Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Each day of the week, the column will highlight a division, highlighting five drivers and mentioning things that you should know going into the next week of racing.
After winning the season opener last month, Kevin Cornelius returned to Sunset Speedway on Saturday night scoring the victory to start the Dickies OSCAAR Outlaws Presented by London Recreational Racing season with back-to-back wins. He started off the night by winning both of his heats, to give him the seventh place starting spot for the feature. He made his way up through the field, moving into second just before halfway. A late race caution offered the opportunity for a victory, and some excitement for the fans. Contact was made with Derrick Tiemersma along the way, but in the end, Cornelius snagged the lead and victory.
In both wins this year at Sunset Speedway, it hasn’t been an easy cruise to the victory. The Lucie Alywin Memorial 53 saw him get front end damage in the second heat, with the KDR Motorsports team getting it fixed over night in time for Sunday’s feature. That feature saw a early race spin in turn three on lap four while racing three-wide. It didn’t take him long to get back to the front, though, as he took the lead on lap 17 after restarting at the tail of the field.
The success for Cornelius at Sunset Speedway is not a surprise, though. He won the Don Biederman Memorial last year in June, before winning the Velocity 250 last September. In each of his previous nine starts at Sunset coming into June, he had posted a top-eight finish, with seven podium finishes. Besides, he knows his way around the oval – he won the track’s limited late model championship in 2011.
The pair of wins have handed the early championship favourite a 17 point lead after two races. With the next event also scheduled at Sunset Speedway (June 27), there’s a good opportunity for him to lengthen his lead before heading to the rest of the tracks on the tour.
Mike Beyore would cross the finish line in the second spot on Saturday night, after running within the top-five throughout the entire 50 lap event. He started on pole and led the early laps, before falling back to second. He then fell back to third at lap 25, but was able to get himself back in the runner-up in the closing laps.
It marks Beyore’s best Sunset Speedway finish in his OSCAAR finish and a great bounce back after his results in the season-opener. In the first race of the season, Beyore found himself involved in a pair of incidents on his way to posting a DNF. This will certainly help ease the sting of that.
Kelly Balson rounded out the podium with a solid third place finish after running in the top-five throughout the front. Starting on the pole, Balson spent the feature in the top-five, running around third and fourth throughout. In the end, he was able to grab a third place finish. It marks a great run for the sophomore as its his second straight podium finish, following a runner-up at Sunset Speedway in May.
Balson has continued to get stronger behind the wheel of the No. b10 London Recreational Racing, Cochrane Automotive, Brandon’s Landscapes, Castrol Edge, Bennett Chevrolet of Cambridge and GTA Racing Design SLM, and will more than likely score his first career victory at one point or another this season.
J.R. Fitzpatrick is probably wishing that he could start the year over. After breaking a rear trailing arm mount in the first feature of the season, he returned hoping to post a much stronger finish. He was strong in the heats, showing speed in both qualifying races. However, things didn’t go as planned with a motor issues taking him out of contention during the second heat. He’d still score points on the night, though, running Roy Passer’s SLM in the feature for a 12th place finish.
It’s known that he can drive. It’s known that the car is fast. Now the question is when will the bad luck end and the pieces come together for Fitzpatrick?
Derrick Tiemersma dominated the 50-lap feature, but had nothing to show for it in the end. A combination of contact with the wall and a “freak electrical issue” as the team called in ended Tiemersma’s night with 10 laps left in the feature. It marks a huge disappointment as Tiemersma didn’t get to run the season opener in May as a result of an engine letting go in practice. He also had his season cut short last year as a result of a huge wreck at Kawartha Speedway.
It goes without saying that Tiemersma’s luck needs to turn around for the positive, and perhaps the end of this month could be the ticket for success.
