Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
It goes without saying that each season at any track is memorable for it’s own reasons as there’s things that will always stand out in the mind of each driver, crew member, official and fan. Sometimes people will share the same moments, and sometimes people won’t. Regardless, there are always reasons to remember a year of racing.
As we look back at the 2015 season, here are some of the most memorable moments from the Midas of Orangeville OSCAAR Midget season.
Pure Car Counts & Level of Competition
While there are divisions at tracks and traveling series struggling for car counts, the Hoosier OSCAAR Midgets haven’t faced that issue. Coming under a new sanctioning body for 2015, there was questions about what would happen with the series.
With the first OSCAAR Midget season compete, there’s one thing to know for certain – things are fine and dandy.
On any given week, there were 25 to 30 Midgets rolling through the back pit gate, set to try and qualify in one of the 24 starting spots for the feature. The “by the numbers” article from the beginning of the month proves that. Each of their qualifying races featured side-by-side racing throughout, with some battles coming down to the wire. Come feature, it was the same story as there was never a dull moment throughout the entire 25-lap affair. There was always something that’d draw the attention of the fan watching.
Hopefully it is something that continues into 2016.
Driver Submitted Memory – The crashes this season were ones to remember for sure, along with the close racing in all three divisions! – Wally Wilson
Certainly as discussed above, the close racing was memorable. But with close competition comes contact, and sometimes contact can produce an exciting crash. It happened on a couple different occasions this season.
One of the most memorable dramatic crashes was the double flip at Peterborough Speedway in July when Wilson and Craig Deacon flipped over in a wreck on the backstretch. Peterborough Speedway photographer “Morgan-Amber Photography“ captured some stunning photos of the crash, which are shared below.
One of the other memorable wrecks of the season – Jim Rodgers’ flip at Sunset Speedway. It certainly shocked not only myself, but as well as fans in the stands.
Thankfully in all of the wrecks above, there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers involved.
Jamie’s Win or Bust
Sometimes its your season, while other times its just not your year. What if you get a mix of that in a season? Ask Jamie Bound as that was exactly the case – win or bust.
Bound made nine starts in 2015 behind the wheel of the No. 83 Skelton Truck Lines, Weatherill Performance Parts, R.P. Oil, Competition Systems and Pronto Automotive Stouffville Midget, scoring the victory on seven different occasions. The other two times? He had the dominant car, but found himself falling short due to one issue or another.
Read a full recap of Bound’s season courtesy of the full-season recap posted on the OSCAAR website by clicking here.
Jody’s Championship Run
Two feature wins. Seven heat wins. Nine top-fives. Nine Top-10s. Four Top-Two Finishes to close out the 2015 season. All of that happened in the rookie season for Jody Bound, culminating in winning the 2015 Midas of Orangeville OSCAAR Midget Championship.
Bound certainly had a strong year, and he was quick right out of the gate with a runner-up finish in the season opener at Sunset Speedway. Throughout the season, there were a couple of finishes that weren’t that strong, but when he’d complete all the laps, he’d be at the front of the field. When you have nine finishes inside of the top-four on a season, you know you’re doing something right.
Everybody always talks about where a series can head in the future, and who are the drivers that will be involved. Following the 2015 season with Bound being one of 34 rookies to make at least one start and one of the three rookies that finished in the top-11 in points, the future for the Midgets isn’t something that we need to worry about.
Bound Brother and the Autumn Colours Classic
As noted above, both Jamie and Jody had incredible seasons in their own rights. However, it all culminated together with the biggest race of the season – the Autumn Colours Classic at Peterborough Speedway.
At the Chase for the Colours event in August, Jamie would score the victory, which would allow him to start from the pole at ACC in October.
Starting from the pole, though, he wouldn’t lead the early laps as he slipped back into second behind his brother Jody. It seemed that Jody had the advantage, though slicing and dicing through lap traffic, Jamie was able to close the advantage. In what will possibly go down as one of the most exciting Midget features of all-time and the biggest of the season, Jamie was able to make the pass on Jody on the last lap to score the victory.
Certainly a top way to cap-off the 2015 season and look towards next year.
Robin McLean’s win
One of the other memorable features of the season – June 6 at Sunset Speedway, which marked Robin McLean’s sole victory of the 2015 season.
Jody looked to be en route to score his first victory of the season, holding a sizable lead over the field. However as the laps closed on the event, McLean would begin to run him down and close the gap. With the laps nearing the completion mark, McLean would catch him, passing him for the lead and going on to score the victory.
For McLean, it marked a high mark in a season that had four top-five finishes. For the fans, it marked that classic midget competition that we all have grown to love.
Beyond the moments here, there are certainly many more that I could talk about, including some thrilling battles that we haven’t touched on and other driver successes. However, beyond this, I want you to have a say as well. Comment with your favourite memorable moments from the season. What is something that perhaps has slipped my mind that you can’t seem to forget?
