OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modified season opener leave points shaken up

Interesting Statistic of the Day: The top three drivers from the OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modified point standings the past two years failed to finish the first race of the season.

It may be a mind boggling statistic to wrap your head around, but that’s what the craziness last Sunday night at Sunset Speedway produced. Whether caused due to drivers driving over their head or having handling issues with it being the first event of the year, incident after incident kept the numbers declining in regards to the competition.

Two-time series champion Gary McLean was fast and looked to be bidding his time, when he’d get into the wall on the lap 13 restart after possible contact with sophomore driver Branden Bullen.

Brent McLean also showed speed as he was running third when a mechanical problem brought him down pit road at lap 16.

Davey Terry won both of his qualifying heats, however was taken out in a wreck at lap five when Shane Stickel got loose, resulting in three-wide racing with Gary McLean and Mike Westwood, followed by contact and Westwood into the wall leaving Terry no where to go.

Each driver has posted podium performances at the past at Sunset Speedway. Terry is the only driver of the three who has yet to win a race, but the Erin Express has been plenty close on many occasions. So with that said, going into the event, they were the favourites to win and yet here they are, sitting in the second half of the standings one-race into the year.

On the flip side, there are three new faces at the top of the standings.

Chad Strawn picked up his first career OSCAAR win on Sunday night and heads into Kawartha as the points leader. Strawn is no rookie to modified competition with having experience last year, however this is his first time tackling the full OSCAAR schedule.

Shane Stickel currently sits second as he managed to keep his loose racecar out of trouble. Stickel enters his second year of competition after finishing sixth in points last year.

Matt Barton rounds out the top three as he posted one of his best runs to date in OSCAAR competition. Barton finished eighth in last year’s points, but notably missed a couple events along the way. Barton is known for being a strong competitor with past runs that have impressed fans and fellow competitors.

It may only be one single event in the books to start the year, but yet the question is already being asked – What will happen as we move forward?

No doubt the McLeans and Terry will get on their stride and start posting podium finishes, perhaps beginning next weekend at Kawartha. It is highly predicted that one of them will grace victory lane due to their previous success on the tour.

On the flip side, though, Strawn has experience at Kawartha as he won a heat last year there in the modified and has ran numerous laps in the Thunder Car ranks. Could Strawn keep the momentum going? Absolutely.

Stickel and Barton will also be a pair that could keep the momentum rolling with strong performances based on their past experience with the tour.

In short, while the usual three may have the speed, it will be tough for them to catch the new top three as they have the speed to defend their position.

Though hey, I’m only talking six drivers here. There are 10 other drivers that could easily throw their names into the mix for victories, podium finishes and the championship before we get to Peterborough in October.

That’s the beauty of this division. Last year, we saw seven different drivers grace victory lane across the province. Looking at the talent, it could very easily happen again and we may even see a new champion.

Perhaps that’s why I will leave you this  – don’t think anything is certain till the checkered flag falls at Autumn Colors for anything can happen between now and October.