Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With the months winding down and only two more events left before the champion is crowned, the stars of the Dickies OSCAAR Outlaws Presented by London Recreational Racing are set to make their fourth appearance of the season at Sunset Speedway this Sunday. After entertaining the fans thus far this season from coast to coast, it’s a given that they will be put on another stellar show.
So far this season, Kevin Cornelius won six of the seven features, while posting a second-place finish at the beginning of the month at Peterborough Speedway. Three of those feature wins this season have come at Sunset Speedway, which marks no surprise as Sunset is his home track and he won the track’s Limited Late Model Championship in 2011. In his past seven races at Sunset Speedway, Cornelius has finished inside the top-three, including victories in the Don Biederman Memorial last June and Velocity 250 last year to go with the three wins this year. Cornelius’ strength at Sunset Speedway has been constant throughout his entire OSCAAR career to date as he has yet to finish an OSCAAR Sunset Speedway event outside of the top eight. Entering the weekend with a 58 point lead over J.R. Fitzpatrick, a solid weekend would bode well heading to Peterborough for the finale.
Kelly Balson is hoping to repeat the success that he’s had in the first three races at Sunset Speedway this year, as he finished second in the Lucie Alywin Memorial in May, followed by a third in June and a sixth in August. Balson has steadily gotten better with each start at Sunset, posting a top-five last year in the Don Biederman Memorial second feature. He will be looking to bounce back with a strong run after blowing the motor at Flamboro in practice, resulting in missing the race at Peterborough.
Todd Campbell will be looking to continue the momentum this weekend, as he has yet to finish outside of the top-10 this year at Sunset, highlighted by a third place finish in the season opener. Campbell is a veteran of the tour, though, and sometimes experience is key to survive and do well.
The last event for the series didn’t go as Mike Beyore hoped, with his night ending after heavy contact with the wall at Peterborough in August. If he is able to get it repaired, he could be a driver to watch. He finished second in June and was leading early at Delaware before mechanical issues took him out of the running. He has also had success at Sunset Speedway in the past, though, with a pair of previous sixth place finishes.
Glenn Watson is hoping to score his seventh straight top-seven finish on the season after finishing seventh at Peterborough. Watson has been on a roll since blowing his motor in the season opener, and is hungry for a win after being shut-out of victory lane last season. He has been successful at Sunset in the past, posting 13 top 10s in his last 17 Sunset Speedway starts, including three runner-up finishes.
J.R. Fitzpatrick has shown speed in each of the events thus far this season, and finally was able to lock down his first career victory on the tour at the beginning of the month at Peterborough Speedway. It was a dominating performance that saw the Cambridge, Ontario native lap the whole field, except for second-place finisher Cornelius. With momentum on his side, he could run well this weekend, if the pieces stay together for him, as he finished second to Cornelius in August at Sunset Speedway.
Roy Passer hopes to keep the momentum going after posting his first top-five finish of the season at Peterborough with a fourth. Passer had a good run going in the Lucie Alywin Memorial, but fell out of the race in the closing laps with a rear-end failure. He then finished 11th in the August event at Sunset.
Speaking of Passer, keep an eye on Gary Passer this weekend. He continues to work at getting his program stronger, and posted a strong seventh place finish in the season opener.
Corey Jones came out of the box strong in the season opener, posting a fourth place finish. He then backed it up with a pair of top-10 finishes, including a ninth in August at Sunset Speedway. He enters the weekend with momentum on his side after posting his first podium finish of the season at Peterborough with a third.
Sean Grosman debuted with a lot of speed in the season opener, winning a heat and taking the spot as top qualifier on the night. However, a mid-race incident in the feature took him out of contention. He bounced back solidly in his second Sunset Speedway appearance with an impressive fourth place finish, followed by a ninth in August despite an early-race spin. Coming off of a fourth place finish for the SMG Motorsports team at Peterborough Speedway, Grosman will hope to keep the positive momentum going at a track where he has visited victory lane previously in a limited late model.
Paul Howse made his OSCAAR debut last month, and despite going for a spin and being involved in a couple incidents, he finished the 53-lap event in the eighth spot. He then backed that up with another eighth in his second appearance. Ethan Cournyea and Rob Gibson will also be making their third starts of the season this weekend, looking to bounce back from the mechanical issues that plagued them previously.
Shane Gowan ended off the 2015 season on a high, scoring a fifth place finish in the Autumn Colors Classic. This year didn’t start off as he would’ve hoped, though, as he blew the motor in his primary car. He ran the back-up car for the season opener, finishing ninth after a mid-race incident. He has since had a solid season that has him currently sitting sixth in points. In each of his Sunset Speedway appearances thus far this year he has posted a top-10 finish, highlighted by a seventh in August.
Andrew Gresel took the year off from OSCAAR competition after winning the championship last year, running the full APC United Late Models of Ontario tour this season. With that season complete, he will make his return to OSCAAR competition this weekend. He has yet to win an OSCAAR race at Sunset Speedway, but has done well with top-five finishes in the past. More so, he enters this weekend with confidence following a victory at Sunset in the APC event in August.
Shawn Chenoweth will look to make his sixth start of the 2015 season. The year hasn’t gone well for him, with a blown motor in practice at the season opener, a big wreck at Sauble Speedway, power steering issues at Delaware Speedway and transmission issues at Peterborough Speedway. If he can knock the mechanical issues aside, he has proven that he can run up front as proven by a third place finish at Flamboro.
Tyler Hawn will be making his return to OSCAAR competition this weekend after having to go through a rebuild process on his No. 42 SLM following a bad-wreck at Delaware Speedway earlier this season. Before the wreck at Delaware, he had started off his season on a positive note with a seventh place finish at Sunset in June.
Dwayne Baker will be looking to make his first OSCAAR start of the season. He has proven that he can win in a Super Late previously, having visited Sunset Speedway’s victory lane on multiple previous occasions, including a victory in the 2013 Don Biederman Memorial.
With a strong line-up of drivers on the docket, this event is a do-not-miss for fans. Details about the event can be found via http://www.oscaar.ca and http://www.sunsetspeedway.ca, with the ability to purchase tickets in advance via Sunset Speedway’s website.
