Words by Mike Bennett / Pictures by James MacDonald Apex One Photo for contributed photos
Wallaceburg's Chris Ross is presented his $6,000 cheque and trophy after winning the Castrol Canadian UMP Late Model Shootout at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night by the 'Castrol Girls.'
Chris Ross pumps his fist as he crosses the finish line.
Brian Ruhlman of Clarklake, Mich., receives his $2,500 pay check from the Castrol Girls after winning the inaugural Advantage Warehouse UMP Modified Fall Blowout.
Tim Richardson (5x) of Tilbury rides the low line in a three-wide battle during the Advantage Warehouse UMP Modified Fall Blowout 'A' Main.
SOUTH BUXTON – Running with the Americans helped Wallaceburg’s Chris Ross make Canadian history.
Ross started on the pole and led all 40 laps to win the fourth annual Castrol Canadian UMP Late Model Shootout in front of a capacity crowd at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night.
His victory was the first by a Canadian driver in the four-year history of what has become the track’s signature event. Ross finished second in 2005.
“Definitely, it’s the biggest win of my career,” the 27-year-old Ross said, as he pocketed $6,000 (US) with his victory.
Ross, the 2003 Late Model season champion at South Buxton, has been racing on the Ohio dirt-track circuit the past two summers.
Saturday’s victory was his second in two appearances at South Buxton this year, as he won a feature race on May 24.
“This is my roots,” he said of winning at South Buxton. “I’ve moved on to other avenues, but I still like driving 45 minutes to my home track, so there’s a lot of sentiment here.”
Although his success has been limited in Ohio, Ross feels competing against the more experienced Americans the last two summers is paying dividends. “We’ve really stepped up our program,” he said. “I think we proved that tonight.”
Ross proved to be the driver to beat right out of the chute as he laid down the fastest qualifying lap of 15.059 seconds and ran away with the victory in the heat race to earn the pole for the ‘A’ Main.
Ross’s only scare came on a restart with 10 laps to go when Kevin Reeve of Hanover, Mich., pulled even coming out of turn four, but a caution flag negated the lap.
“I screwed up real bad and Reeve got by me, but I learned a little bit from that,” Ross said. “After cautions, it usually took me a lap or two to get going, so on that next restart, I scrubbed the tires to keep the heat in.”
Jon Henry of Ada, Ohio, passed Reeve with seven laps to go but had nothing for Ross.
“The last caution hurt us, because I thought I was making up some ground, but by the time I was able to get a run again, it was over,” said Henry, who settled for his second runner-up finish of the night.
Earlier, Henry finished second to Brian Ruhlman in the inaugural Advantage Warehouse UMP Modified Fall Blowout.
They traded places in the Late Model Shootout as Ruhlman finished one spot behind Henry in third, as American drivers took six of the top 10 positions.
Defending Shootout winner Rusty Schlenk, who needed a champion’s provisional to start the race, finished fourth, while Reeve slipped back to a fifth-place finish after chasing Ross for almost 30 laps.
Adam Ferri of Port Colborne was the second-highest Canadian as he was seventh, while Blenheim’s Andrew Reaume was ninth and Jeff Dayman of Welland was 10th.
Reaume, the two-time South Buxton Late Model champion, had high hopes for his best Shootout showing but walked away disappointed again.
After posting the second-fastest qualifying time, Reaume broke a part in the drive shaft before taking the green in his heat, but rebounded to win the ‘B’ Main and the Dash.
However, he was forced to start at the back of the 23-car ‘A’ Main field after a review of his starting position in the ‘B’ Main.
A flat tire with 10 laps to go forced Reaume to come back through the field a second time as he rebounded to finish ninth.
Andrew’s father Brett Reaume was 11th, while Jim Jones of Chatham was 13th and Jim Dale Jr. of Blenheim 14th.
Three other local drivers finished the race in the pits as Chatham’s John Pinsonneault Jr. was 19th, Chatham’s Joe Field 21st and Thamesville’s Dale Glassford 22nd.
Former Shootout winners Curtis Roberts of Coleman, Mich., and Jamie Zidar of Greenfield, Wisc., were 17th and 20th respectively.
Thirty-eight Late Models were in the field, 17 of those from across the border.
The first Advantage Warehouse UMP Modified Fall Blowout drew 30 cars, including 14 from the United States. Ruhlman took the lead on lap six of the 35-lap Modified ‘A’ main after Mark Fowler, from Billings, Mont., spun out after leading the first five circuits.
Once in front, Ruhlman put his Modified on a rail and held off Henry for the final 24 laps for his first South Buxton win since 2004 when he won an American Late Model Series race. “I won the first time I ever saw the place but haven’t been able to get back there (to Victory Lane) since,” said Ruhlman, who has twice been the runnerup in the Shootout. This car has been tight all year, we’ve been struggling to get it freed up, but tonight we finally got it to turn,” he said. “I didn’t know how quick we were, but once we got into clean traffic, we could drive away.”
Ruhlman also won his heat and dash while posting the second fastest qualifying lap.
Henry wasn’t disappointed in the least being the bridesmaid twice in one night.
“My thinking is, two seconds equals one win,” he smiled. “I thought could get a run on him, but then we had all those cautions, so second’s not too bad,” he said of his battle with Ruhlman.
Rich Robinson Jr. of Mt. Pleasant, Mich. was third, followed by a pair of Muskegon racers, Mike Wilbern and Troy Marciniak.
Tim Richardson of Tilbury, a two-time former track champion at South Buxton, returned to his home track for a sixth-place finish.
Clayton Smith of Woodslee was the highest finishing South Buxton regular as he was eighth. Joey Brosseau of Merlin was 11th, leading a pack of nine local drivers who finished 11th through 19th. Chatham’s C.J. Field was 12th, followed by Dale Jr., Merlin’s Brad McLeod, Wheatley’s Aaron Wiebe, Leamington’s Justin Coulter, Chatham’s Todd Wellman, Wyoming’s Brian Speelman and Leamington’s Curtis Coulter.
Leamington’s Paul DeGoey received one of the biggest ovations of the night as the 24-year-old returned to South Buxton for the first time since his career-ending crash on Aug. 30. DeGoey visited Victory Lane after the Modified dash where he received his Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified points championship trophy. He also presented the dahs winner Ruhlman with a $100 bonus prize, which he donated as a thank-you to South Buxton fans for their support in his recovery.
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