Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Each day of the week, the column will highlight a division, highlighting five drivers and mentioning things that you should know going into the next week of racing.
On Saturday night, the APC United Late Models of Ontario Tour presented by Grisdales Racing Products held their inaugural event at Sunset Speedway. Before the five drivers are even mentioned, it needs to be mentioned just how great the kick-off to the year was. The officials were top-notch in running the show, the stands were packed and 31 drivers attempted to make the 26-car field. On top of that, the 100 lap feature included action from top to bottom with drivers racing side-by-side for every position on the race track on any given lap. If this is a preview of what fans can expect all year, they are certainly in for some excitement.
The happiest driver coming out of Sunset Speedway though was Dwayne Baker. Starting in the fourth spot, Baker played the first three quarters of the race really smart. He kept himself in contention at the front, running as slow as sixth, but saving the tires so they’d be there for at the end. When it came to the final 20 laps, Baker had saved the tires enough and had the right set-up underneath him that he made his way to the lead and never looked back, seizing the victory.
The victory marks no surprise as Baker is the master of long distance races. He has won the crown jewels across the province, including the Autumn Colors Classic, Don Biederman Memorial, Bruce Gowland Memorial, Garry Reynolds Memorial and Velocity 250.
It wasn’t an easy victory at all, though. The team had spent the week preparing their Pro late model for competition, but found a vibration in the ignition system upon initial laps on track. The crew then spent all of Friday night – up till 4 a.m. – preparing their Limited Late Model for competition.
For those who do not understand the difference between a Pro Late Model and a Limited Late Model, here’s the breakdown.
- Limited Late Models run 602 crates, Pro Late Models run 604 crates
- Limited Late Models run 2 barrel carbs, Pro Late Models run 4 barrel carbs
- Limited Late Models run 8 inch tires, Pro Late Models run 10 inch tires
- Limited Late Models are big spring cars, while Pro Late Models have coil overs
- Limited Late Models run piston brakes, while Pro Late Model run wide fives.
- The Pro Late Model suspension is a step-further with gas shocks, as well as having triple-disk clutches.
The Limited Late Models can run with the Pro Late Models, and for those who make the decision to do so, they do it by changing the carb, tires and clutch before the race begins. Other than that, the rest of the differences remain.
It’s a scenario that looks on paper to be a disadvantage, however time and time again, the LLM guys have proven that they can run and beat the PLM guys. It’s all about conserving tires over the course of the long distance feature events, and having the right set-up underneath the car so it rolls the corner. If you can’t roll the corner, you can’t get the power down as quickly as others, and as a result can’t use all that horsepower that you have under the hood.
These facts aside, Baker’s team put a lot of work into earning the victory with the hours that they put in and the adversity that they fought in the process. The victory should give Baker a lot of momentum as he heads back into weekly competition this weekend at Sunset Speedway in the third night of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Limited Late Model competition.
Jamie Cox, though, leaves Sunset Speedway as the series points leader. He got the most points virtue of his second place finish, and posting a top-five time during time trials earlier in the day. Cox ran up front throughout the night, keeping himself solidly within the top-five, waiting the right time to pounce as the handling and tires began to fall off on his competitors. The finish for the Delaware Speedway regular was a surprise based on his lack of experience at Sunset Speedway, but shouldn’t be as he has always been a front runner in the Pro Late Models, whether racing at Delaware or Peterborough Speedway.
He also had to fight his own share of adversity. During practice on Friday night, he blew the motor in his primary. He then traveled home, loaded up the back-up car and returned to the track on Saturday for competition.
Matt Box has gotten to know his way around Sunset Speedway as part of weekly series competition. He put that to good use on Saturday night en route to a third place finish. Box spent the majority of the first half of the race battling for the lead, but dropped back a couple spots in the later half. If he can make the car work for the long haul of the event, he could very well pick up a win over the season with the speed that he showed.
Mini Stock stand-out Billy Schwartzenburg made his third career Pro Late Model start, and caught a lot of people’s attention. He led throughout the first half of the race, battling for the lead with the likes of Box and Shawn Chenoweth, before fading in the later half to finish sixth. Schwartzenburg is used to only running a maximum of 35 to 50 laps in the Mini Stock, so not knowing what to expect over the long haul certainly played apart.
Though for a rookie in his third start against a stellar list of previous series and track champions, he proved right away that he’s going to be a driver to watch all season long.
Andrew Gresel was hoping to come out and have a really strong run in his return to Pro Late Model competition after winning the Dickies OSCAAR Outlaws presented by London Recreation Racing Championship last year in Outlaw Super Late Model competition. He had a solid top 10 running going, till contact resulted in heavy front end damage to his entry.
For most, that would’ve marked the end of the story as they would’ve parked the car for the rest of the race. However, that wasn’t the case for Gresel. He and his team worked on the car, making a list of repairs, before getting it refired and back out on track, five laps down. Through the cautions and the lucky dog rule, Gresel was able to get back on the lead lap, and survived the rest of the chaos to post a solid 14th place finish.
It’s the only the first race of the season but that’s a night that you look at the championship picture with. Typically over the course of a season, each driver and team is going to run into problems that will take them out of contention during a race. If Gresel can run up front from here on out and get himself into championship contention in the second half of the schedule, he may be looking back at this night at the end of the year, thanking his crew for the effort to save precious points.
May 22nd – Five Things You Need To Know: Hoosier OSCAAAR Modifieds – Gary McLean, Stickel, Horner, Strawn and Milwain
May 15th – Five Things You Need To Know: Signs of Innovations Mighty Minis – Phinnemore, Woyslaw, Jordan, Inglis and Allard
May 14th – Five Things You Need To Know: Graham Landscape Mini Stocks – Kamrath, McFerran, Paxton, Benedict and Adams
May 13th – Five Things You Need To Know: St. Onge Recreation Super Stocks – Zardo, Bentley, Weeda, Tooley and Morrison
May 12th – Five Things You Need To Know: Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Late Models – Goetz, Shepherd, Inglis, Baker and Walters
May 7th – Five Things You Need To Know: Graham Landscape Mini Stocks – McFerran, Townsend, Paxton, Tiemersma and Butler
May 6th – Five Things You Need To Know: St. Onge Recreation Super Stocks – Lapcevich, Zardo, Weeda, Semple and Morrison
May 5th – Five Things You Need To Know: Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Late Models – Shepherd, Stade, Gresel, Inglis and Travis Hallyburton
RT @OnPitRoad_: ULMOT: Five Things You Need To Know – APC @UnitedLMSeries Presented by Grisdales by @ladybug388 http://t.co/mXKPLZLp4e