Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin/OnPitRoad.com
With over 40 cars on hand, there was no doubt that a lot of drama would take place throughout qualifying for the 50 lap mini stock Autumn Colors Classic feature on Sunday.
The first heat didn’t go smoothly as the 28 went for a spin on the frontstretch, followed by a second caution for Jeremy McLean blowing the motor. Peterborough Speedway resident Kevin Strutt picked up the win ahead of Brandon Hannah, Hudson Nagy, Peter Gettliffe, Steve Ryan, Ken Townsend, TJ Edwards, Troy Cournyea and the 28.
The first lap of the second heat wasn’t smooth either with a Barrie Speedway calamity involving Gil Brooks, Ryan Hardy and Josh Inglis. Capital City Speedway resident Casey Cavanagh took the victory ahead of Charlie Smith, John Van Dyk, the 51, Gehrig Halliday, Hardy, Inglis and Brooks.
2014 Peterborough Speedway Champion and defending Autumn Colors Classic winner Ryan Babin would edge fellow Peterborough regular Danny Benedict at the line to win the third heat. 2014 Sauble Speedway Champion Billy Schwartzenburg finished third, ahead of Tyson, the 97 and Mark Lavalle.
The fourth heat wouldn’t run smoothly, like the third, as the 3k would get into Phil Givens in turn four. Peterborough Speedway regular Ryan Oosterholt took the victory ahead of the 35x, Chad Corcoran, Peter Moore, the 3k, Jerry Noble, Trevor Hemingway, Givens and David Collins.
Kamrath would win the fifth heat ahead of James Townsend, Brandt Graham, Bryan Sudsbury, the 12x, Warren Paxton, Tim Tolton, Dan Demers and Rich Schwartzenburg.
Peter Gettliffe would not have the Autumn Colors Classic that he pictured as he would make heavy contact with the turn three/four wall, resulting in heavy damage to his ride and ending his ACC weekend. Strutt went for the daily double ahead of Townsend, Hannah, the 28, Edwards and Nagy. Notably, Hannah and Edwards collided in turn three/four coming to the checkered flag with Edwards ending up turned sideways just before the start-finish line.
Sauble Speedway resident John Van Dyk won the seventh heat ahead of Halliday, Smith, Cavanagh, Hardy, Brooks and Inglis. The 51x would fail to finish with a flat tire after contact while running three-wide with Smith and Hardy.
The eighth heat wouldn’t go smoothly with Babin spinning the 97 on lap two. Babin would still drive through the field to claim the victory ahead of Doug Butler, Billy Schwartzenburg, Tyson, the 6, the 97, Benedict, the 61 and Lavalle.
The ninth heat started off well, but had a quick yellow when the 3k spun on lap seven. Oosterholt would go for the daily double ahead of Hemingway, the 53, Corcoran, the 3k, Noble, Givens, Moore and Collins.
The 10th heat also featured an incident, involving Demers and Rich Schwartzenburg spinning on the frontstretch. Then on the backstretch, Clarke would get sideways and trying to save it, he would be run into by the 12x; Clarke would get the double hook off the track. Kamrath for the daily double ahead of Sudsbury, Tolton, Paxton, Townsend, the 12x, Demers and Schwartzenburg.
Due to the amount of cars on hand, track officials would be forced to run a pair of b-mains to set the back half of the field, sending some cars home. The first b-main saw Moore head down pit road on lap 15. Warren Paxton took the victory ahead of Benedict, 3k, Demers, Ryan, Edwards, the 61, Hardy and Collins. The second b-main would see Jason Parker, who jumped behind the wheel of Cournyea’s ride, get into Rich Schwartzenburg, causing him to spin on the frontstretch with the 12x getting sent to the back as an involved car. The 12x would retire from the race, though, on lap eight. As the field goes back green and gets into a rhythm, Noble almost got turned by Lavalle, but managed to save it and keep going. However, there was no chance for Parker to save the car when he was run into by Schwartzenburg at lap 15. The restart brought more drama with Noble spinning Ingis on lap 16. On the restart, Inglis got into Noble, causing Noble’s car to climb up on the side of Inglis’ car before both drivers continued away. James Townsend would take the victory ahead of the 97, Brooks, Clarke, Givens, Lavalle, Schwartzenburg, Inglis, the 28 and Noble.
