By Randy Spencer (Flamboro Speedway PR) – With the heat comes the craziness. An exciting but wild and crazy night of racing at Bennett Chevrolet Flamboro Speedway as the Grisdale Late Models made their return to Flamboro Speedway. Lots of emotion on this night as well as we honored a great long time competitor who has fallen ill once again. Shane Gowan, who between he and his dad have raced at Flamboro for the better part of forty years was honored at intermission with a giant Get Well card signed by hundreds of drivers, fans and staff. Get well buddy!!!
The Flamboro Stadium & Speedway Hall of Fame Pure Stocks ran two features. The craziness started pretty much immediately as Andy Wheller was shown the black flag for getting into the back of the 78 of Caroline Kelly and sending her spinning. Ross Winters Jr. was having a fine race and took the lead for a short time and battled the 18 of Bob Hillar for many laps. Many battles throughout the pack made this race very exciting. After heading to the back on lap one, Andy Wheller made his way through the field and was right there on Winters bumper. A flat tire on Winters car on the last lap allowed Hillar and Wheller to get by as the checkers flew. Nice to see the 24 of Tyler Mayhew have a great race and a very good night for him overall. Some real tough luck for the most of the season, Mayhew ran third for quite a while in this one and ended seventh and eighth in the second feature. Nice job Tyler!! In feature two, some early three and four wide action made this another exciting race. Gillian Hils led early and started to increase her lead that eventually was almost a straight away. A couple of cautions before half way brought the field back to even but Hils kept taking the lead on every restart. Once again Andy Wheller found his way to the front and was battling Hils. A mix up in turns three-four on lap ten as Eric Crow and Bob Hillar ended up with Hillar backwards in the wall and very upset. He exited his car and went looking for the 83 and as he past Hillar made contact with the 83’s car. This made an instant disqualification for the 18 car on the night including his feature one win. On the restart Hils and Wheller continued their battle. Hils appeared to be stronger in the corners while Wheller dominated the straights keeping them even through several laps. It seemed that Wheller perhaps was trying to cross up Hils as he would criss-cross behind her in attempts to get by. Some exciting door to door action on the last lap and try as he may Wheller wasn’t able to make the pass out of four on the final lap and girl power prevailed in this one as Hils came across the line first much to the delight to many female fans cheering her on.
The Klotz Auto Repair & Engine Machine Shop Mini Stocks were up with two features as well. Wayde Thorne was driving for the 76 of Shawn Taylor who received a concussion at work this week and wasn’t quite ready to go. Early on, Thorne was battling Russ Aicken and Jake Gilbert with some three wide action. Michael Kenny has had some bad luck this year and it continued early in this one as he got the black flag on lap three. Feel bad for Kenny, not much going his way this season, I hope to write something good soon for this guy, come on Michael, after your great year last season I know you can do it! Thorne and Aicken were battling and lapped traffic half way through and Aicken went low and had to take to the grass to avoid an incident but this cost him and he was back to fourth. By this time Thorne had increased his lead to almost a straight away. Aicken was battling with Chad Ditner. Those two have been at it all year. The battle that is happening in the Mini Stock standings in amazing and these two are right there and its very exciting. As the checkers flew it was Thorne first followed by Aicken and Ditner. Points leader Blair Wickett wasn’t in the car on this night so Mike Westwood was behind the wheel. He came home fifth. In feature two, once again three wide action as the field tried to sort themselves out. Westwood and David Gallinger battled early. Wayde Thorne found his way to Westwood’s bumper and was glued there until Westwood went high through one and two on lap seven and that allowed Thorne to get past. As the race progressed Thorne and Aicken were battling with Thorne in the lead. Lapped traffic once again came into play and as the leaders approached a car, Taylor got caught up and Aicken took to the inside and got past and took over the lead. Aicken held off the pack and picked up the win. As the points were tallied after the race, the top three are Blair Wickett/Mike Westwood with 1074, Russ Aicken with 1073 and Chad Ditner has 1070. Now that is close!! This will go down to the wire.
The Ray’s Auto Centre & Towing Thunder Cars had some exciting action once again. Kelsey Lamont led lap one of the first feature. Shawn Arnott and Chris Howse were right there on Lamont’s bumper doing what they could to get by. Both made several attempts to get by without success. But on lap seven Lamont went around bringing out a caution. Howse was now the new leader followed closely by Hudson Nagy and Brad Collison. On lap twelve, Nagy once again showed some veteran moves and took the lead and picked up the win. He did the Polish Victory lap to celebrate. Unfortunately Nagy was dq’d in post race tech for being too low. In feature two, young Austin Penney led lap one. Penney lost his bumper on the second time around as contact was made bringing out the caution. Brad Collison took the lead and built a ten car lead. The cars behind were battling for second through fourth with Arnott, Nagy, Howse and Mercer racing each other hard. As the checkers flew, Collison was first followed by Nagy and Howse.
The Grisdale Late Models were back and had some very exciting action. Kevin Albers led lap one. He started to stretch his lead and was up to a straight away at one point. Jeff Ruddy was holding down second but was feeling the heat from Shawn Chenoweth who was in third. On lap twenty eight, Chenoweth was able to get by Ruddy and as the checkers flew it was Albers followed by Chenoweth and Ruddy. Nice to see Albers pick up his second feature win of the year. A gentle giant, this guy always has a smile and good to see him in victory lane. In race two, Nick Roth was the class of the field. Early on however on the original start, cars got loose and jacked up and a bad start forced a restart. Another caution on lap one as the 15 of Matt Lockwood slowed as the pack went into three. Cars managed to avoid and Lockwood was off. As the race wore on, Nick Roth led. Chenoweth and David Elliott were battling. Roth, Chenoweth and Elliott started to break away from the rest of the field. On lap twenty four, the cars came up on some lapped traffic. Chenoweth took the low road and Roth the high road to split the lapped cars. Late Models going three and four wide often ends in disaster and this time was no different. Roth was on the outside and tried to avoid another car and got lose and high into the turn three wall and took a hard hit and his night was finished. He led early and looked to be a certain winner. Everyone I talked to felt bad for Roth, ran a super race but with him this season the bad luck has followed him around and it’s either wreckers or checkers for Nick. On the restart, Chenoweth and Elliott battled and as Elliott exited four with the checkers in sight, Chenoweth attempted an aggressive move to try and steal the win but both were involved and spun and the 39 of Corey Jones took to the grass to get around and crossed the line first. Nice to see Jones win for his team mate Shane Gowan. The all celebrated in victory lane.
Tonight was the Pro Four Modified Memorial Night where the club celebrated all those former members of the club that have passed on. Dan Nanticoke and Brian Nanticoke battled each other early. Dan would take the lead on lap four down the back stretch and shot out to a big lead. The real battle was for second through fourth as Brian Nanticoke, Cliff Hodgkinson and Aaron Turkey were hard at it. Dan Nanticoke picked up the feature win. The last race of the night was the second feature for the Pro Fours. Dan Petit led the first few laps but Aaron Turkey took the lead on the back stretch and would hold off the filed to pick up the final checkered flag of the night. A small tight knit club always put on a great show for the fans. Congratulations guys!
That brought a close to a wild and crazy but very exciting and emotional night of racing at Bennett Chevrolet Flamboro Speedway. Please make plans to join us this Saturday, July 30 th for our annual Kids Ride Night!!! At 6pm, cars will hit the track for all those young race fans to go on the track and get a lap or two in the cars around the one third mile oval. Definitely a highlight of the year for racers and the young fans alike. Please arrive early to get a good place in line! We will be giving away two brand new bicycles as well courtesy of Flamboro Speedway and the Lucas Oil Canadian Vintage Modifieds!!
The Thunder Cars, Mini Stocks, Pure Stocks and Pro Four Modifieds will return and will be joined the the Lucas Oil Canadian Vintage Modifieds and the Ontario Pro Challenge make a return appearance. Last time out they put on a very exciting show!!
PIT GATES OPEN AT 4pm, FRONT GATES OPEN AT 5pm, KIDS RIDES START AT 6pm and racing gets underway at 7pm. Please checkwww.flamborospeedway.ca for all the details.
Photo credit Derek Smith/racepulse.com
Results
Pure Stock Feature # 1: #18 Bob Hillar (DQ), # 90 Andy Wheller, #50 Ross Winters Jr, #42 Leo Labarbera, #16 Mark Thorne, #10 Lofton Schuts, #24 Tyler Mayhew, #83 Eric Crow, #26 Ashton Reekie, #14 Elijah Hawrylyshyn, #9 Courtney Scott, #82 Gillian Hills, #61 Paul Ditner, #0 Troy Thibeault, #72 Paul Huskins, #38 Rodney Rutherford (NF), #2 Roger Lessard (NF), #78 Caroline Kelly (NF)
Pure Stock Feature #2: #82 Gillian Hills, #90 Andy Wheller, #50 Ross Winters Jr, #9 Courtney Scott, #83 Eric Crow, #26 Ashton Reekie, #24 Tyler Mayhew, #0 Troy Thibeault, #61 Paul Ditner, #38 Rodney Rutherford (NF), #42 Leo Labarbera (NF), #10 Lofton Schuts (NF), #14Elijah Hawrylyshyn (NF), #2 Roger Lessard (BF-RD), #18 Bob Hillar (DQ)
Mini Stock Feature #1: #76 Wayde Thorne, #71 Russ Aicken, #61 Chad Ditner, #03 Jake Gilbert, #97 Mike Westwood, #84 David Gallinger, #77 Mike Hooper, #86 Carson Nagy, #72 David Mast, #55 Taylor Thring, #07 Michael Kenny (NF), #18 Mitch Miljanovic (NF), #78 Kyle Istead (NF)
Mini Stock Feature #2: #71 Russ Aicken, #76 Wayde Thorne, #61 Chad Ditner, #97 Mike Westwood, #03 Jake Gilbert, #86 Carson Nagy, #07 Michael Kenny, #84 David Gallinger, #77 Mike Hooper, #18 Mitch Miljanovic,#72 David Mast, #55 Taylor Thring, #78 Kyle Istead (NF)
Thunder Car Feature #1: #36 Hudson Nagy (DQ), #13 Brad Collison, #55 Chris Howse, #76 Shawn Arnott, #7 Bobby Mercer, #21 Andrew Robertson, #87 Jeremy Bean, #38 Austin Penney, #92 AJ Miller, #74 Kelsey Lamont (NF), #34 Gregg Rauscher (NF)
Thunder Car Feature #2: #13 Brad Collison, #76 Shawn Arnott, #36 Hudson Nagy, #55 Chris Howse, #7 Bobby Mercer, #87 Jeremy Bean, #21 Andrew Robertson, #38 Austin Penney, #92 AJ Miller, #34 Gregg Rauscher (NF), #74 Kelsey Lamont (NF)
Late Model Feature #1: #27 Kevin Albers, #89 Shawn Chenoweth, #9 Jeff Ruddy, #37 David Elliott, #15 Matt Lockwood, #50 Chad Corcoran, #39 Corey Jones, #17 Nick Roth, #61 Brent Wheller, #11 David Osborne, #74 Al Bowman, #5 Linda Stenhouse, #38 Rodney Rutherford (NF), #36 Gary Elliott (NF)
Late Model Feature #2: #39 Corey Jones, #9 Jeff Ruddy, #11 David Osborne, #38 Rodney Rutherford, #36 Gary Elliott, #37 David Elliott, #50 Chad Corcoran, #89 Shawn Chenoweth, #74 Al Bowman (NF), #17 Nick Roth (NF), #27 Kevin Albers (NF), #5 Linda Stenhouse (NF), #15 Matt Lockwood (NF), #61 Brent Wheller (DQ)
Pro Four Modified Feature #1: #15 Dan Nanticoke, #9 Brian Nanticoke, #33 Cliff Hodgkinson, #68 Aaron Turkey, #23 Linc Erison, #36 Dave Hodgkinson, #93 Dan Pettit, #8 Craig Shaver, #24 Gerry Luckhardt, #63 Mark Lucas (NF)
Pro Four Modified Feature #2: #68 Aaron Turkey, #93 Dan Pettit, #15 Dan Nanticoke, #9 Brian Nanticoke, #23 Linc Erison, #63 Mark Lucas (NF), #8 Craig Shaver (NF), #36 Dave Hodgkinson (NS), #33 Cliff Hodgkinson (NS), #24 Gerry Luckhardt (NS)
