jason Parker qualified second followed by Kelly Balson, Andy Kamrath, Dario Capirchio, Frank Davey, Dwayne Baker, Tom Walters, Nick Goetz, Marvin Freiburger, Thayne Hallyburton, Scott McTeer, Cory Horner, Ed Bowlby, Steve Adams, Billy Zardo, Tyler Liscum, Shawn Chenoweth, Gord Shepherd and Jesse Kennedy. Nick Roth started 22^nd virtue of his B-Main win followed by Jason Witty, the black 17 and Steve Foster. Virtue of scoring issues, Brittney Gresel, Taylor Holdaway and Bryan Sudberry were all added to the field.

The action would start right away as Parker would try to make it three-wide for the lead going into one with Kimball and Mitchell, though wisely backed out. Still, the contact made between Parker and Kimball would be enough as Kimball would go for a spin. The result was a chain-reaction crash that collected Goetz, Hallyburton, the black 17, Hallyburton, Adams, Freiburger and Roth. Roth was the only driver that sustained enough damage to not continue. Parker would be moved to the back of the field by officials.

So now, still with 75 laps to go, Mitchell moved into the lead ahead of Balson, Kamrath, Capirchio, Davey, Baker, Walters, Goetz, Freiburger, Hallyburton, McTeer, Horner, Bowlby, Adams, Zardo, Liscum, Chenoweth, Shepherd, Kennedy, Witty, Foster, Gresel, Holdaway, Sudberry, Kimball, Parker and the black 17.

Mitchell grabbed the lead on the restart while Balson slipped back to sixth before the second caution at lap seven for the black 17 spinning Holdaway. With 68 laps to go, Mitchell now led Kamrath, Capirchio, Walters, Davey, Balson, Baker, Freiburger, McTeer, Hallyburton, Zardo, Shepherd, Chenoweth, Kennedy, Adams, Witty, Foster, Kimball, Parker, Liscum, Sudberry, Gresel, Holdaway, the black 17, Horner, Goetz and Holdaway.

Walters would slip by Capirchio for third before the third caution at lap nine for Shepherd spinning Chenoweth. With 66 laps to go, Mitchell leads Kamrath, Walters, Capirchio, Davey, Baker, Balson, McTeer, Freiburger, Hallyburton, Zardo, Kennedy, Witty, Kimball, Liscum, Parker, Adams, Gresel, Holdaway, Horner, Chenoweth, Shepherd, Foster, Goetz, Bowlby and Sudberry.

Kamrath would grab the lead on the restart, though a bump from Mitchell would allow Mitchell to retake the lead with Walters up to second and Kamrath back to third.

The fourth caution would fly at lap 22 for Davey going around virtue of fellow Sunset Speedway competitor Billy Zardo. The fifth caution flew five laps later when Davey spun again. Under the yellow flag, Kamrath gave up the third position to come in for some adjustments. With 53 laps to go, Mitchell led Walters, Baker, Witty, Freiburger, Balson, McTeer, Liscum, Kennedy, Shepherd, Kimball, Holdaway, Hallyburton, Chenoweth, Capirchio, Parker, Zardo, Gresel, Adams, Davey, GoetzWalters moving into second as Kamrath went back to third. Baker made his way by both Capirchio and Davey to move into fourth, bringing Balson, Freiburger, McTeer, Witty, Liscum and Kimball with him.

Walters was able to get by Mitchell on the restart to take the lead before the sixth caution for Capirchio stopping on the track. Balson would then head down pit road for some adjustments. With 51 laps to go, Walters led Mitchell, Baker, Witty, Freiburger, McTeer, Kennedy, Kimball, Liscum, Kennedy, Holdaway, Hallyburton, Chenoweth and Parker.

On the first attempt a restart, it’d be called a ‘false start’ due to Walters getting a big jump on Mitchell. Walters went when he was supposed to, but Mitchell got loose making it look like a jump.

The second attempt at a restart resulted in the eighth caution as Adams and Foster wrecked on the backstretch. Still with 51 laps to go, Walters led Mitchell, Baker, Witty, Freiburger, McTeer, Kennedy, Kimball, Liscum, Shepeherd, Holdaway, Hallyburton, Chenoweth, Zardo, Gresel, Horner, Kamrath, Goetz, Capirchio, Parker, the black 17, Balson and Davey.

The third attempt at a restart would be a go and Mitchell used it to his advantage to take back the lead before the ninth caution on lap 34 for Kimball and Shepherd getting tangled up in turn four, collecting Gresel and the black 17 in their mess.

Mitchell held Walters off on the restart to keep the lead till the 10^th caution at lap 37 for Capirchio making contact with the outside fronstretch wall. With 38 laps to go, Mitchell led Walters, Baker, Witty, Freiburger, McTeer, Holdaway, Kennedy, Liscum and Hallyburton. Kamrath had made his way back up to 11^th followed by Zardo, Goetz, Parker, Chenoweth, Balson, Shepherd, the black 17, Gresel, Horner, Foster, Kimball and Davey.

Mitchell was able to keep the lead on the restart and by lap 46, Baker and Witty had moved past Walters for position while McTeer had fallen outside of the top 10 due to getting stuck on the outside.

By lap 61, Mitchell still led ahead of Baker and Witty but Holdaway now ran fourth followed by Liscum and Walters. Witty ran third till lap 65 when he’d go for a spin by himself, resulting in the 11^th caution.

As a result of the race going over its schedule hour time limit, officials would start counting caution laps. The restart would come with five laps to go at lap 70 with Mitchell leading Baker, Holdaway, Liscum, Walters, Kennedy, Hallyburton, Kamrath, Shepherd, Freiburger, Parker, Zardo, Balson, Kimball, Horner, Davey, the black 17 and Witty.

The 12^th caution flew at lap 71 for Goetz spinning. The race was quickly restarted – no caution laps counted due to inside the final five laps.

Dwayne Baker took full advantage of the opportunity at hand and made his way by 2011 Autumn Colors Classic winner Chris Mitchell with three laps to go and held on to take the win. Taylor Holdaway finished third despite his early race spin, followed by Gord Shepherd and Tyler Liscum.

Thayne Hallyburton finished sixth followed by Andy Kamrath, Jesse Kennedy, Jason Parker and Kelly Balson.

Billy Zardo finished 11^th followed by Frank Davey, Jason Witty, Ryan Kimball, Tom Walters, the black 17 and Brittney Gresel.