South Buxton Raceway: May 31 Report

From  Mike Bennett // South Buxton Raceway Public Relations

 

SOUTH BUXTON – Three turned out to be the lucky number for the No. 3 car on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway. Louis Clements started in the third position, took the lead on the third lap and became the third different Lube Tech Sport Stock driver in three weeks in Victory Lane.

 

And more importantly, Clements was finally able to exorcize the demons which haunted his Chevrolet Monte Carlo the first two race nights of the season.

 

"Definitely, it's a nice way to turn things around, to not only finish my first feature (of the year), but to win it … that's great," Clements said, after winning Sun Parlour Trailers feature race.

 

Clements suffered engine failure two laps into the feature race on opening night and finished 16th. Last week, Clements broke a rear-end gear in the feature and finished 13th.

 

"I was hearing every little noise … worried what was going to break this time," Clements said with a smile, as he recounted the waning laps of Saturday's 25-lap feature.

 

Clements traded the lead with Essex's Gerald Martin in the early going but never trailed after making the pass on the low side coming out of turn two on the third lap. 

 

 Joel Dick, of Leamington, finished second, followed by Martin, Windsor's Jamie Parker and Merlin's Eren Vanderiviere.

 

The previous two feature winners were knocked out of the race early.

 

Chatham's Todd Wellman, last week's feature winner, was involved in a head-on crash on the fifth lap. Chatham's Rick Balasin got turned around on the straightaway and was drilled by Wellman, who had no where to go and no time to hit the binders.

 

A few laps later, Merlin's Steve Shaw went to the pits with smoke pouring from the back of his car, ending the opening night feature winner's bid for a second victory.

 

The night did produce the season's first two-time feature winners ‑ Jim Dale Jr. in the Schinkel's Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds and Nate McNally of Charing Cross in the Garage Restaurant Comp 4s.

 

Dale Jr. started at the back of the 11-car Modified field and took the lead on the ninth lap of the 20-lap feature.

 

"That's the most gratifying way to win, starting from the back," said Dale Jr., who won last week's Campbell Toyota feature.

 

"And we get to start at the back next week, so we get to do it all over again," he added.

 

In last week's feature, Dale Jr. used the high line to make his passes, but track conditions on Saturday forced the Blenheim driver to drop to the low side.

 

"I prefer the high groove, but the way the track was tonight, I had to go low because that's where the car had bite."

 

Rutherford's Chris Van De Wiele pressured Dale Jr. with a last-lap surge but rode the fence coming out of turn four. He wound up losing two positions and finished fourth as Paul DeGoey of Leamington and Clayton Smith of Woodslee gained two spots.

 

McNally led from the drop of the green to the wave of the checkered for his second Comp 4 feature win.

 

The third-year driver saw a half-track lead disappear when the caution flew on the eighth-lap of the 15-lap race.

 

Leamington's Shawn Windsor and Kingsville's Denis DeSerrano took turns at challenging McNally but neither driver had anything for the leader. DeSerrano finished second for the third straight week, while Windsor was third and Cottam's Rob Quick, last week's feature winner, was fourth.

 

Blenheim's Andrew Reaume led all 25 laps of the Castrol UMP Late Model feature, a race that saw just three of the 13 starters finish on the lead lap.

 

Reaume's only challenge came on a restart with five laps to go when Brad Authier dove to the inside between turns one and two but couldn't complete the pass.

 

"I let him have the bottom, because I knew what the track was like down there," said Reaume.  "I just concentrated on keeping my line, staying smooth and avoiding the bumps."

 

Strong winds in the afternoon played havoc with pre-race track preparation and made for a rough surface.

 

Reaume, however, said the conditions didn't affect his car's handling.

 

"The track actually came back in the feature," he said. "It was pretty hard in the heat and dash, but the car was hooking up by the end of the night."

 

Authier finished second while Brett Reaume – Andrew's father – was able to make a tire change under caution and stayed on the lead lap to finish third. Justin Coulter, the first of the lap-down cars, finished fourth.

 

Dale Jr. was running second when he had to make a green-flag tire change and went two laps down. He finished seventh.

 

PIT NOTES –The first feature win for the defending series champion capped a perfect night as Andrew Reaume posted the fastest qualifying time, won his heat as well as the Heuvelmans/Blenheim Chevrolet Dash For Cash. Reaume also moved into the lead in the point standings … Reaume will be at Eldora Speedway for Saturday's $100,000 Dirt Late Model Dream … Shaw, Dale and DeSerrano all maintained their division points leads … Clements gained five spots to fifth in the Sport Stocks. "The way we started the year, we're just concentrating on winning as many features and races as we can and just let the points fall where they fall," he said … This Saturday will be SM Freight Night while June 14 will be the first Kids' Night.