On Saturday night at Barrie Speedway, it marked the sixth night for the Wahta Springs Late Models with their 10th and 11th features of the season. The drivers were looking for the best finishes possible as they try to improve their ranking in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series standings. Coming into the night, two drivers – Dwayne Baker and Keith McLeod – sat within the top 100 with Baker sitting the highest at 69th.
However, with other tracks in the U.S having more races under their belt, once they get to 18 features and just count the top ones, both drivers have a shot at making improvements. In nine features so far, Baker has six features wins, eight top fives and nine top 10s. However, one of them was DQ’d by the track, though is not noted in NASCAR’s standings. Meanwhile, McLeod has one win, eight top fives and nine top 10s in nine features.
Meanwhile, on the track standings coming into the night, McLeod sat in the lead, eight points ahead of Ron Quesnelle and Baker.
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[/media-credit]The starting order for the first feature of the night was set based on the finishing order from the feature the previous week, putting Dave Lewis on the pole. Lewis finished 12th the week before while Dwayne Baker went on to the victory. Randy Bull started second, followed by Thayne Hallyburton, Gord Shepherd and Al Inglis.
The first caution would come out on lap our when Ron Lethbridge spun. At this point, Lewis still led while Thayne Hallyburton had made his way past Bull for second. Inglis, meanwhile, had made his way up to third, followed by Keith McLeod with Bull now fifth.
At the midway point, Baker had worked his way up to fifth after starting ninth while Inglis has passed Hallyburton for second. A battle then ensured between him and Thayne Hallyburton for position and on lap 19 of the 30 lap feature, Baker would send Hallyburton for the spin. As a result, both Hallyburton and Baker would be sent to the back of the field while Lewis now led over Inglis. Shepherd, meanwhile, ran solidly in third followed by defending track champion Ron Quesnelle and McLeod.
On the restart, Inglis would stay alongside Lewis as they battled for the lead. They’d battle side-by-side all the way till a caution with five laps to go for Bull spinning while trying to pass McLeod. Track officials would deem McLeod involved, putting him to the rear of the field. Baker and Hallyburton had both worked their way through the field after their incident, now running fourth and fifth, behind Lewis, Inglis and Shepherd.
On the final restart, Inglis would be able to get around Lewis and go on to win his second feature of the season.
Inglis would say after the race that he had to work hard at it, but it was a lot of fun. It was also noted in victory lane that one of the big differences was Inglis discovered a problem that they were having with the left front shock and was able to fix it so they could get the handling better.
Lewis would finish second for his second top five and best finish of the season while Shepherd would finish third for his eighth top five of 2012. Baker would come home fourth with Hallyburton in fifth. Glenn Lloyd finished sixth, followed by Roy Manary, Quesnelle, Mike Langley and Bull.
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[/media-credit]After having issues in the first feature, Shawn Murray would start pole in the second feature with Keith McLeod to his outside. Randy Bull would start third, followed by Ron Quesnelle and Roy Manary. Murray would only lead the two opening laps, before he was passed by McLeod for the lead on lap three.
The first caution would come out on the same lap, three, as Ron Lethbridge got into the turn four wall. By the third lap, Quesnelle had passed Bull for third while Gord Shepherd had made his way up to fifth after starting eighth.
Shepherd would also make his way around Bull and engage himself in a battle for third with Quesnelle. The battle wouldn’t end well as Shepherd would send Quesnelle for a spin on lap 11. This would allow Bull to make his way back up to third, while Al Inglis now ran fourth with Dwayne Baker fifth.
Inglis would make his way past both Bull and Murray to move up to the second position, behind McLeod. They’d engage in a battle for first as Inglis looked for his second straight win. However, it wouldn’t be meant to be as contact between the two on lap 24 would send McLeod for the spin. Both cars would be put the rear as being involved, handing the lead to Baker, who had also gotten by both Bull and Murray. Murray moved his way past Bull to run second with Bull third, followed by Thayne Hallyburton and Shepherd, who was making his climb back up through the field.
On the restart, Murray would suffer heartbreak in his quest for his first feature win as he’d have a mechanical failure while Mike Langley got into the wall. This moved Bull up to second behind Baker, followed by Hallyburton, Shepherd and Dave Lewis.
Baker would lead the final six laps for his sixth feature win of the season. Shepherd finished second for his ninth top five of 2012 while Bull finished third for his second top five of 2012. Hallyburton and Lewis rounded out the top five. Quesnelle finished sixth, followed by Inglis, Lethbridge, McLeod and Manary.
“I don’t know if I’m slowing down or those guys are catching up a bit, but I had to work for it,” Baker said.
When asked if he had expected to be this successful this season making his return to Barrie, Baker said he didn’t and that it was all due to how good the car was.
The Wahta Springs Late Models return to action once again next weekend at Barrie Speedway as they will run two features on Saturday June 23 as regularly scheduled, and two features on Saturday June 24 to make up for the rain out on June 2nd.
