Huge Crowd Treated To An Exciting Night Of Racing At Flamboro Speedway

By Randy Spencer (Flamboro Speedway PR) – It seems to be an ongoing theme to start many of my race recaps, but indeed the largest crowd of the year witnessed an exciting night of racing action at Bennett Chevrolet Flamboro Speedway Saturday night. Now that we’re into the heart of summer and school is out, the great crowds have returned. The point races are heating up and inturn so is the racing action. Approximately 500 fans in the turn one Chalet were from Graybar Canada, an employee-owned company, is a wholesale distributor for thousands of items from leading manufacturers of automation, comm/data, and electrical products. They sponsor several of the cars at Flamboro including the 13 of Thunder Car racer Brad Collison. Prior to racing we held a moment of silence for the tragedy recently in Nice France. It was extra special as we had a family at their first ever oval track race that are from France. They had a great time!

The first race up was feature number one for the Flamboro Stadium & Speedway Hall of Fame Pure Stocks. I’m proud to be sponsoring this fine division this year at Flamboro and the Hall of Fame display cases were finally stocked with pictures, shirts and jackets so if on the grandstand side, please check out the displays. Thanks to Larissa Spencer for all her help. On the track, an early caution on lap one as Andy Wheller and Lofton Schuts were involved in a turn three spin. Alex Schutts led lap one and two but the 60 of Peter Becker, who started third in the pack was up to first place. That car is always on rails and sounds like a race car should. It’s for sale by the way. Becker moved his way up and quickly lapped traffic leaving the rest of the filed in his dust picking up the checkered flag.

Next up was feature one for the Klotz Auto Repair & Engine Machine Shop Mini Stocks. Blair Wickett and Shawn Taylor were on the pole and both were fast off the start. The points race in this division is so close, Blair Wickett leads with 880 points, Chad Ditner with 878 is one point up on Russ Aicken and Shawn Taylor is at 825. The race was a good one from the start as Wickett led and Aicken and Taylor right there bumper to bumper. Wickett seemed to slow a bit as the race progressed and on lap six heading into three, Aicken made his move and got past Wickett. Taylor followed Aicken through to take up the second position. Taylor would battle Aicken and made several attempts to get past with no success. The cars were entering lapped traffic and as the barrelled down the back stretch on lap 17, the two leaders split and each took a side as they made their way past the 77 of Mike Hooper. It was a battle throughout but as the checkers flew it was Aicken coming across the line first followed by Taylor and Wickett. Nice to see the 55 of car of Taylor Thring back out after that hard crash a few weeks back. The car is rebuilt and she was back out. A little tentative at first but some new found confidence helped her through the night. Still a rookie, no doubt she’ll be a good one.

The Ray’s Auto Centre and Towing Thunder Cars hit the track next. This division put on a great show all night. Some of the best racing of the night by far. Chris Howse and Shawn Arnott started up front and battled door to door early. Not to be out done, Brad Collison, who started in the third spot was right there and would take the lead on lap four. The top five cars had a heated battle and the young gun, Hudson Nagy was right there doing whatever he could to steal the lead from Collison. But try as he may, the Ice Man wouldn’t give young Nagy and room to get past and would take the feature win.

The Pro Four Modifieds had nine cars signed in. We lost four cars early in this one as the front four leaders were involved in a crash in turn three. Aaron Turkey and Dave Hodgkinson got together and the 9 of Brian Nanticoke and 15 of Dan Nanticoke had no where to go and were collected in the mishap. When the race resumed the 33 of Cliff Hodgkinson took the lead and would win fairly handily.

The Ontario Modifieds were the last race before intermission as they ran a ten lap heat. The heat and feature winner last time out, John Baker Jr. started outside pole and would lead start to finish and pick up the win.

When racing resumed, the Pure Stocks were up first. Lofton Schuts and Johnny Cote were pole for this twenty lap main event. The 38 of Cote was the leader early. Veteran Andy Wheller and Schuts began to battle. Wheller was in the sixth position to start but by lap five was up to second and was the leader three laps later as Cote slid back in the field. The cars took the white and it was Wheller out front picking up the checkered flag.

Mini Stock feature two had young Carson Nagy on the pole beside David Gallinger. Gallinger was out front early. The 03 of Jake Gilbert would move to the lead for a lap but was quickly passed by a man on a mission, Russ Aicken. Aicken would take the lead and had Shawn Tayor right there in second. Nice to see Taylor had the bugs worked out of that car finally after issues for most of the season. That car was fast tonight. Seemed a little to fast as in lap 12 heading into turn one, Taylor was beating a little too hard on Aicken’s back bumper and spun him bringing out the caution. As Taylor came around again he and Aicken made contact with the back bumper off Aicken’s car. Both hit the pits and only Taylor emerged to race again. Blair Wickett took the lead on the restart and battled Ditner and Gilbert. Gilbert went high in four on lap 15 and Ditner got by to take over the second position. As the checkers flew it was points leader Wickett picking up another win.

The Thunder Cars were next and would once again race one of the best races of the night. Chris Howse and Bobby Mercer were up front as the green fell on this 20 lap feature. Howse was the early leader and some banging behind as Brad Collison and Shawn Arnott were at each other battling for position. Arnott was around on lap two and Collison was shown the black flag for rough driving and took up position at the rear of the field. On the restart Howse had  new combatant, Hudson Nagy was back in the battle. Bobby Mercer joined the dance and they would battle until Nagy made a great move to the inside to get by Mercer. Howse was still the leader but a bump and run as the cars were heading out of four with the checkers in sight. Nagy showed a veteran move just getting Howse loose enough to get by and take the checkered flag. Very exciting!!

The Pro Four Modifieds hit the track for their second feature event. A no start as the starter didn’t like the look of the field but as the cars slowed, the 24 of Gerry Luckhardt has a steering rod break sending him into and up on the wall and over on his roof. The red flag came out as emergency services rushed to the scene. All was ok as the driver gave the thumbs up. They rolled the car over and he climbed out.  At the same time the 63 of Mark Lucas was into the wall on the front stretch and he was done for the night as well. The race was now 10 laps instead of 15 due to losing a few cars. The 23 of Linc Erison led the first few laps but  the 33 of Cliff Hodgkinson proved to be too much and made a clean sweep of the night winning both Pro Four features.

The final race of the night was the twenty five lap feature for the Ontario Modifieds. Twelve cars took the green and it was the 95 of Rob Warnes moving up from the fourth starting position to take the lead on lap one. He would lead through out and a caution on lap 23 brought the field back to even. On the restart Warnes continued to lead with Baker and Chris Mulders close behind. But in the end Warnes was too much, led flag to flag and picked up the feature win.

A large field of cars lined up on the front stretch for the demolition derby. Great to see this event bring in more cars than last time out. A few cars retired early but some great smashing and banging made this great for the fans, most who stuck around to see the always exciting event. In the end when it was down two cars the winner was the 53 of Chris Rivers.

That brought to a close another very exciting night of racing at Bennett Chevrolet Flamboro Speedway. Thank to all the fans who made this a great night. And to all those from Graybar Canada for coming out. Also special thanks to our announcer Gary Colling for making this a great and entertaining night for the fans. Please make plans to join us next Saturday night, July 23rd for Pro Four Memorial Night. Always exciting and lots of excitement for the Pro Four club, an institution at Flamboro Speedway since the 1980’s. The Grisdale Late Models return after a month away and are joined by the Flamboro Stadium & Speedway Pure Stocks, Klotz Auto Repair & Engine Machine Shop Mini Stocks and Ray’s Auto Centre & Towing Thunder Cars. Pits open at 4pm, front grandstands at 5pm and green flag flies at 7pm. Check the website for all the details as well and point standings and lots of other great information including the Gold Rush, a 100 lap $10,000 to win Super Late Model race on August 23rd.

Photos by Mike Kiers, www.cableguyphotos.com

Video by Randy Spencer

Pure Stock Feature #1: #60 Peter Becker, #18 Josh Shantz, #2 Roger Lessard, #0 Alex Schuts, #83 Eric Crow, #82 Gillian Hils, #90 Andy Wheller, #24 Blair Mayhew, #42 Leo Labarbera, #13 Mark Thorne, #38 John Cote, #10 Lofton Schuts, #50 Ross Winters Jr., #26 Ashton Reekie, #9 Courtney Scott, #7 Matt Young, #61 Paul Ditner, #48 Steve Deleeuw, #78 Clinton Kerkof (NF), #64 Travis Hofstetter (NF)

Pure Stock Feature #2 : #90 Andy Wheller, #10 Lofton Schuts, #2 Roger Lessard, # 60 Peter Becker, #13 Mark Thorne, #82 Gillian Hils, #38 John Cote, #50 Ross Winters Jr., #83 Eric Crow, #18 Josh Shantz, #0 Alex Schuts, #9 Courtney Scott, #24 Blair Mayhew, #78 Caroline Kelly, #26 Ashton Reekie, #61 Paul Ditner, #48 Steve Deleeuw, #7 Matt Young, #42 Leo Labarbera (NF), #64 Travis Hofstetter (NS)

Mini Stock Feature #1 : #71 Russ Aicken, #76 Shawn Taylor, #97 Blair Wickett, #61 Chad Ditner, #03 Jake Gilbert, #07 Michael Kenny, #84 David Gallinger, #36 Carson Nagy, #42 Rick Robinson, #77 Mike Hooper, #55 Taylor Thring, #79 Kyle Istead (NF)

Mini Stock Feature #2 : #97 Blair Wickett, #61 Chad Ditner, #07 Michael Kenny, #76 Shawn Taylor, #03 Jake Gilbert, #84 David Gallinger, #42 Rick Robinson, #36 Carson Nagy, #77 Mike Hooper, #55 Taylor Thring, #71 Russ Aicken (NF), #79 Kyle Istead (NF)

Thunder Car Feature #1 : #13 Brad Collison, #36 Hudson Nagy, #76 Shawn Arnott, #7 Bobby Mercer, #55 Chris Howse, #21 Andrew Roberston, #87 Jeff Bean, #92 A.J. Miller

Thunder Car Feature #2 : #36 Hudson Nagy, #55 Chris Howse, #7 Bobby Mercer, #76 Shawn Arnott, #13 Brad Collison, #21 Andrew Roberston, #87 Jeff Bean, #92 A.J. Miller

Pro Four Modified Feature #1 : #33 Cliff Hodgkinson, #93 Dan Petit, #23 Linc Erison, #24 Gerry Luckhardt, #63 Mark Lucas (NF), #68 Aaron Turkey (NF), #36 Dave Hodgkinson (NF), #9 Brian Nanticoke (NF), #15 Dan Nanticoke (NF)

Pro Four Modified Feature #2 : #33 Cliff Hodgkinson, #36 Dave Hodgkinson, #93 Dan Petit, #23 Linc Erison, #63 Mark Lucas (NF), #24 Gerry Luckhardt (NF)

Ontario Modified Heat : #63 John Baker Jr., #68 Stu Robinson Jr., #46 Chris Mulders, #77 Brad Stevenson, #07 Alex Lees, #64 Chris Burrows, #95 Rob Warnes, #88 Ryan Dick, #62w Willow Barberstock, #62 Randal Hollingsworth, #98 Rick Warnes (NF), #41 Duane Cinnamon (NF)