Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Continuing a trend that many Sunset Speedway fans are used to seeing, Dennis Thomson made his way to victory lane in the Ontario Pro Challenge feature on Saturday night.
The night didn’t start off cleanly with Malcolm McMaster running into mechanical issues on the first lap of the first heat. Then at lap five, Rick Seeley would spin in turn four. Tim Batty picked up the win ahead of Shawn Stones, the Bud Racing entry, Dario Valente, Tim Shanahan and Seeley.
Dennis Thomson won the second heat ahead of Ken Lillycrop, Mike Westwood, Tim Norris, Owen Smith, Patrick Freel, Kyle Batty and Peter Hattin.
Rick Seeley picked up the win in the third heat ahead of Valente, Stones, the Bud Racing entry, Shanahan, Tim Batty and Larry Majuery.
The last heat saw a pair of cautions as Lillycrop would spin on the front stretch, followed by a spin by Norris also on the front stretch. Dennis Thomson went for the daily double ahead of Freel, Smith, Kyle Batty, Norris, Hattin, Lillycrop and Westwood.
Come feature time, there’d be a quick caution right off the start for a spin by Seeley and Hattin. The second attempt at starting the race would see Tim Shanahan jumping out front with the lead ahead of Tim Batty and Westwood. Westwood would quickly get by Batty for second, before taking the lead on lap three.
Westwood would begin to set sail while Tim Batty would get by Shanahan for second, with Norris following through for third a lap later. Shanahan would then far back in the field as he would slow in turn one on lap eight. While Westwood continued to lead, Norris would move into second on lap nine while Thomson battled Batty for third. Thomson would get the spot on lap 10 ahead of Batty, Smith, Freel and Seeley.
Thomson would continue his climb to the front, passing Norris on lap 12 to move into second. Norris would slip back to third ahead of Batty, Smith, Freel, Seeley, Lillycrop, Majuery and Stones. Seeley would then pass Freel for sixth at lap 19, while Valente and Shanahan ran 11th and 12th.
Seeley would then look for fifth on Smith at lap 21, but was unable to compete the pass with Freel getting alongside Seeley for sixth. Seeley would then try once again for Smith and the close racing would be the last bit of contact needed to knock the rear bumper off of Seeley’s car. The caution would then come out for the bumper laying in the middle of the track.
The restart would see a battle for the lead between Westwood and Thomson, with Thomson taking the lead with four laps to go. Dennis Thomson would then lead the final laps en route to scoring the victory ahead of Mike Westwood, Tim Norris, Ken Lillycrop, Patrick Freel, Rick Seeley, Tim Batty, Owen Smith, the Bud Racing entry, Shawn Stones, Dario Valente, Tim Shanahan, Larry Majuery, Kyle Batty, Peter Hattin and Malcolm McMaster.
Thomson now holds a 12 point lead going into next weekend’s second-last event of the season at Flamboro Speedway.
