Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
“I just wanted to make it interesting.”
After having to go to the rear of the field due to a spin at lap five, Kevin Cornelius would make his way through the field to score the victory in the Lucie Alywin Memorial 53 to kick off the 2015 Dickies OSCAAR Outlaws presented by London Recreational Racing season.
Following qualifying on Saturday afternoon, Todd Campbell would start pole ahead of Kelly Balson, Mike Beyore, Charlie Gallant, Kevin Cornelius, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Glenn Watson, Sean Grosman, Corey Jones, Paul Howse, Gary Passer, Jay Palumbo, Roy Passer, Shane Gowan and Mike Bentley.
Sophomore driver Kelly Balson would put the No. b10 London Recreational Racing, Cochrane Automotive, Brandon’s Landscapes, Castrol Edge, Bennett Chevrolet of Cambridge and GTA Racing Design SLM out front of the field on the drop of the green flag ahead of Beyore. Gallant was able to move up to the third spot, but had fast chargers Cornelius and Fitzpatrick set to chase him down. Cornelius and Fitzpatrick would split Gallant down the backstretch, setting up the three drivers to enter the third turn three-wide. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned as contact was made, resulting in Cornelius going for the spin and the caution at lap four.
The restart would lead to Mike Beyore gaining the advantage and the lead as he was driving a car he loned from Jeff Hanley. Beyore’s own SLM wasn’t ready, so Hanley offered to let him drive the No. 70 for the weekend. Balson would slip into the second spot behind him, followed by Fitzpatrick, Watson, Campbell, Grosman, Jones, Gary Passer, Palumbo, Roy Passer and Cornelius. Cornelius would begin his charge back up through the field, moving into the eighth spot at lap nine, while Jones passed Grosman for sixth. Cornelius would then also make his way by Grosman to move into the seventh spot.
Gary Passer would start to run into problems, slowing down as the laps went on. However, that wouldn’t be the cause of the caution that flew at lap 15. Instead, past series champion Glenn Watson would blow the motor entering turn three for the second yellow flag of the afternoon. Watson’s blown motor became the fifth blown motor of the weekend as Shawn Chenoweth, Derrick Tiemersma and Gowan blew up in practice, while Tyler Hawn blew up during the heat events on Saturday. Out of the four, Gowan was the only driver able to return to the track, running his back-up car for Sunday’s event.
Under caution, Fitzpatrick would bring his car down pit road to the attention of his pit crew. The pit crew’s findings wouldn’t be positive as they’d find a broken rear trailing arm, resulting in his day being done. With 39 laps to go, Beyore led Balson, Campbell, Jones, Cornelius, Grosman, Palumbo, Roy Passer, Howse, Gowan, Gallant and Bentley.
The restart would result in a mess in turn four as Beyore would get loose, sliding sideways and going down into the infield grass. Behind him, Campbell would spin trying to get slowed up, followed by Palumbo. Campbell and Palumbo were able to keep their positions as they were not the “initial cause of the caution”. As a result of Beyore’s spin, though, Balson would go back to the lead spot.
The second restart was cleaner with Balson getting a good restart to maintain the lead as Cornelius made his way from fourth to second, with Campbell falling back to third. The caution would then fly once again, though, as Gowan would get into Howse, with Beyore, Gallant and Passer joining the fray afterwards. Beyore would be done of the rest of the afternoon with heavy front end damage.
Balson would get a good restart to maintain the lead, but would have to slow once again as the fifth caution would fly for Grosman and Palumbo going around in turn one. Grosman’s OSCAAR debut would be cut short with a broken tie-rod, while Palumbo had heavy front end damage to end his day. Notably, Grosman was the top qualifier for the event with a victory and a third in his heats on Saturday.
The restart would bring a battle for the lead between Balson and Cornelius, with Cornelius putting the No. 17 Shane Michaels RV, Sandbox Tech Child Care, Triplecrete, GM MacMaster, Ed’s Automotive, Hanson, J.D. Smith Carpentry & Renovations, Fierce Wraps, McColl Racing Enterprises SLM in the lead. Cornelius would then begin to stretch it out with Balson continuing to run second ahead of Jones, Gallant and Campbell. The battle would be for sixth between father and son with Roy and Gary Passer run side-by-side. Roy would get the spot at lap 23 ahead of Gary, Howse, Bentley and Gowan.
While it looked as though the field had spread out and were set to run green for the second half of the event, that wouldn’t be the case of the day. The sixth caution would fly at lap 36 as a result of Gallant going around in turn two.
Cornelius would get a good restart to hold the advantage ahead of Balson, Jones, Roy Passer, Campbell, Gary Passer, Howse, Gallant, Bentley and Gallant. Roy hoped to keep his positive run going for a top-five in his OSCAAR return, but found his own bad luck with a spin for the seventh caution at lap 40.
The first attempt at a restart would not go smoothly as Cornelius would jump it. The second attempt was a little messy with Gary Passer getting squirrely in the back half of the field, but was able to hang on to the car and keep going. Cornelius would set sail ahead of Balson, Jones, Campbell, Gallant, Howse, Roy Passer, Gary Passer, Bentley and Gallant till the seventh caution flew at lap 46 for Howse going around in turn two. Notably, the Lucie Alywin Memorial 53 was his OSCAAR debut.
The final restart would go smoothly with Kevin Cornelius leading the final seven laps en route to scoring the victory in the Lucie Alywin Memorial 53.
“I’d like to say that’s all driver – but that’s all Mike McColl and those guys,” he commented post-race. “All I do is push pedals. They do an amazing job. These guys – I wrecked it pretty good last night and they worked their butts off to get it fixed for today.”
The victory marks Cornelius’ fourth OSCAAR Super Late Model victory and the third of his career at Sunset Speedway. He enters the season as one of the early championship favourites, but there were concerns of possibly not being able to run the full schedule due to a lack of sponsorship. That thought, though, is in the rearview mirror as a result of a newly formed partnership with Shane Michaels RV.
“Thanks to Shane Michaels for being here,” Cornelius said. “This gentleman came on board in the 11th hour to help us out and we’re here for the long run. If anybody is looking for an RV or trailer of any type, you have to go see Shane Michaels RV; they’re a top notch team there.”
Kelly Balson crossed the line second for a career-best finish, followed by Todd Campbell, Corey Jones, Charlie Gallant, Gary Passer, Paul Howse, Mike Bentley, Shane Gowan and Roy Passer.
