Stittsville, ON – Saturday, September 27, 2014 – Kirk
Mulligan – Finally, Capital City Speedway’s (CCS) Fall Fest had arrived. The sun was shining bright and the
temperature was warm. This was a Saturday
event that consisted of only special features.
The racing included a 200 lap enduro and a 25 lap chain race.
Racing was supposed to start at 1pm sharp. However, due to an influx of cars, the event
had to start a half hour late. The enduro
race involved 25, 8 cylinder cars and 19, 4 cylinder cars. This produced a grand total of 44 cars. The cars were lined up from the start finish
line back into turn 3. In addition, the
cars were lined up 3 wide. Carl Gauthier
(car #31), Mitch McCullough (car #77) and Bobby Montske (car #20) made up the
front row. After the cars were lined up,
flagman Ronnie Ridge waved the green flag!
The race had begun.
Unfortunately, the car of Denny Rees (car #M5) didn’t move. Before the first lap was even complete, the
red flag was unveiled. Troubles for Rees
would continue all day as he would enter and leave the racing surface sporadically
throughout the race. Once the race was
restarted, the first lap of the race was completed with Gauthier leading the
way. However, by the end of lap 2, the
race would see the 60’s era Impala of Terry McClelland (car #64) take the
lead. McClelland looked strong in the
early going as he was passing cars all over the track. In lap 9, the car of Sean Burke (car #67)
would stall on the inside of the front straight. After a few minutes Burke got the car fired
up. Unfortunately, the car would stall
again except this time on the back straight.
This cycle repeated a few times before Burke remained stalled a final
time on the inside of the front straight in lap 12. In lap 17, a wheel and a fender molding mysteriously
appeared on the front straight. The red
flag dropped in lap 22 to clean up the debris.
Burke’s car was also moved to the pit area. The top five at this point in the race were
McClelland, Clayton Pederson (car #20), Mitchell Klompmaker (car #28), Gauthier
and Scott Cuthbertson (car #2). The race
was restarted and stopped again in lap 27.
In lap 27, Daniel Claude (car #72) was removed from the infield. In addition, Chris Purdie (car #29) whom had
just spun on the front stretch due to a front flat tire was also removed from
the track. Once the race was restarted,
the excitement continued. In lap 29,
McClelland left the racing surface to the pit and he would not return until lap
38. As a result, Pederson became the new
leader. The red flag returned in lap 45
as Jonathan Galipeau (car #64) collided with Todd Ceason (car #16). The collision sent Ceason up the outside wall
in turn 3. A quarter of the way through
the race the top 5 were Pederson, Klompmaker, Marc-André Bernier (car #15),
Cuthbertson and Gauthier. After the race
resumed, Thunder stock champion Neil Leblond (car #88) would rub Dave Quinton
(car #78) and the two would spin.
Leblond then pulled to the infield and Quinton headed to the pits. In lap 49, Pederson spun out and Klompmaker
became the new leader. Kevin Perrin (car
#02) hit the wall in turn 2 of lap 57 due to a rear flat tire. Perrin would return to the race in lap
65. Klompmaker would lose the lead as he
encountered some problem causing him to slow right down on the front stretch. Bernier then became the new leader. The race resumed until lap 69 when the red
flag was brought out. The break allowed
for the removal of Leblond and Burke from the infield. Bernier was eagerly awaiting the restart as
fluid was leaking under his car. The
race was restarted until the hood of Perrin sprung open in lap 76. The red flag was brought out again as Perrin
left the racing surface. Jamie Briggs
was also removed at this time as he had stalled on the front straight is a
previous lap. The next bit of action occurred
in lap 90 as the Ceason machine was black flagged for what appeared to be the
leaking of fuel onto the track. Soon
after, in lap 93, Cuthbertson would pass Bernier on the inside of the front
straight to take over the lead. However,
Bernier remained right on Cuthbertson’s tail until the midway point in the race
lap 100. The race was stopped at lap 100
and cars were allowed to mark their spots on the race track. The teams were then allowed 15 minutes to
make any necessary adjustments to their cars.
Race director Tim Dorning said: “They can even change their engines if
they wanted too!”
After the short intermission, the race resumed. The red flag was dropped immediately as the
cars of Rees and Pederson stalled. After
the two cars were pushed off the track, the green flag was waived. In lap 108, Jessie Duguay (car #217) would
spin around in turn 2. Duguay turned the
car around and continue to race. In lap
120, Derek Demont (car #7) and Robert Hill Jr. (car #4T) collided in turn 2. Hill pulled his car to the infield but,
Demont continued to race. McCullough experiencing
problem with his car joined Hill in the infield in lap 133. Ian Reid continued the racing action by spinning
in turn 2 of lap 137. Corey Trofimezuk (car
#7x) blew the motor in his car in lap 144.
The red flag finally appeared after 43 laps of green flag racing. The CCS clean up crew quickly covered the oil
from Trofimezuk’s motor with a few bags of speedy dry. The cars of Hill, Nick Delorenz (car #3) and
Mathieu Laroque (car #21) were pushed to the pit area during the break. The race then continued. At the 3 quarter mark of the race Cuthbertson
was leading with Bernier right behind him.
In lap 158, the engine of the Duguay machine would come apart bringing
out the red flag. On the restart,
Dominic Gauvreau (car #23), Hill, Blaine Jacquard (car #83) and Bernier drove 4
wide into turn 2. Everyone involved
survived except for Hill as he spun into the infield. In lap 165, the red flag would return as
Gauvreau blew the motor. With 35 laps to
go at this point, the race saw Cuthbertson and Bernier battling for the
lead. In fact, in lap 166, Bernier would
take over the lead. The two drivers
would weave through lap traffic in the next several laps. Cuthbertson made several challenges for the
lead in the next 20 laps. Unfortunately,
in lap 188, something in the front end (possibly a ball joint) of Bernier’s
machine let go. Bernier came out of turn
4 and slid right into the Quinton machine.
Quinton was sandwiched between Bernier and the wall. The accident brought out the red flag. Quinton and Bernier left the race. The race had 12 laps to go and only 16 of 44
cars remained. With Bernier out of the
race, Cuthbertson became the new leader.
Cuthbertson would complete the remaining 12 laps and go on to win the
event for the 8 cylinder class. The 4
cylinder class winner was Milton Dennie (car #25th).
After 200 laps of excitement, it was time for the 25 lap chain
race. Only 3 teams participated and
lined up 3 wide. The teams were Kevin
Reese and Matt (car #21 and #18), James Smith and Trevor (car #17 and #17) and
Chris Purdie and Gilles Melanson (car #29 and #68.5). After the green flag dropped, Purdie and
Melanson took the lead. Unfortunately,
the team of Reese and Matt was eliminated after the first turn. Reese and Matt’s chain broke as they entered
turn 1 of the first lap. Once the chain
that connects the two cars is broke, the team is disqualified. The action continued as the team of Smith and
Trevor would challenge Purdie and Melanson for the lead in lap 2. Purdie and Melanson were much too strong as
they gradually extended their lead in the coming laps. Smith and Trevor’s front car began leaking
some fluid in lap 4. In lap 15, Smith
and Trevor’s team would continue the excitement as the two spun on the front
stretch. The team would turn the cars
forward and continue the race. Purdie
and Melanson were over a half a lap ahead at this point of the race. They would cautiously finish and win the
race.
Up next, is the 2015 CCS racing season. Have a great winter everyone and thank you for
supporting us!
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