SUNSET SPEEDWAY (Innisfil, Ont)
May 19, 2014
by Cindy Lorenz
Rob Neely picked up the win on round two for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets at Sunset Speedway on Sunday night on the Canadian Holiday weekend. From his 7th place starting position, Neely’s TQ74, “Big Blue”, had a spot-on setup allowing him to put it anywhere on the track. In Victory Lane Neely said “This was a Team Effort. This awesome car, built by Mark Lafler, the powerplant by Bill Pippard and all the hard work by Ken Lorenz to set it up, gave us this win tonight. Driving this car is fun. I want to thank Lucas Oil for all they do for the Can-Am Midget Club and Sunset Speedway for providing a great track for us to race on.”
At the drop of the green Adrian Stahle, a top runner with the club, took the lead on lap one followed by Lucas Smith and Darren McLennan. Chris Holman was fourth as Neely rounded the top five. McLennan passed Smith one lap later for the second spot as Neely swept around Holman for fourth. A strong running Stahle opened up a 5 car lead over McLennan as Neely battled with Smith for third. Holman began to fade and last weeks race winner and Defending Champion Mack DeMan now joined the top five.
McLennan began to reel in Stahle as Neely was all over the back of McLennan. The first and only caution came out on lap 8 as Rob DiVenanzo made slight contact with another car and got loose in turn one. By bringing out the caution flag, DiVenanzo now rejoined the field at the rear.
At the restart Stahle couldn’t shake off the charges by McLennan and Neely. At the halfway point, the three top cars were racing side by side. DeMan joined the cluster as Smith hung on to 5th. Neely went high in turn three and dove down low to pass McLennan to take over second place and went right along side of Stahle. They battled for two laps until Neely made his pass for the lead. DeMan saw the opening and also got around Stahle. Every remaining lap Neely got stronger and DeMan did not have enough to catch him. Neely took the win followed by DeMan in second, Smith, who passed Stahle on the last lap, took third and McLennan was 5th. A very impressive run by Todd Cresswell for 6th place after being involved in a wreck in his heat and having him start 19th in the feature. Cresswell, his Dad and Bill Pippard rebuilt the car before the feature, an example of how this Club works together to make sure all the cars have a chance to join the field.
Heat races were won by Daniel Bois and Stahle while the ‘B’ Main was won by DiVenanzo. The next stop for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets will be at Peterborough Speedway on Saturday, June 14th.
Final finish for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets at Sunset Speedway on May 18th was…1. ROB NEELY, 2. Mack DeMan, 3. Lucas Smith, 4. Adrian Stahle, 5. Darren McLennan, 6. Todd Cresswell, 7. Chris Holman, 8. Ryan Fraser, 9. Adam Racine, 10. Daniel Bois, 11. Barry Dunn, 12. Ryan Hunsinger, 13. Tyler Turnbull, 14. Jeff Blackburn, 15. Chris Bauman, 16. Rob DiVenanzo, 17.Kent Turnbull, 18. Dave Hickson, 19. David Balych, 20. Dylon Smith.
Top Ten in points for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets as of May 18th are…1. Mack DeMan…340, 2. Rob Neely…321, 3. Todd Cresswell…295, 4. Ryan Fraser…282, 5. Darren McLennan…273, 6. Jeff Blackburn…271, 7. Adrian Stahle…268, 8. tie, Adam Racine and Chris Holman…258, 10. Daniel Bois…252.
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