STROUD, ON - As the ’07 race season approaches its conclusions the racing at Sunset Speedway has intensified as the point’s races are up for grabs and we are seeing more and more carnage each week as all the contenders rev it up.
On Saturday night August 25th at Sunset Speedway under overcast skies and a full moon peering down we had a difficult evening for some of the front runners in all divisions as our Late Models had the night off. We would like to thank the fine folks from The Lefroy Marina for the night’s sponsorship and we welcomed the touring Ontario Sportsman Series for twin 50 lap features in the absence of our HF Smith Sunset Late Models.
The big winners on the night were # 57 Steve Lang in the Domino’s Pizza Thunder Cars, # 24 Joey McTavish in the carnage filled Fox’s Buns Master 4 Cylinder Road Runners, # 35 Myles Jamieson in the Fox’s 4 Funs and # 28 veteran Cascar past champion Steve Robblee won both 50 lap OSS features the second on a great late outside pass exiting turn 4. We welcomed back our regular starter Rob Robinson back from 2 weeks away and thank Mr. Bill for filling in for Rob in outstanding fashion welcome back partner.
THE DOMINO’S PIZZA THUNDER CARS
There were 23 Thunders ready to claim who was the winner on this evening and tame the 1/3 mile bull ring with action at every position. On the drop of the green flag # 57 Steve Lang grabbed the early lead and was looking for his second feature win of the year with # 4 Bily McDonald, # 17 John Haines, # 25 Kristi Wolfe and # 67 Rick Santagato in hot pursuit.
The first incident occurs on lap 4 when Santagato makes contact with wall and the result collecting # 51 Mark Adams, # 69 Rob Schuyler, # 8 Joseph Wise and Santagato then on the restart the 84 car of Ken Weisebrod dies losing power and coming to a halt on the back chute.
When the race goes green Lang was still the point man with Wolfe hot on his tail followed by Haines, # 58 Stan Coe and # 81 Dallas Hofscheier as the fast 5. At the halfway mark Lang still held the lead but Coe grabbed the runner up spot while Wolfe, Hofscheier and the red rocket 9 car of John Carlisle rounded out the top 5 but the 3 car of Ernie Fumerton was lurking in behind looking for any opportunity to move up.
On lap 18 # 55 Bruce Rankin and # 53 Mike Poulton Jr. get together in turn 2 with both summoned to the rear so on the restart Lang still manned the point but in behind was a mad scramble to be the best on this night as Coe was under siege as Fumerton and Carlisle waged a great battle for second and finally both passed Coe setting their sight’s on the 57 machine of Lang. As they exited turn 4 to accept the checkered flag from starter Rob Lang managed to hold off Fumerton while Carlisle, Coe and Wolfe were the top 5 on this night.
The heat winners were Fumerton, Adams, Rankin and Carlisle. Congratulations to Steve and his crew on his second victory of the ’07 season while in between victories has had some bad luck. It was nice to see an old friend the familiar # 51 of Mark Adams in attendance as it has been all to infrequent this year.
THE FOX’S BUNS MASTER ROAD RUNNERS
There were 28 of the best 4 cylinders in Ontario ready to tackle the fastest track in Ontario to see who would King for a night. On the drop of the green flag # 91 Kyle Lethbridge grabbed the point while # 7 Tom Pitman, #10 Doug Butler, # 04 Brian Love and # 5 Bill Gallant were the top 5. The first caution flew on lap 3 as Botting, Rivard, Young and Laronde got together and on the restart Lethbridge still held the point while in behind Butler, Love, # 24 Joey McTavish and Gallant the fast 5.
At the halfway point Lethbridge was still the leader but McTavish had welded himself to the back bumper of Lethbridge while # 48 Nick Brown, Butler and # 2 Ben Melenhorst were in hot pursuit. As the laps were winding down McTavish and Lethbridge were waging a war up front trading paint when finally McTavish finally got by and what appeared to be a deliberate take out attempt by Lethbridge got into a lapped car causing a chain reaction that would collect Mellenhorst and Brown ending both their night’s especially bad luck for Ben as he was clearly the fastest car on the track.
When the dust had settled Lethbridge was black flagged and subsequently suspended for three racing weeks in my mind there is no room for that type of behaviour and we were just lucky nobody was seriously hurt in a senseless act costing other drivers good finishes and sometimes a second place finish in a hard fought race is quite acceptable and come back next week and maybe you will win.
On the restart McTavish was the point man while in behind # 14 Ken Britt, Love, # 40 Mike Zinkie and Butler were the fast 5 and as they exited turn 4 to take the checkered flag McTavish and Britt were side by side and Love and Zinkie were also as they headed for the line and the top 5 were McTavish, Britt, Love,# 53 Todd Musker all the way from Ottawa and Zinkie.
The heat winners were Melenhorst, #00 Matt Henderson, Rivard and Britt. Congratulations to Joey and his crew on a great victory luckily missing that mishap on the front chute. Todd Musker from Ottawa who comes to Sunset at least once a year had a great finish coming home in the 4th spot in a strong field of 4 cylinders anywhere in the Province.
There was a black mark on the night and I hope there is a lesson learned from that incident for the future there is no room for malicious retaliation on the track some one will be seriously hurt.
THE 4 FUNS
On the drop of the green flag there were 30, 4 funs ready to take the green flag # 7 Barkley Rainey grabbed the lead while in behind # 48 Stacey Clarke, # 17 Patrick MacDonald, # 35 Miles Jamieson and # 00 Dan Nolan were the fast 5. Jamieson wasted little time taking the point and along came Nolan current point leader with MacDonald, Clarke and # 18 Jay Cutting the fast 5.
At the halfway mark Jamieson and Nolan were waging a great battle swapping the lead back and forth as they weave through the lapped traffic while in behind MacDonald held third but was under heavy pressure from the 9 car of Marshal Pender.
As they turned for home to take the checkered flag Jamieson held off the determined bid from Nolan while Pender ran out of laps and MacDonald, Cutting and # 87 Brad Carton were the fast 5 at the end. The heat winners were Pender, # 15 Brendan Doherty, # 6 Terry Woodley and Jamieson. Congratulations to Myles and his crew on another great run.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: 1ST 50 LAP EVENT: 1. # 28 Steve Robblee2. # 27 Matt Robblee3. # 80 Mike Hryniuk4. # 66 Brad Graham5. # 12 Mark Patrick
2nd 50 LAP EVENT: 1. # 28 Steve Robblee2. # 66 Brad Graham3. # 72 Ashley Tawes4. # 27 Matt Robblee5. # 82 Dave Connelly
Once again we would like to thank the folks at The Lefroy Marina for their nightly sponsorship and also the Ontario Sportsman Series for their 2 -50 lap events with some good side by side racing with veteran CASCAR past champion Steve Robblee winning both races.
Remember next week is the Labour Day week-end as the ’07 race season is winding down the point races are heating up in all divisions so we have all our regular classes as well as Hurricane Midgets and the ever popular School bus races to remind the kid’s that it’s back to school and Summer’s coming to a close.
If it rains Saturday Night we will run on Sunday @ 6pm as a rain date. There are only 6 racing dates left in ’07 so make sure you get your racing fix in before the long Winter sets in.
By BRIAN WATT // Sunset Speedway
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