The “Joyceville Jet” Scores At Brighton Speedway Southern Ontario Sprints Opener
BRIGHTON, ON – A capacity crowd greeted the return of the Southern Ontario Sprints to Brighton Speedway Saturday night as the tour opened it’s 2007 season.
Hometown favourite Rick Wilson had them on their feet as he collected his first victory of 2007. “At the start of the race my motor was skipping real bad” stated Wilson in post the post race interview. “When we finally got some heat in the motor, the car was really going good. It is good to see so many people in the stands for the sprint races here and tonight the track was just awesome” concluded Wilson.
Pole sitter Craig Downie grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag from Brad Malloy as the duo set a torrid pace. Downie continued to show the way to the rest of the field while Malloy gave chase through the early stages of the twenty lap event.
The first of two cautions waved on lap seven to clear the disabled machine of Bob Crawford who was sitting in a dangerous spot in the infield grass after dropping out of the race at the end of lap three with front end damage. Warren Mahoney also retired during the caution period with mechanical woes.
On the restart, Downie continued to dominate as Kevin Job slipped by Malloy into second. Glenn Styres, Rick Wilson, and Kyle Wilson were engaged in a battle as they closed in on Malloy. By the half way point, Downie appeared to be in control as Job had settled into second. Rick Wilson, Styres and Kyle Wilson had all cleared the Malloy machine with the 5M running in sixth.
Kyle Patrick, Adam West, Keith Dempster, and Jamie Collard rounded out the top ten.
Rick Wilson slipped by Job into the runner up spot by lap fourteen as Styres faded to fifth behind Kyle Wilson. The second and final caution waved on lap sixteen when Brad Malloy collected a spinning Mike Ferrell in turn four.
Ferrell continued as the Malloy mount came to rest with front end damage. Rob Middlemiss and Daryl Turford also stopped on the speedway during this caution but were able to restart.
When the green flag waved for the final time, Downie got a good jump with Rick Wilson in pursuit. Downie held on to lead lap seventeen but Wilson caught Downie on the exit of turn two and blasted into the lead as the pair entered turn three. At the checkers it was Rick Wilson followed by Downie, Kyle Wilson, Styres, Job, Kyle Patrick, West, Collard, Dempster, and John Watson making up the top ten.
John Burbridge, Dick Mahoney, Rob Middlemiss, Daryl Turford, and April Wilson finished eleventh through fifteenth while Derek Jonathan, Mark Swain, James Whittaker, and Mike Ferrell completed the running order. Rookie Bill Baldwin failed to get the car started for the feature while Joe Middlemiss did not answer the call with engine problems.
Heat races were won by Craig Downie, Brad Malloy, and Kevin Job.
Next up on May 18th the series will make the first of four appearances to
Ohsweken Speedway Friday night. Racing activities are set to go at 7:45 PM
with Pit gates opening at 5:30 PM.
Be sure to come out to a speedway near you as the series continues on it’s
2007 tour and for all of the latest news and information on the Southern
Ontario Sprints be sure to log on to the official website at HYPERLINK
"http://www.southernontariosprints.com" www.southernontariosprints.com .
For Immediate Release: (Ken Pelkie for SOS)
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