By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – Fellow racers and fans knew it was only a matter of time before Jim Fletcher won his first career Modified feature.

And the Louisville driver picked the perfect time to answer everyone’s expectations, winning the UMP Modified ‘A’ main in the Canadian Fall Shootout on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

“I can’t believe, it still hasn’t sunk in,” Fletcher said outside of his hauler, about an hour after collecting his $2,000 cheque.

It was first his feature win since 1998 in the Sport Stock class before he took a 12-year break from racing.

He returned to run a partial schedule last season, splitting seat-time with rookie Darryl Hoekstra’s before both got full rides this year.

“I’m pretty proud to win this and glad that Eugene and Cathy (Hoekstra) gave me this opportunity to race again,” Fletcher said of his car owners.

He also became the first driver not named Brian Ruhlman to win the UMP Modified division since it was added to the Shootout in 2008.

Ruhlman, who won the first four Modified Shootouts, finished second.

Meanwhile, Blenheim’s Andrew Reaume borrowed Kirk Hooker’s car and led all 35 laps for his third Shootout win in the UMP Late Models.

Fletcher started in the sixth position but moved up to third place before the 24-car field completed its first lap.

He passed Chatham’s Brian Speelman for second on lap seven and took the lead on lap 14 when leader Louis Clements, of Chatham, broke an upper ball joint that eventually led to a tire coming off in turn two.

“I honestly don’t think I would have had a car for Louis, he was fast,” Fletcher said of Clements.

“He’s a good friend and I hated to see it happen, but it worked out to my advantage.”

For the final 15 laps, Fletcher had to keep the four-time Shootout champion at bay.

“All I was thinking, if I run my high line, Ruhlman would have to do a lot of work to get by me on the bottom,” Fletcher said.

A caution with three laps to go did nothing to shake Fletcher’s confidence as held won by for than four car lengths.

Fletcher credited crew chief Scott Ball for making changes to the car from Friday night’s third-place finish in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats Modified season championship race.

“Scott and I had a good talk and we made the changes to the shocks and springs that we thought we needed … and I could tell in the heat race that we had a contender.”

David Mielke, from Gladwin, Mich., finished third, with Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. fourth and Fletcher’s teammate Hoekstra fifth.

Reaume had what appeared to be a little easier ride to the Winner’s Circle, leading from the drop of the green until the wave of the checkered for his third Late Model Shootout win in four years.

“It was not easy at all,” Reaume admitted.

“I had to work for it. It (the track) got black and pretty slick, I had to really wheel it a few times around the cushion,” he said.

Reaume took advantage of his front row starting spot to take the lead coming out of turn two on the first lap.

Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford ran second from laps three to 26 and although he was able to get under Reaume on restarts through turns and two, he was unable to make the pass.

“When the right rear hit that cushion, I could roll in the throttle and could feel my seat move,” Reaume said of his great launch off turn two.

“I knew no one was going to pull off the bottom like that.”

Brandon Thirlby, from Traverse City., Mich., took up the chase for the final nine laps but was unable to pull off a last-lap pass as he did a night earlier on Glassford to win the South Buxton’s season championship race.

Ruhlman, who was also the defending Late Model Shootout champion, finished third, with Kevin Reeves of Hanover, Mich. fourth and Glassford fifth.

Reaume was prepared to watch the Shootout from the stands as his car was still under repair from a crash earlier n September in Ohio.

He was working on Hooker’s car last week and accepted a late invitation to run the Shootout.

“I think I was more nervous watching him race than I ever was driving myself,” Hooker said.

“It was great to see Andrew and that Country View car in the Winner’s Circle.”

On Friday, Thirlby passed Glassford coming out of turn four on the final lap to win the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Model championship in dramatic fashion.

“I was either going to be a hero or a zero,” said Thirlby, the UMP champion for the Michigan-Wisconsin-Canada region. “I just stayed on the throttle through three and four to the checkered.”

Glassford tipped his hat to the winner.

“It’s always disappointing to finish second but that was one of the most fun races I’ve been in the last few years,” said Glassford.

“I’ve won a couple on the last lap like that this year and it’s a great feeling when you win by a half-car length,” he said.

“When you get beat like that, you have to suck it up and say that’s racing … but that sure was exciting.”

Points champion Gregg Haskell, of Chatham, finished sixth.

Dale Jr. led all 25 laps of the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified championship race and clinch his eighth career points title.

It was the sixth time he has completed the sweep in his 31-year career. He has a track record eight championship race wins and is tied with Merlin’s Brad McLeod with eight points titles.

“This race is definitely the top one because I did with Bunky and the 39 on the car,” said Dale Jr., who transformed his No. 00 car to tribute to his crew chief, six-time track champion Brent Gibbons and his No. 39 Hallmark Flyer.

“He’s been with me forever and I don’t how many years he’s going to be with me, so I planned on doing this (tribute) since the start of the year.

“Now, I’ve got to win the points once more because I don’t want to be tied with Brad forever,” Dale Jr. said with a smile.

Hoekstra drove a solid race to finish second, with Fletcher third.

Rob Quick took the lead from fellow Cottam driver Denis DeSerrano with three laps to go to win his second carer Tirecraft Comp 4 championship race win.

Blenheim’s Shawn Jones, who also got by DeSerrano, finished second to wrap up his third straight points title.

Blenheim’s Trevor Jones was fourth and Tilbury’s Gerry Rivait fifth.

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

By Mike Bennett - South Buxton Raceway - Brian Ruhlman will be back to defend his two championships at the eighth annual Canadian Fall Shootout this Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

It will be a big weekend of racing to conclude the 2012 season as South Buxton will also host its Season Championship Night on Friday (postponed from last Saturday because of weather) on Twin Title Nights.

Ruhlman, a Clarklake,Mich, veteran, will be joined by a number of American drivers who plan to come toSouth Buxtonto race both nights.

Championship Night features season championship races in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds, Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models and the Tirecraft Comp 4s. There will also be non-points racing in the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks, who had their championship night on Sept. 8.

On Saturday, it’s the eighth annual Canadian Fall Shootout, sponsored by Blazin’ BBQ Ribhouse, featuring UMP Late Ruhlman completed a clean sweep at the 2011 Shootout, winning both the Modified and Late Model 30-lap features.

He also won the heat races in both classes for a perfect four-for-four night.

Ruhlman is undefeated in his Modified atSouth Buxtonsince the class was added to the Shootout in 2008. He is a perfect nine-for-nine as has won all four heats and the dash in 2009 along with his four feature wins.

“A lot of luck is involved anytime you win,” Ruhlman said about his dominance in the Modified class.

Last year’s Late Model feature win was his first atSouth Buxtonsince taking the checkered in an American Late Model Series event in 2004, the forerunner to the Shootout.

Ruhlman has three wins running a limited Modified schedule this season as he has concentrated on his Late Model program, capturing his fourth career ALMS championship.

“We really didn’t race for any one track championship this year, we concentrated running for American Late Model (Series) points,” he said.

Ruhlman said he picks his schedule based on ALMS points, the purse and proximity to his Clarklake home.

This weekend, for example, he has a choice of six different tracks where he can race.

“We probably raced at Oakshade more than anywhere, but we missed a few nights and still finished fourth in points,” he said.

Ruhlman said he has had “an up and down year, we got torn up a few times early.

“And I’ve gone through two crew chiefs … and that’s not a lot of fun,” he added, as he will come to South Buxton without a crew.

Ruhlman came alone to South Buxton last September but still managed to win both divisions, with the help of fellow drivers and local race teams.

“That worked out all right,” he said.

Shootout Shorts

• The two-day pass is $30      for adults (ages 17-59); $25 for teens (ages 13-16) and seniors (60-over);      and $10 for kids (ages 6-12).
• The single day cost for      Friday is the usual $12 adults, $10 teens-seniors and $5 kids.
• The single day cost for      Saturday’s Shootout is $25 adults, $20 teens-seniors and $8 kids.
• On the pit side, there      will also be a two-day admission pass for $50 per person.
• The single day pit      admission is $25 on Friday and $35 on Saturday. VIP pit passes will not be      accepted on Saturday.
• Gates open at 5 p.m. on      Friday and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
• Blazin BBQ Ribhouse will      have a barbecue on the grandstand side Saturday.
• For out-of-town race      teams and fans, there will be raw camping at the race track (no electrical      or water hook ups).
• And for those who prefer      a more comfortable rest, the Comfort Inn, located at the corner ofBloomfield      RoadandRichmond      StreetinChatham,      is offering reduced rates for guests who mention ‘South Buxton Raceway’      when making reservations (519-352-5500).
• It is a light weekend on      the American side next weekend, so South Buxton officials have already      heard from numerous American competitors interested in coming over for      both nights.
• American race teams are      reminded that everyone in their vehicles must have proper ID (passport,      enhanced license or NEXUS card) to be allowed intoCanada.      And teams should have an inventory of the racing equipment in their haulers,      in case they are subject to inspection.
• Last year’s Shootout      drew 27 Modifieds and 17 Late Models including 10 American entries.
• Blenheim’s Andrew      Reaume, a two-time Shootout winner, will be driving Kirk Hooker’s Late      Model at the Shootout. Reaume’s car was severely damaged in the World 100s      ‘A’ Mainfield at Eldora two weeks ago      while battling for 11^th with eight laps to go. He finished 16^th.

 

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – Even when Tyler Lozon fell back to third place with 10 laps to go, he still had a feeling something good was going to happen and he would end up in the Winner’s Circle.

It took a firestorm on the race track and a rainstorm from the skies for Lozon’s premonition to come true on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

The Grande Pointe driver won the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks championship race when the leaders crashed with two laps to go putting him in the lead.

And Lozon didn’t have to run another lap as heavy rain hit the speedway just as the race was about to resume.

“I’m glad they called it … I almost went off the end of the track when they threw the green,” an ecstatic Lozon said after taking the checkered and yellow together.

A few moments earlier, Lozon was running third behind Merlin drivers Eren Vanderiviere and Steve Shaw when the caution came out less than two laps from the finish for Wallaceburg’s Willy Vyse, who spun in turn four to set the stage for a green-white-checkered finish.

On the single file restart, Shaw got into Vanderiviere in the middle of turns one and two and crashed onto the apron while Lozon shot by on the high side into the lead when the caution waved.

“I couldn’t believe it when that happened,” Lozon said of the incident.

“I thought they would give Vanderiviere his spot back but they didn’t … and that was great for me!”

Lozon said he committed to the high side of the track, long before the race-winning moment.

“I found earlier in the race that’s where my car was running the best,” Lozon said.

“Those two liked the bottom so I just stayed up there and let them do their thing … and it all worked out the best for me,” said Lozon.

Vanderiviere and Lozon put on a good battle for the lead for the first 10 laps before Shaw, who was as far back as 11th after pitting under caution earlier in the race, made it a three-car battle. He passed Lozon with 10 to go.

“When Steve snuck under me, I just stayed back and let the two of them work it out,” Lozon said.

“And it turned out to be the same as last year when they got together battling for the lead,” he added, referring to the 2011 championship race when Shaw took the lead after Vanderiviere and Essex’s Gerald Martin got together seven laps from the finish.

Vyse finished second, followed by Essex’s Doris Lajeunesse, Chatham’s Randy McKinlay, Vanderiviere and Shaw, the only cars on the lead lap.

The feature win was Lozon’s first of the season, as the third-year driver twice in 2011.

“I was a little depressed, thinking I wasn’t going to get one (a feature) this year,” he said.

“What a way to get one!”

Lozon credited Jim Ellis’s race team from Kingsville for giving him a replacement motor two weeks ago and preparing the car for championship night.

“When I blew my motor two weeks ago, Jim gave me his brand new motor,” he said.

“I was down with a cold all week, and they drove down here every night to the car ready.

“I can’t thank them enough because I wouldn’t have won this without them,” Lozon said.

Chatham’s Brad Authier took the lead from Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford on a lap-seven restart and led the final 13 laps for his seventh Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Model feature win of the season.

“Those were three pretty fast races,” Authier said, as he won the heat and finished second to Glassford in the dash.

“I think it brings the fans to their feet when I ride the high side like that,” he smiled.

Authier and Glassford battled virtually door-to-door for the first six laps before a caution on lap seven.

“I went to the bottom for the restart to take away his line,” said Authier, who once he cleared Glassford, went back to the high side for the final 13 caution-free laps.

“We’ve been working on different things for the championship and Shootout, and we’ve got the car where it can run on a tacky track or if it’s dry,” said Authier.

Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis finished third, his fifth straight top-five finish, while Adam Thrush, of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., and Chatham’s Kirk Hooker rounded out the top five.

The night’s final two races – the Tirecraft Comp 4 championship race and the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified feature – were both cancelled by the rain.

The Comp 4 championship race will be run on Saturday, Sept. 22 along with the Late Models and Modifieds.

The season ends on Sept. 29 with the eighth annual Canadian Fall Shootout for the UMP Late Models and Modifieds.

There is no racing on Sept. 15 as several South Buxton staffers and officials help out at Ohsweken’s Canadian Sprint Car Nationals weekend.

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

South Buxton Raceway

Saturday, Sept. 8 Results

Includes driver’s car number, hometown and feature starting position in brackets.

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks

Season Championship Race (25 laps*)

1. 66 Tyler Lozon, Grande Pointe (2)

2. 2 Willy Vyse, Wallaceburg (7)

3. 38 Doris Lajeunesse, Essex (6)

4. 14 Randy McKinlay, Chatham (11)

5. 29 Eren Vanderiviere, Merlin (1)

6. 17 Steve Shaw, Merlin (10)

7. 93F Jason Fox, Chatham (3)

8. 91 Jason Garland, Adrian, Mich. (14)

9. 95 Bob Visnjic, Essex (12)

10. 4 Jody Mason, Merlin (13)

11. 23 Rob Young, Essex (4)

12. 3C Steve Clements, Wheatley (5)

13. 98P Patrick Lajeunesse, Essex (8)

14. 46 West Bertozzi, Windsor (9)

* – Rain-shortened to 23 laps

First Heat

1. Shaw

2. Bertozzi

3. Visnjic

4. Mason

5. McKinlay

6. P. Lajeunesse

Second Heat

1. Lozon

2. D. Lajeunesse

3. Vanderiviere

4. Vyse

5. Young

6. Clements

7. Fox

8. Garland

Crack-The-Whip

1. Vanderiviere

2. McKinlay

3. Visnjic

4. Young

5. Vyse

6. Clements

7. P. Lajeunesse

8. Fox.

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models

Feature (25 Laps)

1. 1A Brad Authier, Chatham (2)

2. 60 Dale Glassford, Ridgetown (1)

3. 05 Mike Lewis, Wallaceburg (4)

4. 91 Adam Thrush, Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (7)

5. 38 Kirk Hooker, Chatham (3)

6. 7D Rob Ledingham, Port Colborne (10)

7. 34 Jim Jones, Chatham (5)

8. RH21 Gregg Haskell, Chatham (6)

9. 00 Mike Dale, Chatham (8)

10. 22 Clinton Emery, Merlin (9)

Heat

1. Authier

2. Hooker

3. Lewis

4. Glassford

5. Jones

6. Ledingham

7. Haskell

8. Thrush

9. Emery

10. Dale

Dash

1. Glassford

2. Authier

3. Hooker

4. Lewis

5. Jones

Tirecraft Comp 4s

Season Championship Race postponed by rain to Sept. 22

First Heat

1. 26 Randy McKinlay, Chatham

2. 95 Shawn Fryer, Cottam

3. 62 Steve Shaw Jr., Merlin

4. 09 James Beaulieu, Tilbury

5. 3 Josh Hebblethewaite, Blenheim

6. 22 Jamie St. Pierre, Chatham

7. 23 Joel Desjardins, Chatham

8. 36 Brad Wonnacott, Chatham

DNS – 02 Bob Hill, Tilbury

Second Heat

1. 69 Denis DeSerrano, Cottam

2. 27T Trevor Jones, Blenheim

3. 27 Shawn Jones, Blenheim

4. 21 Rick Balasin, Chatham

5. 91 Jerry Ramaut, Ridgetown

6. 96 Norm DeSerrano, Kingsville

7. 747 Ryan Beaulieu, Tilbury

8. 71 Gerry Rivait, Tilbury

9. 18 Rob Quick, Cottam

Crack-The-Whip

1. S. Jones

2. Ramaut

3. J. Beaulieu

4. Balasin

5. N. DeSerrano

6. R. Beaulieu

7. Desjardins

8. Shaw Jr.

9. Hebblethwaite

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds

Feature postponed by rain

First Heat

1. 43 Brad McLeod, Merlin

2. 00 Jim Dale Jr., Shrewsbury

3. 36 Darryl Hoekstra, Chatham

4. 09D Joel Dick, Leamington

5. 86 Drew Smith, Wallaceburg

6. 31 Ray Jackson, Wayne, Ohio

7. 1D Mike Demars, LaSalle

Second Heat

1. 1A Eric Vanderiviere, Chatham

2. 22S Brian Speelman, Chatham

3. 77 Dan McIntyre, Windsor

4. 53 Brad Simpson, Rodney

5. 71 Emerson McIntyre, Windsor

6. 21R Don Raes, Chatham

7. RH94 Jason Haskell, Chatham

Third Heat

1. 20D Jeff Daniels, Chatham

2. 47B Joe Brosseau, Merlin

3. 36F Jim Fletcher, Louisville

4. 33 Brandon Coles, Chatham

5. 14 Mario Toniolo, Belle River

6. 1M Justin Mills, Wheatley

Dash

1. Vanderiviere

2. Daniels

3. McLeod

4. Brosseau

5. Speelman

6. Dale Jr.

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – Two points championships are not enough for Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere and Blenheim’s Shawn Jones.

They both want their first season championship race victories this Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

Vanderiviere clinched his second straight Windride Transportation Sport Stocks points crown last Saturday as he opened up a commanding 154-point lead over Grande Pointe’s Tyler Lozon with his eighth feature win.

Jones is on the verge of a third consecutive title in the Tirecraft Comp 4s as he leads his brother Trevor by 47 points going into Saturday. If the two-time champion qualifies his way into the championship race, he would wrap up another points crown by finishing 21^st or better.

“Two in a row feels good, especially eight feature wins and the most checkereds (15), but the one that would mean the most would be to bring that championship race home,” Vanderiviere said winning his second straight feature last Saturday.

“It’ll be nice to go into championship night and not worry about anything but the race,” said Vanderiviere, who didn’t clinch the points crown in 2011 until the final lap of the season championship race.

In that race, Merlin’s Steve Shaw took the lead with eight laps to go when Vanderiviere andEssex’s Gerald Martin tangled while running one-two.

Shaw went on to win his sixth career championship and 100^th career feature race.

Shaw is second to Vanderiviere with five feature wins and 12 checkered flags this season despite missing five race nights.

Chatham’s Randy McKinlay, Wheatley’s Steve Clements andEssex’s Patrick Lajeunesse are the only other drivers to win a Sport Stocks feature this season.

The Comp 4 class has been trying to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ lately as the Blenheim brothers finished one-two in the last three features.

Last week, the 14-year-old rookie Trevor led all 15 laps for his second feature win of the season after finishing second to Shawn, 20, the two previous weeks despite leading the most laps both times.

“This is the one I want,” Shawn said, looking ahead to Saturday’s championship race.

Last September, he battled Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano for the lead for the first 16 laps before something broke in the motor and he faded to a ninth-place finish.

DeSerrano went on to win his third career championship race.

In 2010, Jones finished third in a race won by teammate Nate McNally.

DeSerrano was just 18 points behind Jones three weeks ago but has fallen to third, 75 points back.

But Trevor Jones has suddenly thrust himself into the championship picture with a second-half surge of seven top-fives, including two wins, in the last eight race nights.

“I want to win it (championship race) … and the points too!” Trevor said with a laugh about his goals for the final night.

The top three points drivers have accounted for 15 of the 16 features this season – Shawn Jones with nine, DeSerrano four and Trevor Jones two. Cottam’s Rob Quick, fourth in points, has the only other feature win in the class.

In past years, drivers lined up for the championship race by points, but under the new format, Vanderiviere and Jones are not guaranteed pole starting positions.

This year, drivers will earn their starting positions for the championship through the heats and crack-the-whip qualifying races as they have all season.

The Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds and Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models will have their championship nights on Sept. 22. There is no racing on Sept. 15 as severalSouth Buxtonstaff members help out at the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway that weekend.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. is on the verge of joining Merlin’s Brad McLeod as an eight-time track champion.

Dale Jr. carries a 76-point lead over Leamington’s Joel Dick and is 81 points up onLouisville’s Jim Fletcher heading into Saturday in search of a second straight points crown and third in the last four years.

The top two drivers have combined to win 12 of the 16 features as Dale Jr. has seven wins and Dick five. Louis Clements has two wins while fellowChathamdrivers Eric Vanderiviere and Darryl Hoekstra have one each.

Chatham’s Gregg Haskell is on the threshold of his first career points title as he has been atop the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models standings since June 2.

He is 71 points ahead of seven-time track champion Brad Authier ofChathamwith two race nights remaining.

Authier leads the class with six feature wins and 17 checkered flags while two-time champion Dale Glassford of Ridgetown has five feature wins, including two in a row, and 12 checkereds.

Haskell is third in both departments with three features and eight checkereds.

The grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. and racing begins at 7 p.m.

For more information, contact Mike Bennett 519-351-4765

Photo by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com
South Buxton Raceway
Following are the Top 10 drivers, including car number in brackets, driver’s hometown, points (Pts), feature wins (FW) and checkered flags (CF), following Sat., Sept. 1 races.
Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds
Pts FW CF
1. (00) Jim Dale Jr. Shrewsbury 1396¬ 7 19
2. (09) Joel Dick Leamington 1330 ¬ 5 10
3. (36F) Jim Fletcher Louisville 1325 0 7
4. (36) Darryl Hoekstra Chatham 1251 1 3
5. (43) Brad McLeod Merlin 1151 ¬ 0 1
6. (20D) Jeff Daniels Chatham 1133 ¬ 0 1
7. (5) Gerald Martin Essex 1122 0 2
8. (1A) Eric Vanderiviere Chatham 1122 1 4
9. (3C) Louis Clements Chatham 1084 2 8
10. (86) Drew Smith Wallaceburg 1079 0 0
Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models
Pts FW CF
1. (21RH) Gregg Haskell Chatham 1430 3 8
2. (1A) Brad Authier Chatham 1359 ¬ 6 17
3. (34) Jim Jones Chatham 1277¬ 0 3
4. (60) Dale Glassford Ridgetown 1208¬ 5 12
5. (22) Clinton Emery Merlin 1035 ¬ 0 0
6. (90) Mark Glassford Goderich 950 0 2
7. (18B) Norm Bechard Chatham 947 0 0
8. (05) Mike Lewis Wallaceburg 819 0 4
9. (00) Mike Dale Chatham 718¬ 0 0
10. (28) Jeff Jardine Dover Centre 413 0 0

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks
Pts FW CF
*1. (29) Eren Vanderiviere Merlin ¬ 1542 8 15
2. (66) Tyler Lozon Grande Pointe¬ 1388 0 8
3. (93F) Jason Fox Chatham 1349 0 2
4. (23) Rob Young Kingsville ¬ 1300 0 3
5. (3C) Steve Clements Wheatley 1285 1 3
6. (38) Doris Lajeunesse Essex 1285 0 2
7. (2) Willy Vyse Wallaceburg ¬ 1280 0 2
8. (98P) Patrick Lajeunesse Essex 1278 1 6
9. (46) West Bertozzi Windsor ¬ 1118 0 2
10. (17) Steve Shaw Merlin 998 5 12
* – clinched points championship
Tirecraft Comp 4s
Pts FW CF
1. (27) Shawn Jones Blenheim 1483 9 19
2. (27T) Trevor Jones Blenheim 1436 2 6
3. (69) Denis DeSerrano Cottam 1408 4 16
4. (747) Ryan Beaulieu Tilbury 1282 0 2
5. (91) Jerry Ramaut Ridgetown 1236 0 1
6. (71) Gerry Rivait Tilbury 1205 0 0
7. (21) Rick Balasin Chatham 1191 0 2
8. (18) Rob Quick Cottam 1166 1 6
9. (96) Norm DeSerrano Kingsville 1159 0 0
10. (26) Randy McKinlay Chatham 1155 0 4

Next Race Night: Saturday, Sept.8, Sport Sports and Comp 4 Championship Night , Gates open 5:30 p.m., racing starts at 7 p.m. Visit www.southbuxtonraceway.com for more information.

 

By Mike Bennett – Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere became the first driver to clinch a points championship as his eighth feature win of the season on Lube Tech/Great Canadian Oil Change Night was enough to lock up his second straight Windride Transportation Sport Stocks crown.

Vanderiviere went into the night with a 130-point lead and his win, coupled with Tyler Lozon’s 11^th-place feature finish, unofficially increases the advantage to 156 points. The maximum total a driver can win in a night is 102 points.

Vanderiviere won a spirited battle with Merlin’s Steve Shaw, including a green-checkered finish, setting the stage for what should be a classic championship race next Saturday.

And in another exciting green-checkered finish, Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford restarted second but passed Brandon Thirlby of Traverse City, Mich. coming out of turn two and went on to win his second Rick Haskell Memorial Race in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models.

Thirlby, the UMP points leader for the Michigan-Wisconsin-Canada Region, took the lead midway through the 20-lapper and had a good-size lead on the white flag lap only to have a caution for Rob Ledingham’s spin set the stage for the one-lap showdown.

Chatham’s Brad Authier and Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis also got by Thirlby on the final lap, dropping the M14 car to a fourth-place finish.

It was the Jones Show in the Tirecraft Comp 4s for the third week in a row – and this time it was Trevor Jones’ turn under the spotlight.

The 14-year-old Trevor Jones led all 15 laps to win his second feature of the season. He led the most laps the last two weeks but had to settle for second-place finishes both times behind his 20-year-old brother Shawn.

Leamington’s Joel Dick won his fifth Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified feature of the year, taking the lead from Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. on lap eight in the caution-plagued race.

South Buxtonhad three special guests on hand for Saturday’s races.

Jason Hathaway, driver of the No. 3 Snap-On Tools/Rockstar/Vortex Brakes Dodge in the Canadian Tire NASCAR Series, drove Lozon’s second Sport Stock car with a special paint scheme to a fifth-place finish in his first experience racing on dirt.

And two special guests were in theVIP Tower with the Lube Tech/Great Canadian Oil Change staff – two-time NASCAR Cup champion Terry Labonte and his son, former Nationwide Series driver Justin Labonte.
South Buxton Raceway

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

Following are the results from Lube Tech/Great Canadian Oil Change Night, Saturday, Sept. 1, including driver’s car number, hometown and starting position in brackets.

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models
Rick Haskell Memorial Feature (20 laps)
1. 60 Dale Glassford, Ridgetown (3)
2. 1A Brad Authier, Chatham (1)
3. 05 Mike Lewis, Wallaceburg (7)
4. M14 Brandon Thirlby, Traverse City, Mich. (2)
5. 90 Mark Glassford, Goderich (4)
6. 28 Jeff Jardine, Dover Center (8)
7. RH21 Gregg Haskell, Chatham (5)
8. Rob Ledingham, Port Colborne (6)
9. 34 Jim Jones, Chatham (9)
10. 22 Clinton Emery, Merlin (11)
11. 00 Mike Dale, Chatham (13)
12. 18B Norm Bechard, Chatham (12)
13. 7 Brent Colby, Chatham (10)
First Heat
1. Authier
2. Haskell
3. M. Glassford
4. Lewis
5. Jones
6. Emery
Second Heat
1. D. Glassford
2. Thirlby
3. Ledingham
4. Jardine
5. Colby
6. Bechard
7. Dale
Dash
1. Authier
2. Thirlby
3. D. Glassford
4. M. Glassford
5. Haskell
6. Ledingham
Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds
Great Canadian Oil Change Feature (20 laps)
1. 09 Joel Dick, Leamington (3)
2. 00 Jim Dale Jr., Shrewsbury (6)
3. 43 Brad McLeod, Merlin (5)
4. 36F Jim Fletcher, Louisville (8)
5. 36 Darryl Hoekstra, Chatham (1)
6. 22S Brian Speelman, Chatham (2)
7. 20D Jeff Daniels, Chatham (9)
8. 1A Eric Vanderiviere, Chatham (4)
9. 5 Gerald Martin, Essex (10)
10. 86 Drew Smith, Wallaceburg (15)
11. 1M Justin Smith, Leamington (14)
12. 21R Don Raes, Chatham (13)
13. 77 Dan McIntyre, Windsor (11)
14. 14 Mario Toniolo, Belle River (12)
15. RH94 Jason Haskell, Chatham (7)
DNS – 3C Louis Clements, Chatham
DNS – Mike Demars, LaSalle
First Heat
1. Speelman
2. Vanderiviere
3. McLeod
4. Dale Jr.
5. Fletcher
6. Martin
7. Toniolo
8. J. Smith
9. Demars
Second Heat
1. Dick
2. Clements
3. Hoekstra
4. Haskell
5. Daniels
6. McIntyre
7. Raes
8. D. Smith
Dash
1. Hoekstra
2. Speelman
3. Dick
4. Vanderiviere
5. McLeod
6. Clements
Windride Transportation Sport Stocks
Lube Tech Feature (20 laps)
1. 29 Eren Vanderiviere, Merlin (5)
2. 17 Steve Shaw, Merlin (4)
3. 50 Brian Simard, Toronto (9)
4. 23 Rob Young, Kingsville (8)
5. 3H Jason Hathaway, Appin (13)
6. 2 Willy Vyse, Wallaceburg (1)
7. 98P Patrick Lajeunesse, Essex (3)
8. 38 Doris Lajeunesse, Essex (6)
9. 46 West Bertozzi, Windsor (12)
10. 14 Randy McKinlay, Chatham (2)
11. 66 Tyler Lozon, Grande Pointe (7)
12. 4 Jody Mason, Merlin (10)
13. 3C Steve Clements, Wheatley (14)
14. 31 Mike Salisbury, Chatham (15)
15. 93F Jason Fox, Chatham (11)
DNS – 33 Bernie Chauvin, Essex
First Heat
1. Shaw
2. McKinlay
3. Bertozzi
4. Mason
5. Simard
6. Hathaway
Second Heat
1. P. Lajeunesse
2. Vyse
3. Vanderiviere
4. D. Lajeunesse
5. Lozon
6. Fox
7. Clements
Crack-The-Whip
1. Vanderiviere
2. D. Lajeunesse
3. Lozon
4. Young
5. Simard
6. Mason
7. Fox
8. Bertozzi
9. Hathaway
Tirecraft Comp 4s
Lubie’s Car Wash Feature (15 laps)
1. 27T Trevor Jones, Blenheim (3)
2. 27 Shawn Jones, Blenheim (5)
3. 18 Rob Quick, Cottam (18)
4. 69 Denis DeSerrano, Cottam (17)
5. 26 Randy McKinlay, Chatham (4)
6. 09 James Beaulieu, Tilbury (6)
7. 747 Ryan Beaulieu, Tilbury (8)
8. 91 Jerry Ramaut, 91 Ridgetown (1)
9. 22S Jamie St. Pierre, Chatham (10)
10. 71 Gerry Rivait, Tilbury (12)
11. 96 Norm DeSerrano, Kingsville (11)
12. 36 Brad Wonnacott, Chatham (16)
13. 02 Bob Hill, Chatham (14)
14. 3 Jason Hebblethwaite, Blenheim (15)
15. 23D Joel Desjardins, Chatham (13)
16. 62 Steve Shaw Jr., Merlin (2)
17. 43J Jim Arnel, Chatham (7)
18. 21 Rick Balasin, Chatham (9)
First Heat
1. McKinlay
2. Shaw Jr.
3. Arnel
4. J. Beaulieu
5. St. Pierre
6. Desjardins
7. Hill
8. Hebblethwaite
9. Wonnacott
Second Heat
1. T. Jones
2. Ramault
3. Quick
4. S. Jones
5. R. Beaulieu
6. Rivait
7. N. DeSerrano
8. Balasin
9. D. DeSerrano
Crack-The-Whip
1. S. Jones
2. J. Beaulieu
3. Arnel
4. R. Beaulieu
5. Balasin
6. St. Pierre
7. N. DeSerrano
8. Rivait
9. Desjardins
10. Hill

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – The Haskell family has gone the extra mile to make sure his dad’s annual memorial race is a special.

And they can only imagine how special it will be if Gregg Haskell is the winner.

The Chatham driver leads the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Model standings heading into Saturday night’s sixth annual Rick Haskell memorial feature race.

“I can’t even imagine how big the celebration would be with everyone in the family and all of the guys who work on the cars … if we could win it,” said the 37-year-old Haskell, who has already won three features this season and has been atop the points standings since June 2.

“We’ve got three big races left, the championship and the Shootout … but this is the big one for me, the one I really want,” he said of his dad’s memorial.

Haskell has been trying to win the race since 2007, the year his father passed away of heart attack at the age of 51.

“I dropped my dad off at his friend’s house and went to a (Red Wings) game,” Haskell recalled the night he lost his father.

“I got the call at the game … it was the longest ride home of my life.”

Rick worked at the track for many years in various roles.

Gregg and his family – mother Deb, sister Kristin, brothers Patrick and Jason – have been busy the last few weeks enhancing this year’s memorial race.

They have recruited six major sponsors – Dig R Wright Excavating, Ed Carley Motorsports, Performance Fitness, Handyman Electric, Don Gordon Trucking and Emergency Medical Response – to increase the payout.

And they have also received donations from family, friends and fellow race enthusiasts for lap sponsorship

“Every lap is sponsored, it’s going to be a random draw so it’s spread out through the field,” Haskell said.

The race winner not only receives the six-foot-tall memorial trophy, they will also get $100 from the night’s sponsor (Lube Tech/Great Canadian Oil Change) and a $500 voucher from Ed Carley Motorsport on a 2013 race car body.

Kirk Hooker, the defending Haskell race winner, is also sponsoring laps 3 and 8 through his Hooker Bros./Country View Golf Course race team.

“I’m hoping I’ll be there,” said Hooker, who races in a 200-lap Late Model race at Delaware on Sunday afternoon and is contemplating the logistics of also racing at South Buxton.

Along with canvassing for dollar support, Haskell has also been busy recruiting as many cars as possible for the race.

The Late Models have been averaging between 8 and 10 cars on a race night but there could be more than 15, including some from the United States, for Saturday.

“We’re trying to make this as big of race as we can for the Late Models, and hopefully the extra cash will bring more cars,” Haskell said.

Jason Haskell, who moved to the Modified class this season, is working on getting a Late Model ride for the night. Patrick Haskell is also a former Late Model driver but hasn’t raced in four years.

“The weight might be all on my shoulders,” Gregg laughed, as he almost won the race in 2010 when he led the first 17 laps but was passed by Chatham’s Brad Authier with eight laps to go.

Haskell carries an 82-point lead over Authier into Saturday’s racing action and with three weeks left in the season is on course to his first career points championship.

“It’s been a fabulous year, my goal was to win one feature …but to win three is amazing.

“But a win on Saturday will be bigger than anything else I could ever do this year,” he said.

His most recent feature win came two weeks ago on a night which he unveiled a new paint scheme on his helmet, highlighted by a picture of his father.

“John Pinsonneault did an amazing job … it’s impressive,” Haskell said, crediting his long-time friend who did the art work.

“I think it definitely had something to do with that win.”

Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere can be the first driver to lock up a division title as he takes a 130-point lead over Grande Point’s Tyler Lozon into Saturday.

If his lead is 103 points or more after Saturday, Vanderiviere will repeat as the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks champion.

“It’d be nice to go into championship night and not worry about anything but the race,” said Vanderiviere, who won his seventh feature of the season last Saturday.

The Sport Stocks will have a special guest driver on Saturday as Jason Hathaway, driver of the No. 3 Dodge in the Canadian Tire NASCAR Series, will drive Lozon’s second car for the night’s races.

Hathaway will also hold an autograph session on the grandstand side before the night’s races.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr., in search of his eighth career track championship, is 64 points ahead of Louisville’s Fletcher atop the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds.

Blenheim’s Shawn Jones, looking for a third straight Tirecraft Comp 4 points total, leads his brother Trevor by 52 points and Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano by 58 with two race nights remaining.

The Sport Stocks and Comp 4s will have their championship night on Sept. 8 while the Late Models and Modifieds will race for their crowns on Sept. 22.

The grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway - Saturday night’s feature winners took four different routes to the Winner’s Circle at South Buxton Raceway.

Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere led all 25 laps to win the Len Bryden memorial race for his seventh Windride Transportation Sport Stocks feature of the season.

Chatham’s Louis Clements took the lead on a restart after the race leader was penalized for aggressive driving and led the final 12 laps for his second Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified victory.

Blenheim’s Shawn Jones passed his brother Trevor with three laps to go to for their second straight one-two finish in the Tirecraft Comp 4s.

But the most dramatic finish of the night came in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models, where Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford inherited the lead when Mike Lewis of Wallaceburg spun out in the final turn on the last scheduled lap.

“I’ve been in that boat before, so I know how it feels for Mikey,” Glassford said of Lewis’s misfortune.

“I’ll chalk this as using up some of my good luck,” Glassford said.

Lewis, looking for his first feature win since July 3, 2010, took the lead from Glassford on a restart on lap 10.

Glassford pulled beside Lewis on the final lap as the leaders headed into turns three and four for the final time.

“I tried to block him (Glassford),” Lewis said of his spin.

“I tried to get down there to hold him off, but I should have just kept my go,” he admitted.

Glassford felt he had a chance on the last lap if he could get beside Lewis but he never expected the leader to spin out.

“It was just luck,” Glassford said of how everything played out in his favour.

But, the race wasn’t over.

The caution waved before the checkered, setting the stage for one final lap.

Glassford, however, was already in the Winner’s Circle, thinking the race was over.

“I had undone my belts and shut off the brakes .. then they told me the race wasn’t over,” Glassford said.

He held off Brad Authier’s challenge out of the last corner to win his fourth feature of the season.

Lewis passed two cars on the extra lap to finish third.

“Me and Dale laughed about it, he told me it was my race to win, but I didn’t win it,” said Lewis.

Points leader Gregg Haskell and Jim Jones, both ofChatham, were the final cars on the lead lap.

Vanderiviere took advantage of his front-row start to avoid the mayhem behind him as the other 11 starters all had battle scars from several incidents.

“It’s nice to keep it in one piece and drive it on the trailer at the end of the night,” said Vanderiviere, whose car didn’t suffer a scratch during the 25-lap feature but still didn’t come way completely unscathed.

“We were lucky because we had a really bad miss in the heat race and it was still there in the feature,” he said.

“But the car was still working good enough (to win).”

Merlin’s Steve Shaw, who won the previous three features, andEssex’s Doris Lajeunesse were the only other drivers to finish on the lead lap, both with significant damage.

Vanderiviere, the defending series champion, will pad the 110-point lead he took into the night as second-place Tyler Lozon of Grande Pointe left the race midway through with mechanical issues and was scored in eighth place.

Clements took the Modified lead on a restart on lap eight and never looked back, leaving Jim Fletcher, of Louisville, to settle for a second straight and fifth runner-up finish of the season.

“Jim and I are really good friends … it’s cool we finished one-two,” Clement said of Fletcher.

“I feel bad for him because he’s had a lot second places … he deserves one (a win).

The two drivers moved to the front row on the lap-eight restart when Merlin’s Joe Brosseau, who led from the drop of the green, was penalized for aggressive driving and was sent to the back. Brosseau finished sixth.

Points leader Jim Dale Jr., ofShrewsbury, surrendered second when he pitted for a flat under the same caution. He finished eighth.

Wallaceburg rookie Drew Smith, who was running in 10^th on the same restart that Clements took the lead, worked his way through the field and passedChatham’s Darryl Hoekstra with two laps to go to finish a season-high third.

Leamington’s Joel Dick, who entered the night two points ahead of Fletcher in the standings, overcame a seventh-row starting position to finish fifth.

The Comp 4 feature was déjà vu from a week earlier as Shawn Jones earned his ninth feature win of the season and second in a row at the expense of his 14-year-old brother.

Jones, 20, admitted he never would have caught his brother had it not been for a caution two laps earlier.

“I was trying every way I could but I couldn’t get by him,” Shawn said.

But the younger Jones developed a push in his car as he drifted from his line coming out of turn two, allowing Shawn to make the pass.

“Even with the caution, if he didn’t get too low n the corner he would have held me off,” Shawn said.

Last week, Shawn took the lead from his brother with seven laps to go.

“There’s always next week,” said Trevor, shrugging off any disappointment.

Chatham’s Randy McKinlay, Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano andChatham’s Rick Balasin rounded out the top five.

The Late Models will run the Rick Haskell memorial feature this Saturday.

Canadian Tire NASCAR series driver Jason Hathaway, of Appin, will be in attendance, signing autographs before the races and will jump into Lozon’s second car to run with the Sport Stocks class for the night.

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

South Buxton Raceway
Saturday, Aug. 25 Results
Includes car number, driver’s name and hometown, starting position in brackets.

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks

Len Bryden Memorial Feature (25 laps)

1. 29 Eren Vanderiviere, Merlin (1)

2. 17 Steve Shaw, Merlin (5)

3. 38 Doris Lajeunesse, Essex (9)

4. 3C Steve Clements, Wheatley (10)

5. 46 West Bertozzi, Windsor (2)

6. 50 Brian Simard, Toronto (7)

7. 23 Rob Young, Kingsville (6)

8. 66 Tyler Lozon, Grande Pointe (11)

9. 98P Patrick Lajeunesse, Essex (3)

10. 93F Jason Fox, Chatham (8)

11. 95 Bob Visnjic, LaSalle (4)

12. 14 Randy McKinlay, Chatham (12)

DNS – 17 Mike Salisbury, Chatham

First Heat

1. Visnjic

2. Bertozzi

3. Simard

4. Shaw

5. D. Lajeunesse

6. McKinlay

7. Salisbury

Second Heat

1. P. Lajeunesse

2. Vanderiviere

3. Young

4. Clements

5. Lozon

6. Fox

Crack-The-Whip

1. Shaw

2. Young

3. Simard

4. Fox

5. D. Lajeunesse

6. Clements

7. Lozon

 

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds

Feature (20 laps)

1. 3C Louis Clements, Chatham (6)

2. 36F Jim Fletcher, Louisville (4)

3. 86 Drew Smith, Wallaceburg (7)

4. 34 Darryl Hoekstra, Chatham (5)

5. 09D Joel Dick, Leamington (14)

6. 47B Joe Brosseau, Merlin (2)

7. 77 Dan McIntyre, Windsor (12)

8. 00 Jim Dale Jr., Shrewsbury (1)

9. 28 Scott Mackenzie, Maidstone (3)

10. 20D Jeff Daniels, Chatham (16)

11. 1A Eric Vanderiviere, Chatham (8)

12. 5 Gerald Martin, Essex (20)

13. 71 Emerson McIntyre, Windsor (17)

14. 66 Mark Goggin, Amherstburg (11)

15. 14 Mario Toniolo, Belle River (18)

16. 21R Don Raes, Chatham (9)

17. 53 Brad Simpson, Rodney (13)

18. 28G Shawn Gillis, Windsor (15)

19. 43 Brad McLeod, Merlin (10)

DNS – RH94 Jason Haskell, Chatham

First Heat

1. Clements

2. Mackenzie

3. Hoekstra

4. Smith

5. Raes

6. Goggin

7. Simpson

8. Gillis

9. E. McIntyre

10. Haskell

Second Heat

1. Fletcher

2. Dale Jr.

3. Brosseau

4. Vanderiviere

5. McLeod

6. D. McIntyre

7. Dick

8. Daniels

9. Toniolo

10. Martin

Dash

1. Dale Jr.

2. Brosseau

3. Mackenzie

4. Fletcher

5. Hoekstra

6. Clements

 

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models

Feature (20 laps)

1. 60 Dale Glassford, Ridgetown (3)

2. 1A Brad Authier, Chatham (4)

3. 05 Mike Lewis, Wallaceburg (5)

4. RH21 Gregg Haskell, Chatham (1)

5. 34 Jim Jones, Chatham (2)

6. 18B Norm Bechard, Chatham (9)

7. 11 Paul Rivait, Tilbury (6)

8. 00 Mike Dale, Chatham(7)

9. 90 Mark Glassford Goderich (8)

DNS – 22 Clinton Emery, Merlin

Heat

1. D. Glassford

2. Lewis

3. Authier

4. Jones

5. Rivait

6. Haskell

7. Dale

8. Emery

9. M. Glassford

10. Bechard

Dash

1. Haskell

2. Jones

3. D. Glassford

4. Authier

5. Lewis

6. Rivait

 

Tirecraft Comp 4s

Feature (15 laps)

1. 27 Shawn Jones, Blenheim (3)

2. 27T Trevor Jones, Blenheim (1)

3. 26 Randy McKinlay, Chatham (4)

4. 69 Denis DeSerrano, Cottam (11)

5. 21 Rick Balasin, Chatham (6)

6. 91 Jerry Ramaut, Ridgetown (5)

7. 22S Jamie St. Pierre, Chatham (2)

8. 71 Gerry Rivait, Tilbury (8)

9. 43J Jim Arnel, Chatham (10)

10. 23D Joel Desjardins, Chatham (12)

11. 747 Ryan Phillips, Tilbury (13)

12. 62 Steve Shaw Jr., Merlin (7)

13. 36 Brad Wonnacott, Chatham (9)

DNS – 96 Norm DeSerrano, Kingsville

First Heat

1. McKinlay

2. St. Pierre

3. Balasin

4. Wonnacott

5. Arnel

6. Shaw

Second Heat

1. D. DeSerrano

2. T. Jones

3. S. Jones

4. Rivait

5. Ramault

6. N. DeSerrano

7. Phillips

 

Crack-The-Whip

1. S. Jones

2. Balasin

3. Ramaut

4. Rivait

5. Shaw

6. Arnel

7. N. DeSerrano

8. Desjardins

9. Wonnacott

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway -  The big prizes in the Northern Summer Nationals went south, as pair of American drivers struck pay dirt on the clay at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night.

Dustin Daggett, of Portland, Mich., won the 25-lap ‘A’ Main and $3,000 winner’s purse, while Justin Barger, of Montrose, N.Y., clinched the overall series championship with his third-place finish.

It was the second win in as many nights for Daggett, who held off Barger to win round three of the NSS series at Ohsweken Speedway on Friday.

Back on June 23, it was Barger, who leads the Empire Super Sprints standings, finishing first and Daggett the runner-up in the NSS’s first visit to South Buxton.

The difference in the final points standings was in the series opener on June 22 at Ohsweken when Barger finished fourth while Daggett was 17^th.

With his NSS series championship, Barger earns a guaranteed starting position in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken on Sept. 14-15.

Daggett’s win was the fifth of his career at South Buxton, his previous four all coming in ASCS Sprints On Dirt events.

Shane Stewart, a four-time Knoxville Nationals 360 champion from Bixby, Okla., finished second in his South Buxton debut.

Scott Kreutter, another Patriot Sprint Series driver was fourth with Ohsweken’s Glenn Styres fifth.

Barger, Styres and Kreutter won the heats while Shane Ross, of Thedford, won the ‘B’ main to transfer to the ‘A’ Main, along with the next five finishers.

A total of 28 sprints made the trek to South Buxton, located 10 miles south of Chatham, one night after 46 sprints were on hand at Ohsweken.

South Buxton also ran a full race program for its four regular classes.

Chatham’s Eric Vanderiviere returned to the Winner’s Circle for the first time in almost two years.

Vanderiviere took the lead on a restart from Louisville’s Jim Fletcher with nine laps to go and went on to win his first feature race since moving up to the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds last season.

His last feature win came in the 2010 championship race for the Sport Stocks.

Leamington’s Joel Dick was third, followed by Chatham’s Darryl Hoekstra and Louis Clements.

Meanwhile, Blenheim’s Shawn Jones won the family bragging rights and the Guitar Trophy on Country 92.9 Night at the Races.

The 20-year-old Shawn passed his 14-year-old brother Trevor midway through the Tirecraft Comp 4 feature for his eighth win of the season.

A trio of Tilbury drivers rounded out the top five – James and brother Ryan Beaulieu in third and fourth, with Gerry Rivait fifth.

Merlin’s Steve Shaw won his third straight and fifth Windride Transportation Sport Stocks by taking the lead from Essex’s Doris Lajeunesse with less than two laps to go.

Grand Pointe’s Tyler Lozon led the first 15 laps and appeared to be headed for his first feature win of the season but a broken bar ruined his chances.

Kingsville’s Rob Young, Wheatley’s Steve Clements and points leader Eren Vanderiviere of Merlin rounded out the top five.

Chatham’s Gregg Haskell won his third feature of the year in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models, holding off Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis in an exciting 20-lap battle which saw the lead change hands seven times between the pair in the first 11 laps.

Chatham drivers Kirk Hooker, Brad Authier and Jim Jones rounded out the top five.

 

South Buxton Raceway

Saturday, Aug. 18 Results

Includes car number, driver’s hometown and starting positions in brackets. (All drivers from Ontario unless noted)

 

Northern Summer Nationals Sprint Series

‘A’ Main (25 laps)

1. 2M Dustin Daggett, Portland, Mich. (1)
2. 3G Shane Stewart, Bixby, Okla. (5)
3. 5b Justin Barger, Montrose, N.Y. (4)
4. 52 Scott Kreutter, Alden, N.Y. (7)
5. 0 Glenn Styres, Ohsweken (2)
6. 07X Dain Naida, Tecumseh, Mich. (3)
7. 8B Alain Bergeron, Sainte-Pie, Que. (10)
8. 11J Chris Jones, Demorestville (6)
9. 71 Travis Cunningham, Grimsby (9)
10. 7X Jamie Collard, Burford (12)
11. 67 Chris Durand, Port Stanley, (8)
12. 10 Mitch Brown, Brantford (13)
13. 51L Lee Ladouceur, Alexandria (20)
14. 33K Kyle Patrick, Tilbury (15)
15. 5C Conor Mahoney, Waterdown (14)
16. 01 Mikey Kruchka, Hamilton (18)
17. 5 Keith Dempster, Alton (17)
18. 3R Shane Ross, Thedford (19)
19. 25 Warren Mahoney, Lefroy (24)
20. 57 Charlie Sandercock, Carrying Place (11)
21. 9 Jim Munsie, Pickering (22)
22. 30 Adam West, Ridgetown (16)
23. 70 Jim Lingar, South Bend, Ind. (21)
24. 66 Frank Baranowski, Mount Hope (23)

DNQ  2 – Brad Lodge, Stouffville

DNQ 4 – Eric Jamieson, Chatham

DNQ 15 – Mike Ferrell, London

79 – Dick Mahoney, Newmarket

First Heat

1. Kreutter.

2. Naida

3. Durand

4. C. Mahoney

5. Brown

6. Patrick

7. West

8. Munsie

9. D. Mahoney

Second Heat

1. Styres

2. Daggett

3. Jones

4. Bergeron

5. Kruchka

6. Ross

7. Dempster

8. Ferrell

9. Baranowski

Third Heat

1. Barger

2. Stewart

3. Sandercock

4. Collard

5. Cunningham

6. Ladouceur

7. Lingar

8. W. Mahoney

9. Lodge

10. Jamieson

‘B’ Main (top six transfer to ‘A’ Main)

1. Ross

2. Ladouceur

3. Lingar

4. Munsie

5. Baranowski

6. W Mahoney.

7. Ferrell

8. Jamieson

DNS –  D. Mahoney, Lodge

 

Tirecraft Comp 4s

Country 92.9 Feature (15 laps)

1. 27 Shawn Jones, Blenheim (5)

2. 27T Trevor Jones, Blenheim (1)

3. 09 James Beaulieu, Tilbury (4)

4. 747 Ryan Beaulieu, Tilbury (6)

5. 71 Gerry Rivait, Tilbury (2)

6. 21 Rick Balasin, Chatham (7)

7. 91 Jerry Ramaut, Ridgetown (10)

8. 22 Jamie St. Pierre, Chatham (8)

9. 96 Norm DeSerrano, Kingsville (11)

10. 62 Rick Hornick, Chatham (9)

11. 36 Brad Wonnacott, Chatham (12)

12. 69 Denis DeSerrano, Cottam (3)

DNS – 18 Rob Quick, Cottam

DNS – 23D Joel Desjardins, Chatham

DNS – 26 Randy McKinlay, Chatham

DNS – 34 Todd Shaw, Chatham

First Heat

1. J. Beaulieu

2. Rivait

3. Balasin

4. St. Pierre

5. Hornick

6. Wonnacott

7. Shaw

8. McKinlay

Second Heat

1. D. DeSerrano

2. T. Jones

3. S. Jones

4. R. Beaulieu

5. N. DeSerrano

6. Ramaut

7. Quick

Crack-The-Whip

1. S. Jones

2. R. Beaulieu

3. Balasin

4. St. Pierre

5. Hornick

6. Ramaut

7. N. DeSerrano

8. Wonnacott

9. Shaw

 

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds

Feature (20 laps)

1. 1A Eric Vanderiviere, Chatham (1)

2. 09D Joel Dick, Leamington (5)

3. 36F Jim Fletcher, Louisville (2)

4. 36 Darryl Hoekstra, Chatham (4)

5. 3C Louis Clements, Chatham (7)

6. 5 Gerald Martin, Essex (6)

7. RH94 Jason Haskell, Chatham (10)

8. 66 Mark Goggin, Amherstburg (16)

9. 21R Don Raes, Chatham (14)

10. 86 Drew Smith, Wallaceburg (8)

11. 1D Paul DeGoey, Leamington (13)

12. 1M Justin Smith, Leamington (17)

13. 14 Mario Toniolo, Belle River (11)

14. 77 Dan McIntyre, Windsor (15)

15. 43 Brad McLeod, Merlin (12)

16. 00 Jim Dale Jr., Shrewsbury (9)

17. 20 Brandon Coles, Chatham (18)

Black Flag – 53 Brad Simpson, Rodney (3)

First Heat

1. Fletcher

2. Dick

3. Vanderiviere

4. Clements

5. Dale Jr.

6. Toniolo

7. J. Smith

8. Goggin

9. Coles

Second Heat

1. Martin

2. Simpson

3. Hoekstra

4. D. Smith

5. Haskell

6. McLeod

7. DeGoey

8. Raes

9. McIntyre

Dash

1. Vanderiviere

2. Fletcher

3. Simpson

4. Hoekstra

5. Dick

6. Martin

 

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models

Feature (20 laps)

1. RH21 Gregg Haskell, Chatham (2)

2. 05 Mike Lewis, Wallaceburg (1)

3. 38  Kirk Hooker, Chatham (4)

4. 1A Brad Authier, Chatham (5)

5. 34 Jim Jones, Chatham (3)

6. 33 Don Gordon, Chatham (7)

7. 7 Brent Colby, Chatham (6)

8. 22 Clinton Emery, Merlin (8)

DNS – 00 Mike Dale, Chatham

DNS – 90 Mark Glassford, Goderich

First Heat

1. Haskell

2. Authier

3. Lewis

4. Gordon

5. Dale

Second Heat

1. Jones

2. Hooker

3. Glassford

4. Colby

5. Emery

Dash

1. Lewis

2. Haskell

3. Jones

4. Hooker

5. Authier

 

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks

Feature (20 laps)

1. 17 Steve Shaw, Merlin (4)

2. 38 Doris Lajeunesse, Essex (2)

3. 23 Rob Young, Kingsville (6)

4. 3C Steve Clements, Wheatley (10)

5. 29 Eren Vanderiviere, Merlin (9)

6. 46 West Bertozzi, Windsor (7)

7. 17D Rob Disher, Ohsweken (12)

8. 93F Jason Fox, Chatham (11)

9. 66 Tyler Lozon, Grand Pointe (1)

10. 4 Jody Mason, Merlin (13)

11. 98P Patrick Lajeunesse, Essex (3)

12. 95  Bob Visnjic, LaSalle (5)

Black Flag – 2 Willy Vyse, Wallaceburg (8)

First Heat

1. Shaw

2. D. Lajeunesse

3. Visnjic

4. Bertozzi

5. Disher

6. Mason

Second Heat

1. P. Lajeunesse

2. Lozon

3. Young

4. Vyse

5. Clements

6. Vanderiviere

7. Fox

Crack-The-Whip

1. Visnjic

2. Young

3. Bertozzi

4. Vyse

5. Vanderiviere

6. Clements

7. Fox

8. Disher

9. Mason

 

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – The weather played a big role in determining the inaugural Northern Summer Nationals sprint series winner.

This year, the drivers will decide the championship on the track.

The 2012 NSS champion will be crowned on Saturday at South Buxton Raceway as the four-race series comes to an exciting conclusion.

Last summer, both tracks had one race night cancelled by rain, including the championship night at South Buxton in late August.

Bryan Howland, of Auburn, N.Y., was declared the 2011 champion after just two races.

The third leg of the 2012 series was held at Ohsweken Speedway on Friday night, setting the stage for Saturday’s finale.

Justin Barger, an Empire Super Sprints driver from Montrose, N.Y., headed into Ohsweken as the 2012 points leader, one point ahead of Patriot Sprint Series driver Jared Zimbardi of Bradford, Pa.

Barger won the feature at South Buxton on June 23, one night after Zimbardi won the series opener at Ohsweken.

Jamie Collard is the top Canadian as the Burford native is six points behind Barger in third place.

The defending NSS champion Howland is ninth, 20 points off the lead.

Tonight’s feature winner collects a $3,000 pay cheque while the top 10 in the final standings share the overall series purse.

And just as important as the big pay day, the overall points champion earns a guaranteed starting position in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals on Sept. 14-15 at Ohsweken.

While the NSS series will crown its season champion tonight, three South Buxton drivers will have the opportunity to inch closer to locking up division titles.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. has the largest lead as the seven-time track champion has a 110-point advantage atop the Schinkels’ Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds standings.

Dale Jr., fuelled by seven feature wins, is 110 points ahead of Louisville’s Jim Fletcher, who is three points up on Leamington’s Joel Dick.

Dale and Dick traded the first and second place positions through the first 12 weeks until Fletcher moved into second on Aug. 4.

The defending Windride Transportation Sport Stocks champion Eren Vanderiviere, of Merlin, is 104 points ahead of  Grand Pointe’s Tyler Lozon.

Chatham’s Gregg Haskell, looking for his first career points championship, carries a comfortable 80-point lead over seven-time champion Brad Authier, also of Chatham, in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models.

The closest division race is in the Tirecraft Comp 4s as two-time defending champion Shawn Jones, of Blenheim, is 18 points ahead of  Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano, and 42 ahead of Trevor Jones, also of Blenheim.

Last Saturday’s rainout hurt the drivers trying to chase down the leaders as the postponement reduced the number of race nights remaining in the season.

There are only three points nights left for the Comp 4s and Sport Stocks, with their championship night slated for Sept. 8.

The Modifieds and Late Models have four points nights before their Sept. 22 championship.

The gates open at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

For further information, please contact Mike Bennett 519-351-4765

 

By Mike Bennett – Today’s racing prorgram at South Buxton Raceway has been cancelled due to rain.

The day’s activities were scheduled to start with the Junior Fan Club Party at 3 p.m., which included all of the drivers. Racing was slated to begin at 7 p.m.

But after a series of thunderstorms on Friday, coupled with lingering showers this morning – and the forecast for more rain throughout the aftenoon  – South Buxton Raceway promoter Blake Outhouse cancelled the program at 9:30 a.m.

It is the first rainout of the season for South Buxton Raceway. The July 7 program was cancelled because of dangerous heat.

The Junior Fan Club Party has been rescheduled for Saturday, Aug. 25.

This coming Saturday, Aug. 18, South Buxton Raceway hosts the Northern Summer National Sprints Series, as the 2012 champion will be crowned.

Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

For more information visit www.southbuxtonraceway.com.

By Mike Bennett – It will be pleasure before business for South Buxton Raceway’s drivers on Saturday.

Prior to the night’s racing action, the drivers will be guests of honour at the annual Junior Fan Club party in the afternoon.

The kids, ages 3-12, will have numerous games and activities, highlighted by the annual tug-of-war with the drivers.

And after the kids extend their winning streak, they will enjoy rides around the track in the race cars.

Then, it’s back to business for the drivers as they continue in their chase of the four division championships.

The closest race is in the Tirecraft Comp 4s where just 42 points separate first-place Shawn Jones, 20, from his 14-year-old brother Trevor, in third.

Between the Blenheim brothers is Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano, who is just 18 points behind the two-time reigning point champion.

DeSerrano, 45, won points championships in 2000 and 2004 and championship races in 2004, 2007 and 2011. His first championship came when Trevor Jones would have been two years old.

Cottam’s Rob Quick, who moved into fourth in points with a feature win last Saturday, sits 124 points behind the leader.

Chatham’s Brad Authier, a seven-time points champion at South Buxton, moved to within 80 points ofChatham’s Gregg Haskell, the leader in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models since late May.

Authier won his sixth feature of the season and fifth in the last seven weeks to cut into what was a 152-point deficit in mid-June.

“We’ve got a little bit of a chance, but we need him (Haskell) to miss a feature,” Authier said of his slim title hopes.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. had 30 points knocked off his lead atop the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds after posting a DNF in last Saturday’s feature.

Leamington’s Joel Dick, who won his fourth feature of the season last week, actually lost a spot in the standings as he dropped into third place, two points behindLouisville’s Jim Fletcher.

The seven-time champion Dale Jr. is 110 points ahead of Fletcher.

Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere, the defending Windride Transportation Sport Stocks champion, takes a 104-point lead over Grand Pointe’s Tyler Lozon into Saturday’s action.

The gates open at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.

Next Saturday, Aug. 18,South Buxtonwill crown the 2012 Northern Summer Nationals Sprints Series champion.

 

South Buxton Raceway Current Standings

Following are the Top 10 drivers, including car number in brackets, driver’s hometown, points (Pts), feature wins (FW) and checkered flags (CF), following Sat., Aug. 4 races.

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds

Pts       FW      CF

1. (00) Jim Dale Jr. Shrewsbury                                  1169­     7         18

2. (36F) Jim Fletcher Louisville                                  1059    0         7

3. (09) Joel Dick Leamington                                     1057    ­ 4         8

4. (36) Darryl Hoekstra Chatham                               989      1         2

5. (43) Brad McLeod Merlin                                      948  ­     1         0

6. (20D) Jeff Daniels Chatham                                   931 ­      0         1

7. (5) Gerald Martin Essex                                         902      0         1

8. (1A) Eric Vanderiviere  Chatham                           874      0         3

9. (3C) Louis Clements Chatham                               873      1         5

10. (14) Mario Toniolo Belle River                             865      0         2

 

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models

Pts       FW      CF

1. (21RH) Gregg Haskell Chatham                            1158    2         4

2. (1A) Brad Authier Chatham                                   1078 ­    6         15

3. (34) Jim Jones Chatham                                          1029­     0         2

4. (60) Dale Glassford Ridgetown                             1008­    3         8

5. (22) Clinton Emery Merlin                          860 ­      0         0

6. (18B) Norm Bechard Chatham                               803       0         0

7. (90) Mark Glassford Goderich                               765       0         2

8. (05)  Mike Lewis Wallaceburg                                550      0         3

9. (00) Mike Dale Chatham                                        549­       0         0

10. (28) Jeff Jardine Dover Centre                             339      0         0

 

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks

Pts       FW      CF

1. (29) Eren Vanderiviere Merlin  ­                              1250    6          2

2. (66) Tyler Lozon Grande Pointe­                             1146    0          7

3. (93F) Jason Fox Chatham                                       1115    0          3

4. (2) Willy Vyse Wallaceburg  ­                                  1114    0          2

5. (3C) Steve Clements Wheatley                               1041    1          3

6. (98P) Patrick Lajeunesse Essex                              1036    1          3

7. (23) Rob Young Kingsville  ­                                   1033    0          3

8. (38) Doris Lajeunesse Essex                                   1011    0          2

9. (46) West Bertozzi Windsor  ­                                 862      0          2

10. (17) Steve Shaw Merlin                                       702      4          8

 

Tirecraft Comp 4s

Pts       FW     CF

1. (27) Shawn Jones Blenheim                                    1182    7          14

2. (69) Denis DeSerrano Cottam                                1164    4          14

3. (27T) Trevor Jones Blenheim                                  1140    1          4

4. (18)  Rob Quick Cottam                                         1058    1          6

5. (747) Ryan Beaulieu Tilbury                                   1042    0          2

6. (91) Jerry Ramaut Ridgetown                                984      0          1

7. (96) Norm DeSerrano Kingsville                            968      0          0

8. (71) Gerry Rivait Tilbury                                        957      0          0

9. (09) James Beaulieu Tilbury                                    954      0          0

10. (21) Rick Balasin  Chatham                                  951      0          2

Next Race Nights: Saturday, Aug. 11, Gates open 5:30 p.m.; Racing 7 p.m.; Sat. Aug. 18, Northern Summer National Sprints Championship Night, 7 p.m.Visit www.southbuxtonraceway.com for more information.

 

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – Cottam’s Rob Quick and Leamington’s Joel Dick returned to the Winner’s Circle on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway, both ending long winless droughts.

For Quick, the famine was much longer.

And both drivers waved the checkered flag from the roofs of their winning cars.

For Quick, the climb took much longer.

“That’s the first time I’ve done that,” said the stocky veteran after carefully climbing back to the ground following his first Tirecraft Comp 4 feature win since Aug. 28, 2010.

Dick, meanwhile, won his fourth Schinkels Gourmet Meat UMP Modified feature of the season but his first since June 9.

“It seems like it’s been longer than that,” Dick told the crowd after hopping off the roof of his winning car.

Saturday’s other two feature winners – 50-year-old Brad Authier of Chatham in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models and 51-year-old Steve Shaw of Merlin in the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks – took the more traditional poses with their checkered flags.

Coincidently, Dick and Authier both won features on the same night Quick was last victorious. Shaw was third in his feature that night.

Quick started on the pole and led all 15 laps of the caution-free Tirecraft Comp 4 race after coming up just short in the previous four race nights. He posted three second-place finishes and a third while leading at one point in each of the last four features.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on the car and could feel it getting better every week. Tonight, we finally got it up to speed,” Quick said.

“We just couldn’t get the car to turn, we were fast going into the corners but couldn’t keep it on the bottom,” he explained.

“I had to let off and that’s where guys were getting by me. But tonight, we had that problem solved, we were able to stay on the bottom.”

With the race going caution-free, Quick’s only challenge was getting through the lapped cars.

“I didn’t know who was behind me or where they were, I didn’t want to lose any ground getting through the traffic,” he said. “I just stayed on the bottom and only got held up the one time.”

Cottam’s Denis Serrano and Blenheim’s Shawn Jones – who had combined to win 10 of the first 12 features this season and all 15 in 2011 – were unable to make up any ground on Quick because of the lapped cars.

Their only hope was for a caution but none came.

“That made a big difference,” Quick said of his yellow-free run. “You hate to give up all the ground you gained.”

DeSerrano finished second for a fifth time while Jones was third. Blenheim’s Brett Hope and Merlin’s Steve Shaw Jr. rounded out the top five.

When Dick won his third feature of the season on June 9, he held a 20-point atop the Modified standings.

Since then, everything went south as Dick posted just two top-five finishes over the next six weeks.

His low point came last Saturday when he scratched for the night when his car wouldn’t fire for the heat race.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr., who won all three races last week including his seventh feature of the season, opened a 140-point lead over Dick.

But points don’t faze Dick.

“We’ve never worried about points, we just want to win every race,” Dick said in his Winner’s Circle interview, as his feature victory was his first checkered flag since winning a heat race on June 30.

Even though points are not a priority, Dick will cut a big chunk off the deficit as Dale Jr. retired from the race early and posted a 17th-place DNF.

Dick started the feature in the fifth row but needed only six laps to crack the top five.

He was running fourth on a restart at lap 13 and gained two positions before the caution flew again a lap later.

The Leamington driver restarted on the inside of the leader Louisville’s Jim Fletcher, who chose the outside lane.

Dick got a great jump at the drop of the green and won the drag race into the first corner to take the lead and cruised through the final six laps to take the checkered.

Fletcher came home with his third runner-up finish of the season after leading the first 14 laps.

Windsor’s Dan McIntyre had a season-best third-place finish with Merlin’s Brad McLeod fourth and Chatham’s Jason Haskell a season-best fifth.

Shaw started in the second row of the Sport Stocks feature and following a caution after one complete lap, passed Essex’s Doris Lajeunesse on the next lap to take the lead for good.

He built a huge advantage before a second caution fell on lap seven, allowing points leader Eren Vanderiviere of Merlin to make up the deficit and restart beside Shaw.

“I don’t mind running up high, there was a lot of bite up there,” Shaw said. “I was getting a good run off the top on the restarts, beating Eren off the corners.”

A caution on the white flag lap set the stage for a green-checkered finish.

As the cars came out of two, Vanderiviere tried to get the nose of his No. 29 machine inside of Shaw.

Shaw closed the door as Vanderiviere spun onto the apron to fall from second to a sixth-place finish.

Vanderiviere’s misfortunate allowed Grande Pointe’s Tyler Lozon to finish second while Essex’s Patrick Lajeunesse, Wheatley’s Steve Clements and LaSalle’s Bob Visnjic rounded out the top five.

Authier said he was able win for the fourth time in six weeks despite a tight race car in the waning laps of the Late Model feature.

“We struggled for two weeks,” Authier said. “We pulled this car apart, went from top to bottom … we found a few things, but we’re not sure if we did find it,” he said of the big issue that was ailing his machine.

“I was a little concerned because about three quarters of the way through the feature, the car started tightening up again,” he said. “I had to get on the gas a little harder to get it to steer in the corner.”

Authier was running third when he made a bold move on lap five when the lead pack of four cars came upon the three drivers at the tail end of the field in turn four.

With the middle and bottom lanes plugged, Authier shot to top of the track and emerged from the traffic snarl in the lead.

“I think those guys are a little afraid to go the top side. That’s where I took advantage and went around them all at the top,” said Authier, who held off Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford over the final 14 laps to post his class-leading sixth win of the year.

Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis and Chatham’s Jim Jones finished third and fourth, the only other lead lap cars.

Authier won the heat, as he leads the Late Models with 15 checkereds.

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

South Buxton Raceway
Saturday, Aug. 4 Results
Includes car number and driver’s hometown in brackets.

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds
Feature (20 laps)
1. Joel Dick (09D) Leamington
2. Jim Fletcher (36F) Louisville
3. Dan McIntyre (77) Windsor
4. Brad McLeod (43) Merlin
5. Jason Haskell (RH94) Chatham
6. Don Raes (21R) Chatham
7. Brandon Coles (20D) Chatham
8. Louis Clements (3C) Chatham
9. Eric Vanderiviere (1A) Chatham
10. Gerald Martin (5) Essex
11. Clayton Smith (55) Taylor, Mich.
12. Mario Toniolo (14) Belle River
13. Emerson McIntyre (71) Windsor
14. Brad Simpson (53) Rodney
15. Darryl Hoekstra (36) Chatham
16. Drew Smith (86) Wallaceburg
17. Jim Dale Jr. (00) Shrewsbury
First Heat
1. McLeod
2. Hoekstra
3. Dale Jr.
4. Coles
5. Clements
6. Simpson
7. D. Smith
8. C. Smith
9. Toniolo
Second Heat
1. Vanderiviere
2. Fletcher
3. Martin
4. D. McIntyre
5. Dick
6. Haskell
7. Raes
8. E. McIntyre
Dash
1. Fletcher
2. Hoekstra
3. Dale Jr.
4. McLeod
5. Martin
6. Vanderiviere

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models
Feature (20 laps)
1. Brad Authier (1A) Chatham
2. Dale Glassford (60) Ridgetown
3. Mike Lewis (05) Wallaceburg
4. Jim Jones (34) Chatham
5. Clinton Emery (22) Merlin
6. Gregg Haskell (RH21) Chatham
7. Norm Bechard (18B) Chatham
8. Paul Rivait (11) Tilbury
Heat
1. Authier
2. Bechard
3. Glassford
4. Emery
5. Rivait
6. Lewis
7. Jones
8. Haskell
Dash
1. Lewis
2. Glassford
3. Authier
4. Rivait
5. Emery
6. Bechard

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks
Feature (20 laps)
1. Steve Shaw (17) Merlin
2. Tyler Lozon (66) Grande Pointe
3. Patrick Lajeunesse (98P) Essex
4. Steve Clements (3C) Wheatley
5. Bob Visnjic (95) LaSalle
6. Eren Vanderiviere (29) Merlin
7. Doris Lajeunesse (38) Essex
8. Jody Mason (4) Merlin
9. Rob Young (23) Kingsville
10. Paul Gossmann (92G) Leamington
11. Willy Vyse (2) Wallaceburg
12. Jason Fox (93F) Chatham
DNS – West Bertozzi (46) Windsor
First Heat
1. Shaw
2. D. Lajeunesse
3. Bertozzi
4. Mason
5. Visnjic
6. Gossmann
Second Heat
1. P. Lajeunesse
2. Clements
3. Vanderiviere
4. Vyse
5. Fox
6. Young
7. Lozon
Crack-The-Whip
1. Vanderiviere
2. Vyse
3. Visnjic
4. Gossmann
5. Fox
6. Lozon
7. Young
8. Mason
9. Bertozzi

Tirecraft Comp 4s
Feature (20 laps)
1. Rob Quick (18) Cottam
2. Denis DeSerrano (69) Cottam
3. Shawn Jones (27) Blenheim
4. Brett Hope (49) Blenheim
5. Steve Shaw Jr. (62) Merlin
6. James Beaulieu (09) Tilbury
7. Trevor Jones (27T) Blenheim
8. Ryan Beaulieu (747) Tilbury
9. Rick Balasin (21) Chatham
10. Jerry Ramaut (91) Ridgetown
11. Jamie St. Pierre (22S) Chatham
12. Norm DeSerrano (96) Kingsville
13. Shane Fryer (95) Cottam
14. Joel Desjardins (23D) Chatham
15. Jerry Rivait (71) Tilbury
16. Todd Shaw (34) Chatham
17. Randy McKinlay (26) Chatham
18. Brad Wonnacott (36) Chatham
First Heat
1. S. Shaw Jr.
2. Hope
3. Balasin
4. Desjardins
5. J. Beaulieu
6. Fryer
7. St. Pierre
8. T. Jones
Second Heat
1. D. DeSerrano
2. Quick
3. S. Jones
4. Rivait
5. R. Beaulieu
6. Ramaut
7. T. Jones
8. N. DeSerrano
9. McKinlay
Crack-The-Whip
1. S. Jones
2. Balasin
3. J. Beaulieu
4. R. Beaulieu
5. Rivait
6. T. Jones
7. Desjardins
8. Fryer
9. Ramaut
10. St. Pierre

By Mike Bennett – This weekend will feature power on Friday and speed on Saturday in back-to-back nights of exciting action on dirt at South Buxton Raceway.

The fourth annual Tractor and Truck Pull, featuring the Southwestern Ontario Tractor Pullers Association, takes over the speedway tonight.

Modified and Super Farm Tractors along with Super Stock 2WD and 4×4 Trucks from the SWOPTA will compete on the infield track at South Buxton.  There will be a licensed beverage area on the infield next to the track, with access from the grandstands.

The gates open at 5:30 p.m. with competition beginning at 7 p.m.  Admission is $10 for ages 13 and over; $5 for ages 12 and under.

On Saturday, South Buxton’s four divisions of stock cars will be back on the 3/8th-mile ‘D’ on Autograph Night.

Fans can meet all the drivers, who will bring their cars on the track for intermission.

The points races in three of the four divisions are turning into a runaways.

The closest race is in the Tirecraft Comp 4s where two-time defending champion Shawn Jones of Blenheim carries a 22-point lead over Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano into Saturday’s races.

Jones, 20, has seven feature wins and 13 checkered flags while DeSerrano, 45, has four feature wins and 13 checkereds.

Sitting in third is Jones’ 14-year-old brother Trevor, who has four straight top-five feature finishes including his first win on July 21. The rookie Jones is just 11 points back of DeSerrano in third.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. has opened a commanding 140-point lead atop the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds over Leamington’s Joel Dick, who scratched from last Saturday’s races with mechanical issues.

Dale Jr. has seven feature wins and leads all drivers at the track with 18 checkereds.

Dale Jr., the defending points champion, is looking for his eighth career championship, which would tie him with Merlin’s Brad McLeod for the most season titles in the track’s 41-year history.

McLeod moved up to fifth in the standings but is still looking for his first checkered flag of the season and first feature win since 2010.

Defending points champion Eren Vanderiviere has a 115-point lead atop the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks, thanks to six feature wins and 11 checkereds.

Grande Pointe’s Tyler Lozon moved into second after Jason Fox held the runner-up spot for the last 10 weeks.

Chatham’s Gregg Haskell’s lead atop the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models sits at 104 points over second-place Brad Authier, a seven-time track champ.

Haskell, looking for his first points title, has two feature wins, three fewer than Authier whose bid for an eighth points crown was crippled by a week’s suspension and a black flag from another feature earlier in the season.

The gates open at 5:30 p.m. with the green flag waving at 7 p.m. for Saturday’s races.

For further information, please contact Mike Bennett 519-351-4765

South Buxton Raceway

Following are the Top 10 drivers, including car number in brackets, driver’s hometown, points (Pts), feature wins (FW) and checkered flags (CF), following Sat., July 28 races.

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds

Pts       FW      CF

1. (00) Jim Dale Jr. Shrewsbury                                  1105­     7         18

2. (09) Joel Dick Leamington                                     965      ­ 3         7

3. (36F) Jim Fletcher Louisville                                  964      0         6

4. (36) Darryl Hoekstra Chatham                               921      1         2

5. (43) Brad McLeod Merlin                                      860  ­     0         0

6. (20D) Jeff Daniels Chatham                                   857 ­      0         1

7. (5) Gerald Martin Essex                                         826       0         1

8. (86) Drew Smith Wallaceburg                                802      0         0

9. (3C) Louis Clements Chatham                               801      1         5

10. (14) Mario Toniolo Belle River                             735      0         2

Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models

Pts       FW      CF

1. (21RH) Gregg Haskell Chatham                            1082    2         4

2. (1A) Brad Authier Chatham                                   978 ­      4         13

3. (34) Jim Jones Chatham                                          945­       0         2

4. (60) Dale Glassford Ridgetown                             913­      3         8

5. (22) Clinton Emery Merlin                          774 ­      0         0

6. (90) Mark Glassford Goderich                               765       0         2

7. (18B) Norm Bechard Chatham                               721       0         0

8. (00) Mike Dale Chatham                                        549­       0         0

9. (05)  Mike Lewis Wallaceburg                                459      0         2

10. (28) Jeff Jardine Dover Centre                             339      0         0

 

 

 

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks

Pts       FW      CF

1. (29) Eren Vanderiviere Merlin  ­                              1164    6          11

2. (66) Tyler Lozon Grande Pointe­                             1049    0          7

3. (93F) Jason Fox Chatham                                       1041    0          3

4. (2) Willy Vyse Wallaceburg  ­                                  1038    0          2

5. (23) Rob Young Kingsville  ­                                   953      0          3

6. (3C) Steve Clements Wheatley                               951      1          3

7. (98P) Patrick Lajeunesse Essex                              943      1          2

8. (38) Doris Lajeunesse Essex                                   927      0          2

9. (46) West Bertozzi Windsor  ­                                 827      0          2

10. (14) Randy McKinlay Chatham                           604      1          3

 

Tirecraft Comp 4s

Pts       FW     CF

1. (27) Shawn Jones Blenheim                                    1089    7          13

2. (27T) Trevor Jones Blenheim                                  1056    1          4

3. (69) Denis DeSerrano Cottam                                1067    4          13

4. (747) Ryan Beaulieu Tilbury                                   960      0          2

5. (18)  Rob Quick Cottam                                         956      0          5

6. (91) Jerry Ramaut Ridgetown                                906      0          1

7. (96) Norm DeSerrano Kingsville                            904      0          0

8. (26) Randy McKinlay  Chatham                            895      0          2

9. (71) Gerry Rivait Tilbury                                        889      0          0

10. (21) Rick Balasin  Chatham                                  871      0          2

 

 

Next Race Nights: Saturday, Aug. 4, Autograph Night. Gates open 5:30 p.m.; Racing 7 p.m. Visit www.southbuxtonraceway.com for more information.

 

By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – Dale Glassford wasn’t happy with his new car, so he bought his old one back.

And the deal landed the Ridgetown native back in the Winner’s Circle at South Buxton Raceway for the first time in more than two months.

Glassford led all 25 laps to win the annual Don Hendricks memorial race for the Glencoe Auto Wreckers UMP Late Models on Saturday night, his first feature win since taking the first two checkereds of the season on May 5 and 12.

“I grew up watching Don and had the chance to race against him in his last year at the Ridge, so this is really special to win,” Glassford said after accepting the memorial trophy from the Hendricks’ family.

“It’s a big race for all of us in the Late Models because we really appreciate how the Hendricks family still sponsor a night and we all know how special it is to win a race honouring a legendary name like Don’s.”

Hendricks was one of South Buxton’s most popular and successful drivers, winning the very first feature race when the track opened on June 12, 1971. He died of cancer in 1995 at the age of 48.

Glassford, however, went into the night not knowing what was in store for him after making the swap with Wyoming’s Don Douglas to get his old car back.

“We started off all right in the new car,” Glassford said of his back-to-back feature wins to start the season. “But we banged it up a little with the 1A (Chatham’s Brad Authier) for a few weeks and something got out of whack with car, we just couldn’t get it back.”

Glassford had handling issues in the following weeks, spinning out on his own several times in heats and feature races.

“We’ve had some bad nights and were off quite a bit and I was getting awfully frustrated.

“It came down to either spending a lot of money chasing something that I didn’t know was wrong, or put the same money and get this car back.”

He contacted Douglas, who had yet to race the old car, “and we worked out a deal to get my old girlfriend back!” he laughed.

Glassford said he could tell in the heat race that his old girl was as good as new.

“We worked like a dog the last two weeks to get it ready because the Hendricks race was our incentive,” he said.

“We didn’t think we’d come out and set the world on fire, we just wanted to get back into being competitive with everybody.”

Glassford started on the inside pole, thanks to his dash win, and kept Leamington’s Justin Coulter at bay for the final 24 laps. Authier finished third, followed by fellow Chatham drivers Jim Jones and points leader Gregg Haskell.

“The car got better as the race went on, it felt really good after halfway,” Glassford said.

His only scare came on the final lap when he broke a rear brake line.

“I was going into the first corner and my pedal went right to the floor,” he said. “I was pumping the brakes like crazy down the straightaway, spilling oil everywhere but we got around the last corner and made it back.

“But it was a good thing there wasn’t one more lap,” he smiled.

His dash and feature wins give Glassford seven checkered flags in 10 weeks of racing.

Meanwhile, Chatham’s Louis Clements made amends for “giving one away last week” by winning his second career Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds feature.

Clements led the first eight laps before giving up the lead to Clayton Smith, of Taylor, Mich., on a restart.

“He (Smith) timed it perfect, but I knew if I stayed calm and got back to my groove on the high side, I’d be able to get back by him,” said Clements, who regained the lead for good thanks to a strong outside run in turn two on lap 11.

“I didn’t know how close he (Smith) was, I just concentrated on hitting my marks and running the groove that was working,” Clement said.

The two-time Sport Stocks champion said he tried to put any negative thoughts from last week’s disappointment out of his mind.

“I was pretty upset with myself, I gave one away as far as I’m concerned,” said Clements, looking back at last Saturday’s feature when he spun in turn three on lap eight while battling Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. for the lead.

Dale Jr. went on to win his seventh feature while Clements finished ninth.

Clements, who also won the heat and dash, entered the night 12th in points with three checkered flags and three top-five feature finishes.

“I don’t why, I’ve always seemed to be a second half guy,” said the two-time Sport Stock champion, whose first Modified feature win came almost a year ago on Aug. 6.

“It’s a new car and it’s taken us some time to figure out exactly what I need and what works, but I think we’re there now,” Clement said.

“We’re starting to have some good weeks but we need to continue.”

Dale Jr. finished third and will pad the 65-point he had going into the night as second-place Joel Dick of Leamington scratched for the night and third-place Jim Fletcher of Louisville pulled off the track after one lap and placed 16th with a DNF.

Chatham’s Eric Vanderiviere finished fourth for a second straight week with Essex’s Gerald Martin rounding out the top five.

Dale Jr. won the other heat for his track-leading 18th checkered flag of the season.

Merlin’s Steve Shaw also won his third feature of the season in the Windride Sport Stocks, his first since back-to-back wins on June 2 and 9.

He started on the outside of the front row and led all 20 laps.

Points leader Eren Vanderiviere, also of Merlin moved into second on lap six and almost caught the leader in lapped traffic.

“It was kind like pulling up to Tim Hortons and ordering a double-double, and then get going again,” Shaw said about getting slowed by Chatham’s Jason Fox, Vanderiviere’s teammate.

“I did stall the motor when I had to hit the brakes, but it fired back up.

“The car was on a rail but once I lost the momentum, it didn’t handle as well after that,” Shaw admitted, but it was still good enough to hold off Vanderiviere in the waning laps.

Wallaceburg rookie Willy Vyse was third, followed by Grande Pointe’s Tyler Lozon and Wheatley’s Steve Clements.

Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano also returned to the Winner’s Circle for the first time since early in the season, winning his fourth Tirecraft Comp 4 feature.

DeSerrano won three straight features early in the season, his last coming on June 2, and finished second in two of the next three features as he opened a 41-point lead atop the points standings by late June.

But a pair of ninth-place finishes and scratching from last Saturday night’s feature dropped DeSerrano to third in the standings, 38 points behind Blenheim’s Shawn Jones.

“It feels good just to be able to make some laps instead of standing at the fence,” DeSerrano said with a laugh, referring to last week’s feature which he sat out because of an ignition box failure.

But everything was perfect under the hood of the DeSerrano machine on Saturday as he won his heat race and led the final 13 of the 15-lap feature to pick up his fourth win of the season and ninth over the last two years.

DeSerrano started in the second row and took the lead from Tilbury’s Ryan Beaulieu on lap three.

Cottam’s Rob Quick finished third, followed by Blenheim drivers Trevor Jones and Brett Hope.

South Buxton will host its fourth annual Tractor and Truck Pull this Friday, featuring the Southwestern Ontario Tractor Pullers Association.

The stock cars return to the track on Saturday for Autograph Night.

Both events start at 7 p.m.

Photos by James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com

South Buxton Raceway
Saturday, July 28 Results
Includes car number in brackets and driver’s hometown.
Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models
Don Hendricks Memorial Feature (25 laps)
1. Dale Glassford (60) Ridgetown
2. Justin Coulter (555) Leamington
3. Brad Authier (1A) Chatham
4. Jim Jones (34) Chatham
5. Gregg Haskell (RH21)
6. Mike Lewis (05) Wallaceburg
7. Jeff Jardine (28) Dover Center
8. Clinton Emery (22) Merlin
9. Mark Glassford (90) Goderich

Heat
1. Lewis
2. M. Glassford
3. D. Glassford
4. Coulter
5. Jones
6. Jardine
7. Authier
8. Emery
9. Haskell

Dash
1. D. Glassford
2. Jones
3. M. Glassford
4. Coulter
5. Jardine
6. Lewis

Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds
Feature (20 laps)
1. Louis Clements (3C) Chatham
2. Clayton Smith (55) Taylor, Mich.
3. Jim Dale Jr. (00) Shrewsbury
4. Eric Vanderiviere (1A) Chatham
5. Gerald Martin (5) Essex
6. Brad Simpson (53) Rodney
7. Brad McLeod (43) Merlin
8. Darryl Hoekstra (36) Chatham
9. Jason Haskell (RH94) Chatham
10. Dan McIntyre (77) Windsor
11. Bill Profota (86) Tupperville
12. Emerson McIntyre (71) Windsor
13. Paul DeGoey (1D) Leamington
14. Mario Toniolo (14) Belle River
15. Brandon Coles (20D) Chatham
16. Jim Fletcher (36F) Louisville
17. Don Raes (21R) Chatham
DNS – Joel Dick (09D) Leamington

First Heat
1. Clements
2. Smith
3. Vanderiviere
4. Simpson
5. McLeod
6. E. McIntyre
7. Profota
8. Hoekstra
9. Haskell

Second Heat
1. Dale Jr.
2. Fletcher
3. Martin
4. Toniolo
5. DeGoey
6. Coles
7. D. McIntyre
8. Raes

Dash
1. Clements
2. Smith
3. Fletcher
4. Martin
5. Vanderiviere
6. Dale Jr.

Windride Transportation Sport Stocks
Feature (20 laps)
1. Steve Shaw (17) Merlin
2. Eren Vanderiviere (29) Merlin
3. Willy Vyse (2) Wallaceburg
4. Tyler Lozon (66) Grande Pointe
5. Steve Clements (3C) Wheatley
6. Randy McKinlay (14) Chatham
7. Paul Gossmann (92G) Leamington
8. Bob Visnjic (95) LaSalle
9. Patrick Lajeunesse (98P) Essex
10. Jason Fox (93F) Chatham
11. Doris Lajeunesse (38) Essex
12. Brian Simard (50) Toronto
DNS – Rob Young (23) Kingsville

First Heat
1. McKinlay
2. Shaw
3. Simard
4. D. Lajeunesse
5. Gossmann
6. Visnjic

Second Heat
1. Clements
2. Vyse
3. Lozon
4. Vanderiviere
5 .P. Lajeunesse
6. Young
7. Fox

Crack-The-Whip
1. Lozon
2. D. Lajeunesse
3. Simard
4. Gossmann
5. Vanderiviere
6. P. Lajeunesse
7. Fox
8. Visnjic

Tirecraft Comp 4s
Feature (15 laps)
1. Denis DeSerrano (69) Cottam
2. Ryan Beaulieu (747) Tilbury
3. Rob Quick (18) Cottam
4. Trevor Jones (27T) Blenheim
5. Brett Hope (49) Blenheim
6. Shawn Jones (27) Blenheim
7. Rick Balasin (21) Chatham
8. Norm DeSerrano (96) Kingsville
9. Jamie St. Pierre (22S) Chatham
10. Shane Fryer (95) Cottam
11. Jerry Ramaut (91) Ridgetown
12. Steve Shaw Jr. (62) Merlin
13. Gerry Rivait (71) Tilbury
14. Randy McKinlay (26) Chatham
15. Brad Noland (18N) Cottam
DNS – Joel Desjardins (23D) Chatham
DNS – Brad Wonnacott (36) Chatham

First Heat
1. Shaw Jr.
2. Hope
3. Desjardins
4. St. Pierre
5. Balasin
6. Rivait
7. Noland
8. Wonnacott
9. Fryer

Second Heat
1. D. DeSerrano
2. Beaulieu
3. T. Jones
4. S. Jones
5. Ramaut
6. McKinlay
7. N. DeSerrano
8. Quick

Crack-The-Whip
1. T. Jones
2. S. Jones
3. St. Pierre
4. McKinlay
5. Ramaut
6. Balasin
7. Desjardins
8. N. DeSerrano
9. Noland
10. Ramaut

By Mike Bennett – A new Don Hendricks memorial race winner will be crowned on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

Defending race winner Kirk Hooker, of Chatham, is not expected to be in the field for the memorial race in the Glencoe Auto Recyclers UMP Late Models’ class.

Hooker, who is also the defending series points champion, has only raced twice on his home track this season, focusing instead on his asphalt racing program at Delaware Speedway.

Hooker won the June 2 feature race in his first of two appearances as South Buxton this season.
The memorial race is held in honour of Hendricks, one of the winningest and most popular drivers during the early years of South Buxton Raceway. He won the first Late Model feature the night the track opened – June 12, 1971 – as Raleigh Raceway Park.
Hendricks drove his famous ‘09 Panic’ car to Late Model points championships in 1975, 1979 and 1985. He retired from racing following the ’85 season. He died at the age of 48 in 1995 from cancer.
Gregg Haskell enters the night with a huge 111-point lead over fellow Chatham driver Brad Authier atop the points standings.

Authier has a division-leading five feature wins but fell behind in the points standings because of a black flag in an early May feature race and missed a second night with a suspension in June.

Chatham’s Jim Jones moved up to third, 144 points behind the leader.

It’s all-Jones at the top of the Tirecraft Comp 4s standings between Blenheim brothers Shawn and Trevor (no relation to Jim Jones).

The two-time defending series champion Shawn Jones, 20, has a 37-point lead over his 14-year-old brother.

Trevor Jones moved into second place with his incredible feature win in last Saturday’s Cory Schives memorial race in just his 11th week of his rookie season.

Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano, who led the points race for eight weeks, has dropped to third, one point behind the younger Jones. DeSerrano did not start last Saturday’s feature and finished ninth in the previous two to see a 44-point lead turn into a 38-point deficit.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr., on the strength of his seventh feature win of the season last Saturday, has opened a 65-point lead over Leamington’s Joel Dick in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds standings.

Dale Jr. is looking for his eighth career points championship, which would tie him with fellow Modified driver Brad McLeod of Merlin for the most in track history.

Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere padded his lead atop the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks with his sixth feature win last Saturday.

Vanderiviere, the defending series points champion, has a 104-point lead over teammate Jason Fox of Chatham.

Next weekend will be busy at South Buxton Raceway with its fourth annual Southwestern Ontario Tractor Pull on Friday, Aug. 3, and Autograph Night on Saturday, Aug. 4 when the stock cars return to the track.

The grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. and action begins at 7 p.m. for all three events.