Jesse Kennedy Scores First OSCAAR Super Late Model Victory at Barrie Speedway
While it marked the first time in four years that the OSCAAR Super Late Models had raced at Barrie Speedway, it also marked the first time ever that Jesse Kennedy found feature victory lane.
“We struggled all day with a tight car,” Kennedy says. “We threw everything, but the kitchen sink at it to get it to turn. It was obviously better. I honestly didn’t think I had much for Brandon at the end. I got a good start on the outside and… we just kind of pulled it off.”
In the first heat, it’d start off with Mike Hillier running into mechanical problems, making contact with the wall and collecting Rudy Oppersma. The second caution would then come out when rookie Rob Poole would spin Mike Beyore in turn two, and that’d be followed up with a third caution when Poole spun Kyle Passer in turn four. Shawn Chenoworth would go on to take the win in his first start of the year, followed by Tony Tiemersma, Beyore, Poole, Oppersma and Kyle Passer.
In the second heat, Jim Bowman would go for a single-car spin. Four-time series champion Glenn Watson would take the win, followed by his nephew Brandon Watson, Ian Bourque, Todd Campball, George Wilson and Bowman.
In the third heat while battling for the lead, Rob Clarke and Charlie Gallant would go for the spin. Jeff Dunford would assume the lead and go on to take the win. Jesse Kennedy finished second, followed by Gary Passer and Quinn Misener.
Tony Tiemersma would take the win in the fourth heat, followed by Chenoworth, Beyore, Poole, Oppersma and Kyle Passer.
Brandon Watson would win the fifth heat, followed by Glenn Watson, Bourque, Wilson, Campball and Bowman.
On the first lap of the last heat, Clarke would go for a spin, collecting Gallant while Dunford had mechanical problems. Kennedy went on to win, followed by Gallant, Gary Passer and Msener.
Virtue of his qualifying effort, Brandon Watson would start on pole, followed by Jesse Kennedy, Shawn Chenoworth, Tony Tiemersma and Glenn Watson.
There’d be a caution right away on the start of the race as Tiemersma would go for a spin after getting hit from behind by Mike Beyore as Watson did not get a good start. Chenoworth would have to make a pit stop, virtue of getting damage on the start from G. Watson. This would set the running order with B. Watson first, followed by Kennedy, G. Watson, Beyore and Ian Bourque.
The second caution would come out on lap two as when Chenoworth was pulling off pit road, Jim Bowman would make contact with him and go for a spin. By this point, G. Watson had passed Kennedy for second while Bourque passed Beyore for fourth.
On the restart, the Watsons would battle side-by-side for the lead with G. Watson clearing B. Watson on lap five. On the same lap, a caution came out for Kyle Passer spinning in turn one, setting the Watsons back up side-by-side. On the restart, B. Watson would manage to around G. Watson.
The fourth caution came out when Tiemersma would go for another spin while trying to get around the lapped car of Kyle Passer. By this point, Charlie Gallant had gotten by Beyore for fifth.
The fifth caution came out when Bowman went for another spin. Then on the restart, there’d be another caution when Rudy Oppersma pushed Beyore into the inside wall on the backstretch.
With 35 laps to go, the seventh caution would come out when Rob Clarke sent Gallant for a spin. This would allow George Wilson to crack the top five while Kennedy made the pass for second G. Watson behind B. Watson while Bourque ran fourth.
At the halfway mark on lap 25, Wilson passed Bourque for fourth while rookie Rob Poole was up to sixth. Wilson would continue his climb by passing G. Wilson for third on lap 28.
On lap 32, Jeff Dunford would bring out the eighth caution with a flat tire. There’d be more mechanical problems as Rob Poole would break a rear end on lap 39, ending his night and bringing out the ninth caution to clean up the oil. By this point, it was still B. Watson over Kennedy while G. Watson had made his way back by Wilson for third with Bourque in fifth. Tiemersma had also made his way back up to sixth after his early problems.
With 10 laps to go, Kennedy would make the pass on B. Watson after getting a good run on the outside on the restart.
“Earlier with (Glenn) Watson, I kind of let him go. I said ‘maybe he can do something with Brandon’,” Kennedy says. “He kept backing up to us so I said ‘guess we have to go’. So I was saving some tires for that last ten-lap heat there.”
He would go on to lead the final 10 laps to win his first ever OSCAAR feature. B. Watson finished second to go with his win at Sunset with Wilson third after being disqualified at Sunset.
“After that last restart, our car kind of faded away. We must have had some marbles or some speedy-dry on our tires. It just got really loose,” B. Watson says. “I couldn’t get that car to turn off the corner one bit.”
G. Watson and Tiemersma rounded out the top five.
“The car was really tight so it was a tough night for us,” G. Watson says.
Bourque finished sixth, followed by Gallant, Todd Campball and Dunford.
Gary McLean pulls the OSCAAR Modified hat trick at Barrie Speedway
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[/media-credit]In the second ever event for the OSCAAR Modifieds, Gary McLean made it clear that he is going to be the one to beat this year as he scored his second straight feature win, pulling off the first series hat trick.
The night didn’t start without incident as there’d be a wreck in the first heat with Adam Adams spinning Larry Mackenzie and Dave Terry spinning behind them. In the end, Gary McLean would come home with the win, followed by John Gruntz, Chris Burrows, Mackenzie and Rob Fennema.
In the second heat, there’d be another incident as Bill Burrows would spin, collecting Tim Burke while Dave Burrows spun after, trying to avoid them. It’d be a McLean sweep of the opening heats as Brent McLean would take the win, followed by Steve Smith, Matt Barton, Dave Burrows, Brandon Crumbie and Bill Burrows.
In the third heat, there’d be problems right off the bat as Chris Burrows would run into mechanical problems. Then on lap three, Dean Scott would get into the turn four wall. Gary McLean would get his second win of the night, followed by Mackenzie, Terry, Gruntz, Adams and Fennema.
In the fourth and final heat, there’d be one incident as Smith would spin while racing with Brent McLean. Barton would go on for the win, followed by Brent McLean, Burke, Smith, Dave Burrows, Crumbie and Bill Burrows.
In the feature, Gary McLean would start on the pole virtue of his pair of heat wins, followed by Brent McLean, Larry Mackenzie, Steve Smith, Dave Burrows and Matt Barton.
There’d be trouble right away as Dave Burrows would run into problems and while trying to get to pit road, he caused a chain reaction collision that collected John Gruntz, Chris Burrows, Brandon Crumbie, Adam Adams and Bill Burrows. They’d be all be able to continue, now at the back of the field.
The second caution would come out on lap 10 for the lap down car of Rob Fennema making contact with Smith, collecting Brent McLean. At this point a third of the way through, Gary McLean led, followed by Barton and Mackenzie. Gruntz and Crumbie had made their way back to fourth and fifth after their lap one incident. There’d be a lengthy red flag at this point due to a medical emergency in the pits, pausing the race for 45 minutes. With the problem cleared, the race started back up.
The rest of the race wouldn’t go problem free as with eight laps to go, Burke would spin Terry and Terry would get hit hard by Bill Burrows. Both drivers would be okay, but unable to continue for the rest of the event. At this point, Gary McLean still led over Barton while Crumbie and Gruntz had both made their way around Mackenzie.
Gary McLean would lead the final eight laps on the way to the first ever hat trick in OSCAAR Modified history and his second straight feature win. Crumbie would finish second after having to change the transmission in practice and after being involved in the first lap incident for his second straight top five. Gruntz would finish third for his second straight top 10 finish. Smith and Burke rounded out the top five.
Barton fell back to sixth, followed by Mackenzie, Adams, Dave Burrows and Chris Burrows.
The next race for the OSCAAR Modifieds is June 30th at Sunset Speedway in Innisfil, Ontario.
Al Inglis and Dwayne Baker win Wahta Springs Late Model features at Barrie Speedway
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.
