It had been three years since the drivers of the Midas of Orangeville Midgets had competed at Grand Bend Speedway. With the hot sun beating down and the sound of the Nitro Drag Racers next door at the drag strip, 21 Midget teams signed in to compete.
With the field divided into the heat racing action it didn’t take long for the excitement to begin. Cory Whittam and his #55 machine was back in action after missing the past couple of events. Cory was able to celebrate his return with a win in heat race #1 on the night. On the Friday night Cory was there practicing when he made contact with the wall severely damaging his car and cracking a couple of ribs. The hard work to get the car back together and fighting through the pain was all worth it with that checker flag. Heat race #2 would go to the #7 of Brent Vincent, who was among the prerace favorites as he was relying on his past experience at the track. One of the fastest cars week in week out is the #2 of Jessica James and again she showed she was there to win by picking up the 3rd and 6th heat race win, making her the top qualifier of the night. Brian Woodland showed his fellow competitors early on if they wanted that feature win, they would have to deal with the #48 by picking up the win in heat race #4 of the night. James Rodgers and his #77 returned after missing a couple of events also showed great speed on the night with the win in heat race #5 of the night.
With Jessica James being the top qualifier and drew a 9 for the invert, which would see the 30 lap feature event being lead to the green by the #7 of Brent Vincent and the #48 of Brian Woodland. The first big accident of the night would see the #7 of Vincent spin in front of the field and the #2 of James with no were to go made heavy contact, ending both their nights. The #8 of Larry Lawson and the #55 of Whittman found themselves also involved and their night ended early. A long green flag run would see the top runners catch the some lapped traffic and that is where things went wrong. As the #18 of Drananoc and the #77 of Rodgers attempted to pass a lap car, contact was made which sent the #77 of Rodgers head on into the turn 1 wall. James Rodgers is having one of those years where if it weren’t for bad luck he have no luck at all. Thankfully both drivers were ok but were done for the night. Upfront it was a battle amongst brothers and Brian and Richard were racing for the lead and putting on a great display of racing. Close behind waiting to see if he could make his move was the #57 of James Stanley who would go on to record his best feature finish of third. Brian was determined to keep the #84 of his brother Richard behind him. Richard has one feature win early this season and would have loved to add the second to his 2015 racing resume. But the night belonged to Brian Woodland and his #48 machine as he added his name to the list of OSCAAR Midget winners in 2015. With the current point leader #5 of Jody Bound suffering mechanical issues and a 15th place finish, the win has moved Brian into the points lead by 1 point over the #5 of Bound, with 4 events left in 2015.
The Midas of Orangeville Midget teams will now take a well deserved weekend off before returning to action on August 29th at Flamboro Speedway as part of the Biederman Memorial event.
Midas of Orangville Feature Finish: 1st #48 Brain Woodland, 2nd #84 Richard Woodlan, 3rd #57 James Stanley, 4th #42 Brain McDonald, 5th #75 Shawn Stanley, 6th #85 Rob Summers, 7th #86 Raynor Vickers, 8th #71 Wayne McKibbon, 9th #37 Steve Lassman, 10th #26 Katherine Summers, 11th #69 Wally Wilson, 12th #74 David Gallinger, 13th #18 Paul Drananoc, 14th #77 James Rodgers, 15th #5 Jody Bound, 16th #24 Ryan Brown, 17th #55 Cory Whittam, 18th #2 Jessica James, 19th #8 Larry Lawson, 20th #7 Brent Vincent, 21st #31k Brent Kemps dns
Midas of Orangeville top five: 1st #48 Brian Woodland 554 pts, 2nd #5 Jody Bound 553 pts, 3rd #84 Richard Woodland – #18 Paul Drananoc 539 pts, 5th #42 Brian McDonald 527 pts
Inside Track Magazine Hard Charger: 1st #86 Raynor Vickers 42 pts, 2nd #83 Jamie Bound, 3rd #57 James Stanley 31 pts, 4th #48 Brian Woodland 29 pts, 5th #85 Rob Summers 26 pts
