PREVIEW: Autumn Colors Classic Mini Stock 50 at Peterborough Speedway

The Mini Stock division is always a mix of seasoned drivers and young drivers. The seasoned veterans are fun to watch to see whether they have the skills developed over the years to top the podium.

However, the young drivers…they can sometimes be the ones that you may want to keep your eye on more so. These are the drivers that will make up the future of the sport, whether climbing up through the ranks or staying in the mini stock division for their career. They are the ones that are learning with each new lap on the track, hoping to continually improve and get stronger. Those times of learning can be fun, too, in seeing what mistakes are made and how they bounce back from them.

On the flip side, there are those who find the right groove very young, such as Brandon McFerran, Jake Watson and most recent winner Jordan Howse and start ripping off wins just in their teens. When a driver of this nature scores a victory, it catches your attention because you realize they’re wise beyond their years and will be ones to watch in the future.

So as it goes, the Mini Stock division has many reasons for you to watch the drivers involved and this weekend at Peterborough Speedway is no exception. Here’s a short preview of the over 40 drivers that are expected to be in attendance this weekend.

Flamboro Speedway pilot Chad Corcoran will be in attendance, looking to post a strong finish. Corcoran hopes to better the seventh place finish that he was able to post in last year’s event.

Full Throttle Motor Speedway driver Phil Givens is hoping for a strong top-10 run after finishing 18^th at the Frequent Flyer 50. He’ll be joined by fellow FTMS driver Tim Tolton, who hopes to beat the 12^th place finish by his son Bobby last year. Tolton visited FTMS victory lane a couple times this past season, but was only able to pull a 22^nd place finish off at the FF 50. He has had past success at Autumn Colors, though, as he finished 10^th in 2011. They’ll be joined by FTMS rookie Travis McLean.

Terry Woodley enters this event with momentum on his side as the ‘Carpenter’ finished off the 2014 season at Sunset Speedway really strong, finishing fifth in points with a couple heat wins in the books. He then rolled that into a great fifth place finish at the Velocity 250, improving on his eighth place finish at the Frequent Flyer 50. With success rolling his way, he hopes to better his 17^th place finish from last year’s Autumn Colors Classic.

Late Model stand out Andy Kamrath is looking for redemption this weekend after scoring the victory in the Velocity 250, only to be DQ’d post-race as a result of three washers on a shock. Kamrath has been one of the quickest cars in the province all year, if not the quickest, scoring victories in big events across the board. He won both the Spring Derby and Frequent Flyer at Sunset Speedway to book end the year, well sweeping the Mini Stock Nationals at Kawartha Speedway in the middle of that. With lots of speed, Kamrath will hope that leads to success this weekend. He’ll be joined by his brother Craig Kamrath, who will be debuting a new ride that the team recently bought from Connor James and prepared for this event. James was quick at Sunset Speedway with the car, so the car is capable of being a top-10 car this weekend.

Miles Tyson perhaps may be the underdog to watch this weekend as well he didn’t have the success that he perhaps would’ve hoped for this past year at Sunset Speedway, he will be driving a car previously piloted by Daryl Fice to victory in both 2011 and 2012. Tyson also knows how to get up on the wheel, having scored a feature victory at Sunset Speedway in the past.

Capital City Speedway driver Casey Cavanaugh is hoping to post a solid finish this weekend after showing speed at Peterborough Speedway in the past en route to finishing fourth in 2012.

After purchasing Donovan Price’s car, David Collins is hoping to make his third start of the year this weekend. Collins ran both specials at Sunset Speedway, not having as much luck as he would’ve hoped.

Late Model Standout Bryan Sudsbury is set to contend for the victory this weekend as he knows Peterborough Speedway very well from his Late Model days. Sudsbury debuted his new ride at the Velocity 250, picking up an eighth place finish. Now used to the car, look for him to crack the top-five this weekend as Cory Young, the previous winner, was able to pick up victories at both FTMS and Sauble Speedway. Beyond that, the car is being raffled off at the end of the year so if you’re interested in a quick ride, be sure to buy a ticket this weekend.

2013 Sunset Speedway Champion Warren Paxton is hoping to keep his playoff success rolling as he finished fourth at the Velocity 250 to score the Hard Charger Award after having to come through the b-main to qualify for the event. He has had success at Peterborough in the past, finishing fifth last year.

Ryan Babin is hoping to score his second straight Autumn Colors Classic feature victory in a row and comes the event with momentum on his side after scoring the Peterborough Speedway track championship this past season. He also has started off the playoffs well, scoring a second place finish in the FF50. He’ll be joined by fellow Peterborough Speedway competitor Brandt Graham, who is hoping to post a solid performance on his hometrack. The past two years, he has been solid, finishing 13^th.

Charlie Smith is hoping to have a solid performance this weekend after showing speed throughout the beginning of the playoffs that led him to win both of his heats at the Garry Reynolds Memorial before the event rained out. He has had success at Peterborough before, finishing fifth in 2012.

Barrie Speedway driver Peter Wakeling is hoping to post a solid performance as he continues to log more laps behind the wheel. Not one of the top contenders at Barrie Speedway, it’ll be interesting to see whether Wakeling can qualify for the main event this weekend. He’ll be joined by fellow Barrie competitor Josh Inglis, who will be another driver to watch during qualifying. Inglis has shown speed at certain times during his young career, but has also struggled and any moment of struggle will result in failing to qualify with the driver line-up that is expected. Jeremy McLean, another Barrie Speedway competitor, is also expected to be in attendance.

After not running a race all year this past season, Dan Britt plans to be in attendance. During his days of running on a weekly basis, Britt was one of the quickest cars, picking up multiple feature victories.

Tyler Junkin will certainly be a driver to keep your eye on this weekend. Junkin, a Peterborough Speedway competitor, has a pair of runner-up finishes in the past three years at the Autumn Colors Classic and finished fourth in the FF50.

2014 Barrie Speedway Champion Doug Butler will be hoping to have better luck than he has had the past two years at Peterborough Speedway, as he saw himself taken out of contention due to incidents. If he can avoid trouble, Butler certainly has the speed and ability to contend for the victory.

2014 Sauble Speedway Champion Billy Schwartzenburg comes into the weekend with momentum, after finishing 3^rd at the FF50 and second at the Velocity 250. Last year didn’t go as he hoped as he would finish 11^th. Talking with him a couple weeks ago at Barrie, Schwartzenburg is excited to get back to Peterborough and improve upon that finish.

Peterborough speedway regular Danny Benedict is hoping his stretch of victories mid-season turns into a crown jewel victory this weekend. Midsummer this past season, Benedict picked up three feature victories at three different tracks in the span of eight days. Certainly he has proven that he has the speed and ability to get it done behind the wheel with that said.

Capital City Speedway driver Kyle Baker is always a driver to watch at invitationals and he proved that last year en route to scoring a great third place finish.

2014 Sunset Speedway Rookie of the Year Jordan Howse contended for victories all year at Sunset, posting numerous top-five finishes. After finishing fifth at the FF50, he broke through two weeks ago at the Velocity 250 for his first career feature victory. Now with a win under his belt, maybe having the monkey off his back will lead to another win this weekend.

The Melenhorst brothers will be looking for success this weekend following Ben’s seventh place finish at Velocity and Billy’s sixth place finish at the FF50. Both have been fast over the years in the Mini Stock competition and have what it takes to be inside the top 10 this weekend.