Stittsville, ON – Wednesday, August 6, 2014 – Kirk Mulligan
– Before I begin with this week’s race report, I just want to correct and
apologize for some information that I have mistakenly reported in the last
couple of weeks. Unfortunately, it has
come to my attention that I have been falsely identifying the points leader in the
Late Model division. It should be noted that
Justin Holtom (car #17) has been and is the Late Model points leader. In fact, Justin has been the points leader
for the entire season in this division. This
is quite an achievement! Furthermore, I
can’t remember the last time someone of his age and experience has achieved
such an accomplishment. I am not even
sure if our hall of famer, race director, Tim Dorning, knows of someone to have
completed this immense and consistent task.
With this matter acknowledged, I would gratefully ask that in any future event where I have mistakenly reported something, I would appreciate if it
was indicated to me immediately so that repetition of an issue can be
avoided.
Getting back to racing, it was the famous thunder in the
pines this past Wednesday night at Capital City Speedway (CCS)! The speedway was fortunate to have two main
sponsors on this night, Ottawa Valley TreeExperts and Dymon Self Storage. The night included the regular classes of Late
Model, Legends, Thunder, Mini Stock and 4 for Fun (4FF). The night also featured an appearance from
the Sportsman Modified class as well as a 100 lap Enduro. Similar to last week, this week’s racing again
saw record car counts and record prizes for the fans! Several new drivers were on hand for this
week’s event. Long time CCS racer, Bob
Williams (car #11 formerly car #72), was back in his new thunder car. This week also saw the return of Casey
Cavanagh (car #49) after a vicious accident two weeks ago. Cavanagh will be driving Jessica Passinetti’s
backup car until the damage of his own vehicle is repaired. Keith Riddell (car #59) was also back after a
couple of weeks of absence. The Legend
class saw new drivers Chris Zieren (car #51) of Ottawa, ON., and Bob Broad (car
#18) of Napanee, ON. This was the first
visit to CCS this year for both Zieren and Broad. I also want to mention that Zieren is
currently the points leader in the Legends class at Evans Mills Speedway in
Evans Mills, NY. Another note in the
Legend class was that former veteran driver Brent Egan was standing in for
points leader Kevin Foisy (car #57). In
the Mini Stock division, Danny Benedict (car #54) of Orono, ON., hauled his car
to CCS for his first ever visit.
Benedict currently runs at Peterborough and Sunset speedways on a
regular basis. In fact, he was fresh off
a feature win at Peterborough Speedway last Saturday night. Other Mini Stock car news happened just after
practice. Points leader Jason Moss (car
#12) had some transmission issues. That
car had to be put onto trailer for the night.
However, rookie driver Brandon Scott (car #86) graciously gave up his
ride so that Moss would not lose any valuable points. The Late Model division saw the addition of
new driver Stephane Poirier (car #18) from Orleans, ON. This was Poirier’s first visit of the season to
CCS. Finally, as a special treat, Rod
Sauder of Marmora, ON., was on hand at CCS with his Super Modified (car #33). Sauder currently runs the International
Supermodified Association (ISMA) circuit on a regular basis. Sauder put on quite a demonstration for the
fans both before the race night and during intermission. This car was amazing! Sauder was attaining speeds close to 130 mph around
the 3/8 asphalt oval.
On the fan side of things, I want to thank for the fourth
week in a row Hunter McCaig of Rideau Auctions for donating another brand new
kids bicycle. The bicycle was again
raffled off at intermission.
Congratulations to Serena Provost for winning the bicycle! The night also featured the annual Children’s
Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) golf ball toss. Golf balls were sold and registered for 5
dollars each. The prize for the closest
golf ball to the target was $100 dollars. All of the remaining proceeds were to be donated
to CHEO. Thus at intermission, the purchasers
of the golf balls were all allowed on to the front stretch to make the
toss. The target for the toss was a
small ice cream cup located near the center of the infield. Congratulations to Kathy Simon for winning
the toss! Dymon Storage was also
auctioning off 3 rides around the track in their sporty, mustard colour and
electrically driven Tesla car. Again the
proceeds were to be donated to CHEO.
Steve Flood won the first auction with a top bid of $43. The second auction was won by Tyler Jordan
after bidding $55. Finally, the last
auction was won by Nathalie Martin of Moncton, NB., after bidding $70. Thank you so much to everyone for your
generous bidding! CCS would also like to
thank Brad and Connie Young for assembling and raffling off 2 Pocono Prize
Packages. Congratulations to Jordyn Horner and Danica Yuill for winning these
amazing racing souvenirs! Lastly, a special
thanks goes out to the director of www.PoconoBusTrip.com,
Scott McIssac, for setting up a complex grand prize raffle and donating 2 grand
prize tickets to the 2015 Nascar race at Pocono International Raceway. Scott will be drawing 3 raffle finalist tickets
from each of the next 5 race nights.
After he obtains the 15 finalists, there will be a grand prize draw at
SummerSlam for the Nascar tickets. Congratulations
to Brad Young, Peter Limlaw and Marg Morgan for being selected as this week’s 3
raffle finalists!
This week again saw a lot of prizes given away, however,
this was not to overshadow the racing. The
heat races were full of excitement and the stage was definitely set for a thrilling
night of feature racing! The Drummond’s
Gas 20 lap Late Model feature was up first of the list. The race began with Paul Dejong (car #88) and
Chris Ferguson (car #08) in the pole positions.
The racing was door to door and hub to hub! Unfortunately, by lap 5 someone had to give
as Tim Kirby (car #10) got into the rear bumper of Ferguson. Ferguson spun and the caution flag flew. On the restart, Dejong had a new challenger,
Steve Munro (car #00). In fact, Justin
Holtom was also present lurking behind Dejong in third spot. It wasn’t long before Dejong lost the lead to
Munro. Furthermore, Holtom moved into
second position on lap 7. The race was
going well until lap 10, when Ferguson accidentally dumped Sean Kennedy (car
#14) on the front stretch. The two
drivers would do battle again on lap 13 resulting in them both receiving a
black flag. For those whom are not familiar,
a racer receiving a black flag is equivalent to the driver being disqualified. Meanwhile, Munro and Holtom were battling for
the lead. However, out of nowhere came
Tim Kirby on the outside line. Kirby
flew by Munro and Holtom! Kirby’s car must
have been set up perfectly to stick that way to the outside line. After Kirby passed by, Holtom followed to
pass Munro for second place. Kirby would
ultimately hang on and cruise to victory.
The ProFlow Plumbing Services Sportsman Modified 12 lap
feature race was up next. Heat winner
Joey Evans (car #09) paced the field. Points
leader Dana Aikens (car #8a) started on the outside of the front row. However, Evans was phenomenal as his car just
took off after the green flag dropped.
After lap 5, Evans had over a 5 car length lead. The remaining four cars appeared as if they were
on a string for the remainder of the race.
However, this night belonged to Evans as he easily took home the
victory.
This weeks Enstone Construction 10 lap Legends feature consisted
of the highest car count of the season! The
race started with the announcement that the race teams of Brian Saunders (car
#15) and Brent Egan/Kevin Foisy (car #57) would be donating their driver
payouts to CHEO. That was a wonderful
gesture! Brad Haufe (car #17) and Steve
Yendall (car #1) made up the front row. This
race had a slow start. It was not until
the fourth restart before we successfully recorded a lap. After lap 1, Matt Haufe (car #7) and Saunders
were battling for the lead. Haufe
eventually took the lead. However, the
lead was quickly lost. On lap 5, Haufe
got loose in turn 2 and from out of nowhere Chris Zieren (car #51) slid by on
the inside lane. Saunders seized the
moment and followed Zieren. This was a
familiar site for Zieren and Saunders.
In fact, the two battled last Saturday at Evans Mills speedway. On that occasion Saunders had won the
feature. Saunders was looking for the
repeat win. The next couple of laps saw
Saunders all over the back bumper of Zieren.
Zieren was doing everything he could to hang on to the lead. But, miraculously on the final turn of the
race, Saunders put the pedal to the metal and passed Zieren on the inside. Saunders took the victory for the second time
in a week from Zieren!
The Autovation Thunder 10 lap feature race was up next. Before I begin, I just wanted to mention that
I was approached before the race by points leader Neil Leblond (car #88). Leblond explained to me that the night before
he had a dream. Leblond dreamt that he
had won this week’s feature race and that his picture was all over the front
page of the CCS website! Wow, what a vision! This made me eager to see how this feature
race was going to pan out. Keith Riddell
(car #59) and Casey Cavanagh (car #49) made up the front row at the beginning of
the race. The second row consisted of
the blossoming rivals Leblond and Jessica Pasinetti (car #56). After the first 3 laps, Leblond and Pasinetti
were battling for top spot.
Unfortunately for Pasinetti, Leblond was firing on all cylinders as he
began to pull away from the field by lap 5.
By the end, Leblond had finished the race victoriously and lived the
dream!
In the Stittsville Trailers 10 lap Mini Stock feature race,
Derek Demont (car #7) and Cory Wilson (car #33) paced the field. Wilson pulled out to an early lead after the
drop of the green flag. Unlike most
weeks, Jason Moss (car #12) and Nolan Gould (car #28) were not factors in this
race. The ultimate factor in this race
proved to be visiting driver Danny Benedict (car #54). After lap 3, Benedict had moved from ninth to
third position. This race was loaded
with excitement! Cars were going into
the corners three wide. In turn 3 of lap
4, Benedict and “Dentman” Dave Watchorn (car #97) moved to the front of the pack
and battled for the lead. The two
drivers were on a string for the remainder of the race. This night would see visiting driver Benedict
take home the checkers. I hope this is
not the last we see of this surprising visitor!
The final regular class feature of the night was the 4FF SFL
Metal Works race. This race was an 8 lap
affair. The race began with rookie Joann
Blais (car #81) starting in the pole position.
Although, this was not the enduro race, cars were all over the
speedway. In fact, on lap 5, Malcolm “Pops”
MacDonald (car #80) even took a shortcut through the infield to get to the
pits. After all was said and done, this
night belonged to Blais as he went on to win this feature event.
Finally, the night was ended with a 100 lap Enduro. There were a total of 33 entries in the
race. Unfortunately, due to the City of
Ottawa noise bylaw, the race was cut short at 58 laps. The race winners were Dave Quinton (car #78)
and Milton Dennie (car #25th) in the 8 and 4 cylinder classes,
respectively.
This coming week, Wednesday evening, August 13, 2014, is Strongco
night. The race night will feature Late
Models, Legends, Mini Stock, Thunder and 4-For-Fun divisions. Also in town is the special feature Vintage Modifieds. In addition, it’s fan appreciation
night! The races will start at 7:15 pm sharp! Regular general admission is $15 for adults,
$13 for seniors, $10 for teens (13-16) and as always children 12 & under
are free.
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