After two solid shows to start the 2014 season, the OSCAAR Hanover Holiday Modifieds are set to tackle the tight 1/3 mile known as Barrie Speedway. Last year’s race produced some exciting action along the way with a couple of incidents, but for the most part, clean racing action all the way around.
Last year it was Brent McLean that found victory lane and a trip to Barrie this weekend maybe exactly what hte doctor ordered. The younger McLean hasn’t started off the season as he hoped with a 12th at Sunset Speedway and a sixth two weeks ago at Kawartha Speedway.
Though if he wants to win again, he’ll have to watch his mirror for his uncle Gary McLean. McLean is also a past winner at Barrie, having won the event two years ago. Gary didn’t start off the season like he wanted at Sunset Speedway after being involved in a wreck, though a win two weeks ago at Kawartha has him leading the standings by one point over Chad Strawn and Ryan Dick.
Dick has had a consistent start to the year with a pair of fourth place finishes, though it will be interesting to see whether the trend continues this weekend due to his lack of experience at Barrie.
The other half of the equation – Strawn – may not compete due to personal health reasons this weekend. Strawn discussed a couple weeks ago that his buddy Brad Stevenson will be behind the wheel. Stevenson has driven Strawn’s modified before, so it will be interesting whether he can live up to the success that Strawn has started the year with. It won’t be easy, considering Strawn won Sunset and finished seventh at Kawartha.
Max Beyore will be making his first career Barrie start this weekend and it’ll be interesting to see how the driver of the No. 91N modified does. On the bigger wider tracks to start the year, Beyore has been strong with a sixth at Sunset Speedway and a second at Kawartha Speedway.
Terry Baker made his OSCAAR debut two weeks ago with stellar results in the form of a third place finish. If Baker shows this weekend, keep an eye on the No. 26.
In a non-OSCAAR sanctioned event, Tommy Robb’s modified sustained heavy damage after the wheel came off and the car went up into the turn three wall. Robb’s team has been hard at work over the week and is with certainty going to make sure to be ready for Barrie this weekend. Robb is off to a solid start this year with a 10th at Sunset, followed by a fifth at Kawartha.
Shane Stickel started off his OSCAAR sophomore campaign with a stellar second at Sunset, only to have his run cut short at Kawartha due to a wreck mid-race. Stickel hopes to get his year back on track, though will have a tough order ahead of him as he missed Barrie last year due to his car not being ready yet.
Matt Barton was at the opening event of the 2014 season with a third place finish – though was not at Kawartha. Whether Barton will be at Barrie is yet to be seen. However, if so, he should be strong based on a fourth and sixth in his previous two attempts.
Rookie Dustin Jackson started off his year well with his first heat win and a fifth place finish at Sunset Speedway. The race at Kawartha didn’t go as well as hoped in the form of a 10th place so this weekend the 15-year-old will certainly be looking for some more impressive results.
The first two races this season, Mike Westwood would probably like to forget considering neither has gone well with wrecks in them both. Heading to Barrie perhaps doesn’t help matters considering last year his night ended early with mechanical problems.
Brian McLean, Bobby Tolton and Branden Bullen will be looking to post some solid finishes this week as the statistics on paper so far this year haven’t been that strong. However, they all have laps at Barrie and have shown speed this year so far so things could change this weekend.
Davey Terry has been really fast so far this year…but also had bad luck. A wreck took him out of the equation at Sunset, while a late-race incident relegated his top-three run to an eighth place finish. Heading into Barrie Speedway, Terry definitely is looking for a good top-five finish, or perhaps his first career feature victory, to get his year on track. Terry has been good at Barrie in the past (seventh last year), though also had bad luck there as well (wreck in 2012).
Gary Elliott has shown a great deal of speed early in his OSCAAR Modified career, though also found bad luck the first two weeks. Expect Elliott to be solidly in the top-10 this week if he can stay out of trouble to give his rookie season some solid footing.
With their open-wheel style bodies, the modifieds always put on a show with close-racing throughout the whole field. Expect another solid show this weekend as they head into their third season of competition.
