STROUD, ON – On Sunday October 14th we brought down the curtain on the 2007 race season at the fastest 1/3 mile oval in Ontario the fabled Sunset Speedway. It was great season weather wise and super car counts each and every week and the class of drivers second to none and the Frosty Special was no exception. We had an ambitious program to end the season with 4 cylinders, 4 funs, thunder cars, hurricane midgets, J cars and J trucks all on hand and this reporter was really impressed with my first viewing of the J series great looking cars and trucks and fantastic racing and names that were familiar to veteran stock car watchers. The big winners on the afternoon/ evening show were # 3 Ernie Fumerton in the Domino's Pizza thunder cars capping off a great '07 season as was our points champion, # 2 Ben Melenhorst in one of the great drives witnessed this year in the Fox's Buns Master 4 Cylinder road runners, # 35 Myles Jamieson the 17 year old phenom in the 4 Fun division, # 16 Courtney Marsh in the Hurrican Midgets, # 3 Jackson Jacobs in the J cars and # 85 Cole Powell in the J trucks.
THUNDER CAR FROSTY 50 LAP SPECIAL
We had 41 thunder cars in the pits ready to take on the 1/3 mile bullring deemed to tough to tame and after 6 highly competitive heats and a great 19 lap consi that featured 19 cars vying for 4 spots in the 50 lap main event 24 cars were on the grid for the 50 lap trip. As the green was displayed to start the 50 lap event # 3 Ernie Fumerton would appear to be the car to beat but there were 23 other great cars throughout the field. On the drop of the green flag # 03 Rick Walt grabbed the early lead with Fumerton welded to his back bumper and wasted little time in taking the lead while Walt, # 83 Scott Way, # 72 Randy "the Rocket" Rusnell and # 69 Scott McTeer were the fast 5. The order remained the same up front as there were tremendous battles throughout the field with # 49 "Flying" Frank Davey and # 74 Mark Zacchigna looking to get to the top 5. At the half way point still no yellows a testament to these great pilots, the running order was Fumerton, Walt, Way, McTeer, Davey and # 2 Ed Trembley. I would have bet anything that this event would be a crash fest but we went caution free and outstanding job done by all the drivers and as they turned for home the running order at the checkered flag was Fumerton, Walt, McTeer, Davey, # 17 Nick Roth and Zacchigna. That was outstanding 50 lap race as good as you would see anywhere and a fiting end to the '07 season at Sunset Speedway for 2 reasons a great race and also would appear to be the end of an era as Ernie Fumerton appears to be ending his career all his equipment is for sale so good luck in the future Ernie and family and I am sure we will see you circling the 1/3 mile oval in the near future. The heat winners were # 97 Roy Anderson, Rusnell, Davey, Way, Trembley and Fumerton and # 8 Jim Remmington took home the consi. It was a great car count event with 41 cars in the pits only 24 qualified for the 50 lap feature while 17 good thunders went home on the trailer does it get any better than that and we can't wait for the 2008 race season that will be bigger and better than '07.
THE FOX'S BUNS MASTER 4 CYLINDER ROAD RUNNERS 25 LAP SPECIAL
We had 24 of the best 4 cylinders in the province ready to take on the Sunset Speedway oval that can be tough to battle on any given night. On the drop of the green flag # 45 Colt Carcone grabbed the early lead but in behind was # 2 Ben Melenhorst, # 63 Brian Crumbie, # 33 Dave Glaze and # 00 Matt Henderson were all battling for position. Carcone was on the point but was under heavy pressure from Melenhorst, with Glaze, Henderson and # 18X Jeff Slaughter trading paint and looking to move up. At the half way mark Melenhorst grabs the lead from Carcone and Glaze, Henderson, Crumbie and Slaughter were putting the peddle to the metal looking to move up and then the complection of the race changed as Carcone gets into the rear of 2 car causing him to lose control of his mount but he let him gather up the car. The end result of this incident was that Glaze took the lead with Henderson, Carcone, Crumbie, # 4 Mike Meyer then Melenhorst. As the laps were winding down anyone of 8 cars could pull off the win as Glaze and Henderson were battling side by side with Carcone, Melenhorst, Meyer and Slaughter all looking to move up but the car on the move was the Melenhorst machine determined to take the victory. With 5 to go Glaze was still the point man but Melenhorst had moved to his back bumper with Henderson, Crumbie, Carcone and Slaughter all battling for position. With 2 to go we had Glaze and Melenhorst side by side Carconeand Crumbie side by side and Slaughter and Henderson also side by side and as they exited turn 4 heading for home Melenhorst was the leader with Glaze, Carcone, Crumbie, Slaughter, Henderson and Meyer grouped tightly in that order. The heat winners were Henderson,Carcone, # 35 Nick French and Melenhorst. Congratulations to Ben and his crew on a tremendous feature win as he didn't quit after his incident with Colt there is definitely a bright future in store for this driver as he has what it takes. I would also like to thank Colt on his gentleman move when backed off when Ben got loose and it would appear tp this scribe that Carcone let Ben by with little resistance only Colt knows for sure. It was another great 4 cylinder event and a fitting end to the '07 race season.
THE FOX'S 4 FUN 25 LAP FROSTY SPECIAL
We had 30 four funs ready to take on the Sunset oval and it would be a scrap with great racing throughout the field. On the drop of the green flag from starter Robbie # 4 mark Kehoe grabbed the early lead with # 38 Trevor Clubine, # 54 Joe Ireton, # 6 Terry Woodley and #18 Jay Cutting the fast 5. At the half way point Kehoe still had the point with Woodley, Clubine, # 35 Myles Jamieson and # 00 Dan Nolan were the fast 5. Woodley managed to wrestle the lead from Kehoe but Jamieson was definitely the car to beat 3rd while Nolan and Clubine round out the top 5. As the laps were winding down Jamieson finally takes the lead while Woodley, Kehoe, Nolan and Clubine were the fast 5 and that is how they finished the race. The heat winners were Ireton,Jamieson, Clubine and Woodley. Congratulations to Myles and his crew as he capped off the '07 season with a special win as well as the 4 fun points champion.
HURRICANE MIDGETS: 1. # 16 Courtney Marsh
J CAR: 1. # 3 Jackson Jacobs, 2. # 97 Brandan Ronald, 3. # 01 Brandan Bullen
J TRUCKS: 1. # 85 Cole Powell, 2. # 39 Corey Moosker, 3. # 35 Louis Desjardine
This puts to rest the 2007 Sunset Speedway race season and there were tremendous strides made with wonderful weather, great crowds and tremendous car counts in all 4 of our divisions and '08 promises to be bigger and better than the '07 season. The banquet is on Saturday night October 27th and we hope to see all the drivers out and cap the season of with a great night out. Old man winter is just around the corner and we hope to see everyone next May when we open the 2008 race season at Sunset Speedway and hope everyone has a safe winter and is able to join us next spring.
By Brian Watt
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