Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
DURHAM, Ontario — After getting stuck in the snow bank during the first 90 laps, Bobby Tolton would come back to score the victory in the Sprint to Spring 200. The victory for Tolton sent him home with a turnkey 360 Winged Sprint car valued at $35,000.00.
“It was great,” he commented. “Like I said, I’m very glad those guys were out there with a clean head. They ran a clean race. I didn’t want it to be a wrecking race – that’s not what this is for; that’s not what we do around here. Thank you to all those guys out there that ran a real race. It’s left me speechless.”
Tolton would also add, “I can’t say enough about everybody who helped me paint it, and everybody who helps me with the other cars. Knightworks Design, Highland Pines Campground, AMSOIL, Engines from Hal. For this and every other event, they’re always behind me.”
The premises for the event was simple – run what you brung, but leave your car there. The idea is meant to see what people would enter without spending an arm and a leg, bringing back a grassroots feel to racing. In preparing for the event, Tolton said that he didn’t do much to the car, other than change a brake rotor and paint it about 10 times.
“I figured it’s got 470,000 kilometers on it, it’s made it this long – that’s going to finish the race,” he added. So I painted it and brought it here.”
The first 90 laps didn’t go as Tolton would’ve hoped as halfway through, he would get stuck in the snow on the inside of turn one. However, in the second 90 laps, Tolton would play it smart, staying out of trouble and completing all the laps first to score the victory.
“I went into the first one with the complete wrong attitude,” Tolton shared. “I drove the wheels off of it and didn’t get anyway. Came back in the second one and let it roll, let people pass me – it was all I could do to not race him. We were there at the end.”
In the 20 lap shootout at the end, Tolton would carve his way through the field after starting 14th, making his way into the second spot. He would then track Derek Musker down, taking the lead with three laps to go after Musker drifted up the track in turns one and two. Tolton would then lead the rest of the way en route to scoring the victory ahead of Musker, Andre Pepin and Kent Nuhn.
“The start there was kind of frustrating,” Tolton said. “Brandon Crumbie was having a hard time with his transmission – didn’t get going on the start. Everybody else was gone so we didn’t get a good start. I cleared the field, picking them off one by one. Eventually, I saw the 51 coming off corner two and he just wasn’t getting the traction. I just wheeled him little by little, eventually got by him – slid into him a little bit as I went by. There’s a lot of snow down at the bottom there. He congratulated me – he’s good with it so…I can’t believe it.”
With a victory under his belt already to start off the year, Tolton now turns his focus to the rest of the season.
“I’m backing down my driving duties,” he shared. “We’re going to be traveling with my dad with the No. 3 Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series car – New Generations carrying us along. We’re going to work as a team, go for some wins. I’m going to hopefully bring the modified out once, and we’re going to split duties behind the wheel of the mini stock full-time at Full Throttle Motor Speedway. Other than that, you may have to catch me at the neighbour’s horse track with the sprint car.”
He added though that there’s “not a chance” you’ll see him running with the World of Outlaw drivers in a Sprint at Ohsweken Speedway as “those guys have more balls than brains, I think. I don’t have any balls.”
Meanwhile, Tim Tolton would unfortunately fail to qualify for the 20 lap shootout at the end after having to make a couple of trips off the track to the pits during the first two segments for the crew to address the car.
Todd Tolton also wouldn’t have that much luck, as he stalled on the backstretch during the first 90 laps, and would fail to make the rest of the event.
Photos from the race are available on the Black Magic Racing website at http://www.blackmagic-racing.com.
Press Release and Photos by Ashley McCubbin
