Family Channel’s Veronica to sing national anthem at Sunset Speedway on Sunday

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September 28, 2013

As part of Velocity 250 pre-race ceremonies, Family Channel star Veronica will be singing the national anthem before racing starts on Sunday at Sunset Speedway.

The young start headlined Family Channel’s Big Ticket Summer Concert this past summer and has emerged as a star this year with her songs Busted and Incompatible.

She will also be signing autographs for the fans during intermission, as she did earlier this summer at the track.

The Velocity 250 event is Sunset Speedway’s big year end two-day event that features the OSCAAR Super Late Models, OSCAAR Modifieds, Late Models, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Ontario Pro Challenge, Canadian Vintage Modifieds and the Hurricane Midgets.

On Saturday, the Late Models, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks and OSCAAR Modifieds will run their qualifying heats. On the flip side, the Hurricane Midgets, Canadian Vintage Modifieds and Pro Challenge cars will be running their heats, as well as their features to cap off the evening. Canadian Country singer Jason McCoy will be on hand Saturday to sing the national anthem.

The Late Models, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks and OSCAAR Modifieds will return on the Sunday to run their last chance races, as well as their main features. They will also be joined by the OSCAAR Super Late Models, running their qualifying heats and 50 lap feature.

The races start at 4pm EST on Saturday with the main gates opening at 2:30 pm EST.

The races start at 1:30 pm EST on Sunday with the main gates opening at noon.

For ticket prices and more details, check out http://sunsetspeedway.ca/.

OSCAAR Super Lates hit up Sunset Speedway for fifth time this year

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SM Staff

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September 28, 2013

oscaar_ashley — Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin

For the fifth time this season, the OSCAAR Super Late Models make the trip to Sunset Speedway as they get closer and closer to crowning their champion.

Sunset has already hosted the super lates four times this season and in those four events, we’ve had two different winners.

Brandon Watson kicked off the season winning the Lucie Alywin Memorial 50 after starting on pole and clearing Derrike Tiemersma on an early race restart. The win kicked off Watson’s championship season, which has seen him pick up some more wins and currently hold a 40 point lead over rookie Andrew Gresel.

When the series returned to Sunset Speedway at the end of June for the Don Biederman Memorial, Dwayne Baker timed in the quickest with a lap of 13.503 seconds. He then started pole in the first of the two 50 lap features, leading all 50 laps on the way to his first feature win of the season. Baker was running the schedule part-time this season as he focused on the full Limited Late Model schedule at Sunset Speedway.

In the second 50 lapper of the Don Biederman Memorial, Brandon Watson returned to victory lane after passing Kevin Cornelius with 10 laps to go for the lead.

As a result of winning the first feature of the two-day weekend and finishing third in the second feature, Baker was crowned Don Biederman Memorial Champion for 2013.

Baker backed up that success, picking up the win on July 27^th after a late race side-by-side battle with Shane Maginnis.

Baker will look for his third feature victory of the season this weekend as he will be doing double duty, running the 50 lap Super Late Model feature, as well as the 75 lap Limited Late Model feature.

B. Watson will also be in attendance as he will look to extend his points lead as he inches closer to locking up his second championship in a row.

However, should Watson run into problems, Andrew Gresel will be fast and could capitalize. The Sauble Beach, Ontario native has won three features in his rookie season to date – Sauble, Kawartha and Flamboro. He will look for his fourth win of the season. He has finished in the top 10 in each of his Sunset starts this year, including a fourth.

Derrike Tiemersma has been strong all year, but has yet to make his way into the win column. The 2007 Series Champion will be looking for his win of the season this weekend at Sunset. He has been successful at Sunset this year, finishing inside of the top six each time.

Glenn Watson has had a year full of mixed luck and despite being a four-time series champion, he has yet to win a race this season. With this being the second last race of the 2013 OSCAAR season, look for Watson to be knocking on the door for a win.

After struggling with motor problems in his last OSCAAR appearance at Sunset Speedway, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series driver J.R. Fitzpatrick will be in attendance this weekend as he looks to find victory. He will be joined by Passer Racing teammate Gary Passer.

Tyler Hawn has been getting stronger each time out as he looks to crack the top five for the first time this year at Sunset.

Shane Gowan and Jim Bowman are also a pair to watch considering their improvement as each week has gone by.

Sunset Speedway always draws high counts for the OSCAAR Super Late Models, with over 25 cars in attendance for one of their events earlier this summer. Look for that trend to continue this weekend as every driver looks to get that one last start in before winter comes.

Preview: Rick Woolner Memorial Moved to Sunset

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SM Archive

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September 27, 2013

Preview: Huge Super Late Model Field Expected for Sunset Finale

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SM Archive

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September 27, 2013

IZOD, INDYCAR SERIES TO CONCLUDE SPONSORSHIP AFTER 2013

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September 27, 2013

Emphasis on qualifying improving overall performance for Earnhardt Jr.

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SM Staff

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September 27, 2013

Junior pole — Photo Credit: Gary Buchanan

DOVER, Del. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. set a track record on Friday in Dover to capture the pole for Sunday’s AAA 400.

Earnhardt Jr.’s lap of 161.849 mph was enough to hold off point leader Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman, both of whom came close to knocking him from the top spot. It’s the second pole of the season for Earnhardt Jr. and 13th of his career. And the fact that it came at a non-restrictor plate track, felt pretty good admitted the sport’s most popular driver.

“The car had really good speed and really good balance right off the trailer and felt like we were really competitive and more so than we’ve been here in the past, especially in practice,” Earnhardt Jr. said about his start to the weekend.

“When we put the car into qualifying trim, made a couple mock runs the car again showed really good speed. Wasn’t quite the fastest but the way the car drove was relatively easy and to make the runs we were making was very challenging and the grip in the car was really over the top so I was expecting to put a good lap down and thought we’d be competitive enough to get inside the top 10 pretty easily.”

The last time Earnhardt Jr. sat on the pole was Kentucky in June, he was leading but lost a potential shot at the win when an errant tire carcass came back up the track and into the grille of his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet. His Chevrolet at Dover has been just as strong leaving the team with little work to do and Earnhardt Jr. pleased from the start.

Made much easier by the fact he’s not counting points or thinking about all the equations that can take place in terms of the Chase. Sitting 11th in points and over 60 points behind Kenseth, the championship is a long shot, but victories are not.

“We’re going to try to win some races before the year’s out,” he said. “I’ll be really disappointed if we don’t win a race this season because I think we’re a better team than we were last year and I felt we came so close so many times. So we’d just like to get out there and get some trophies and the points will take care of themselves when you’re doing that.”

He’s a past winner at Dover, winning the first NASCAR race after the September 11 attacks in 2001. But he hasn’t won yet in 2013 despite the last few weeks where he and crew chief Steve Letarte brought competitive cars to the track, qualifying their down fall. Earnhardt Jr. revealed how disappointed he was about last weekend in New Hampshire when he didn’t qualify better than the sixth place he earned.

Last season Earnhardt Jr. and Letarte started unloading with a better focus on where they started on race day. With such an emphasis on qualifying, it’s been expected to show in race results.

“The longer we work together the better we get at it and the more we understand each other and the more he understands what I need in the car,” Earnhardt Jr. said about his crew chief. “We’ve also kept the majority of the team intact from the beginning and that’s so important to keep that together if you can because everybody learns what they can about each other.”

Following their fast Friday, the driver wasn’t afraid to admit that Letarte was responsible in more ways than one.

“Steve’s really good and he’s made me a better race car driver and he makes his engineers better and he’s really good at his job,” he admitted. “He deserves a lot of credit for us improving and being able to get these poles and just qualifying better.”