PREVIEW: OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modified Autumn Colors Classic 40 at Peterborough Speedway

After a season featured with top notch competition across the board, the OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modifieds get set to rap up their season with a big finish in the form of the Autumn Colors Classic 40 at Peterborough Speedway.

Gary McLean enters this weekend looking to lock up his third straight modified championship in style. McLean has won the previous two runnings of the Autumn Colors Classics, but found himself out of contention in August at the Chase for the Colors due to an on-track incident. He enters this weekend with lots of momentum after scoring the victory at Velocity.

McLean’s closest championship rival Max Beyore ran into mechanical issues at the Velocity 250 two weekends ago so he’ll be looking to have a good run this weekend. He will start on the pole for the Autumn Colors Classic, having won the Chase in August.

Brent McLean always has speed no matter where the OSCAAR event is, but hasn’t been able to post the finishes that he probably would’ve preferred due to mechanical issues. That was the story once again for him at the Velocity 250 two weekends ago. His last appearance at Peterborough was in October last year at the Classic, where he finished second to his uncle Gary.

Davey Terry is hoping that the pieces come together for his first career OSCAAR Modified feature victory. He will start on the front row alongside Beyore after finishing second at the Chase for the Colors. Looking to rebound after missing the set-up at Sunset, Terry hopes that this year’s Classic goes much better than last year’s verse. Last year contact would send Terry for a trip over the turn one wall so definitely the goal this year is to keep all four tires on the track.

Matt Barton heads into the Autumn Colors Classic with a bunch of momentum on his side following a third place finish at the Velocity 250 two weeks ago. He also had a good run the Autumn Colors Classic last year, finishing third.

Gary Elliott also enters into the weekend with momentum as he posted a second place finish at the Velocity 250, keeping up the solid series of strong finishes that have dominated his rookie season. One of those solid finishes came earlier this year at Peterborough Speedway, finishing fourth.

Chad Strawn makes his OSCAAR tour return this weekend at Peterborough, having given his ride a complete make-over. Strawn knows what its like to win in OSCAAR, having won at Sunset Speedway and Kawartha Speedway. He will hope to score his third career victory in style with the Classic after finishing third at the Chase for the Colors.

Shane Stickel hopes that Peterborough treats him well once again in the form of another solid run after finishing fourth at last year’s edition of the classic. He also got a strong finish in the Chase for the Colors back in August, finishing sixth. A good run would certainly help moral after finishing 13^th at the Velocity 250.

Despite controversy surrounding the No. 26 team following Kevin Jobs’ DQ at Kawartha Speedway, Terry Baker bounced back in high style fashion with a solid fourth place finish in Sunset Speedway’s Velocity. He will now look towards his first modified trip to Peterborough in search of continuing the team’s success.

Justin Demelo is hoping to bounce back following a 12^th plaee finish at the Velocity 250. The Delaware Speedway race director would post a top-five finish earlier this year at the Chase, so he knows his way around Peterborough.

Last year’s Autumn Colors Classic gave us our first preview of OSCAAR rookie Tommy Robb as he posted a solid fifth place feature finish after winning one of the heats. Robb has shown the ability to keep up that level of performance this year, but hasn’t had the luck to follow with wrecks and mechanical issues at every turn. He will hope to have the bugs worked out this weekend as he looks to get back into the top 10.

Despite being only in his teens, Dustin Jackson has continued to impress fans at every turn with solid consistent finishes. The young stud posted a solid fifth place finish at the Velocity two weeks ago, following an eighth place finish in the Chase. Jackson could easily become OSCAAR’s latest first time feature winner if the pieces come together this weekend.

The first half of the season certainly didn’t go as Drew Stieler and his team would’ve hoped, and neither did Velocity with contact taking him out of the running. However, the rookie has had some bright moments across the season, including a solid seventh place finish in his first trip to Peterborough in August.

Justin Jones has only made a pair of OSCAAR appearances, though has shown lots of speed in both occasions. He finished sixth in last year’s edition of the Autumn Colors Classic, before finishing 10^th at the Velocity 250 despite a hard-wreck during qualifying.

In each race under his belt, Ryan Dick has looked to keep improving in posting solid performances. He has had some strong moments, including a sixth at the Velocity 250 two weeks ago to follow a ninth in the Chase for the Colors event in August. He would finish 11^th in the Autumn Colors Classic last year after being involved in a mid-race incident.

Dean Scott is looking to be in attendance and hopes to score a top 10 finish after finishing 10^th in the Chase for the Colors event in August.

Mike Hearty will look to make his OSCAAR Modified debut this weekend as he has his ride together after buying the car earlier this year. Hearty makes the step up from the super stock ranks.