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[/media-credit]By Clayton Johns (@cjohnsmedia) – Stroud, ON – Round nine of the OSCAAR Super Late Model schedule was on the docket for Brandon Watson (#9 Shear Metal Products/Royal Distributing/Barrie Frame and Alignment/Knightworks Design Chevrolet Impala SS) Sunday afternoon at Sunset Speedway. Watson entered the event with the championship points lead, which he has held since the last event at Sunset on June 30.
Having won both events at Sunset so far this season, Watson was in search of the Sunset sweep for the season and third win of the year.
A stout field of 26 Super Late Models were set to pose a big challenge for the Stayner, ON teen. Starting fifth in in the second heat of the night, Watson worked his way to his eventual finishing position of third. A strong pairing of Jeff Hanley (#70 Raylene Racing Toyota) and Todd Campbell (#07 Campbell’s Sanitation Chevrolet) pulled away from the pack to make the top-two in the heat.
Watson started fourth in heat five before finishing second to Jesse Kennedy (#10 Bev’s Auto Repair and Smoke Shop Chevrolet).
Watson qualified for the lower half of the re-draw process, by virtue of his original sign-in draw number.
Following the heats, Watson was optimistic about his chances for the Sunset sweep.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the best starting spot. We’ll have to work with it and take our time to get up there. I think we have a good enough car to make it up to the front,” said Watson
Watson would role from the starting grid in the eighth spot.
Watson was in contention early on, but was forced to pull down pit lane during a lap four caution when he was black flagged for a mechanical issue. The team would not lose a lap and rejoined the field as the 23rdcar in line.
“Our left-rear bumper was sticking out. While we were in there we thought we would use the time in the pits to make a few adjustments,” explained Watson.
Wasting little time, Watson took hold of the 14th spot by lap 10 and the 12th spot by lap 15.
A 14-lap green flag run following a lap 20 caution saw Watson move in to contention with the leaders, as he overtook Charlie Gallant (#40P South Shore Services Chevrolet) for fifth.
The final caution on lap 34 tightened the field for the remaining 16 laps, with the top five cars of Hanley, Rob Clarke (#49 London Mechanical Chevrolet), Kennedy, Fitzpatrick, and Watson remained in win contention.
However, with nine laps to go, lady luck bit Watson’s #9 entry.
“The bad luck kind of continued for me today. Unfortunately, a trailing arm broke going in to (turn) one,” explained Watson. “The rear-end was moving all around going in to the corner. The car was jumping two feet to the right. There on, I was just trying to hold on.”
Watson was able to finish the race, but slipped back as far as ninth before his eventual finishing spot of eighth. Without the issue, Watson would have been in contention for the win.
Watson extended his lead in the championship standings to 33 points over Glenn Watson (#22 Rival Office Solutions Chevrolet), who finished sixth, after George Wilson (#77 Port City Racecars Ford) suffered a DNF following a lap four wreck.
Brandon is back in action on Friday night at Kawartha Speedway for round ten of the 2012 tour and the 75-lap Don Biederman Memorial. The Biederman Memorial was originally scheduled for August 10, but was subsequently rained out and again on Sept. 7 and 14.
