By Randy Spencer for OntarioOval.com – A large crowd was on hand for Meet the Drivers night and they were treated to some great racing action while getting up close and personal with the cars and stars of Flamboro Speedway during intermission.
Another fine night of weather as the Ponderosa Nature Resort Mini Stocks got the night’s program underway. James Idsardi and Mark DaSilva were on the point for race number one and they had a great battle with Idsardi turning on the power picking up his first ever heat win. Heat number two was a great battle between a few veterans and an up and coming star from the well known Shaw racing family. Samantha Shaw was on the pole for this race and she had some heavy hitters on her back bumper. Current points leader Billy Schwartzenburg, four time and defending points champion Dave Bailey and the Rabbit Rob Hoskins who has a couple feature wins this year with a total of 18 over the past three and a half seasons. The pressure was on and it appeared that Randy Shaw and the Spira Racing team had worked the gremlins out that they’ve experienced over the past few weeks. Sam drove a great race, held off all that experience and came home with the checkered flag.
Next up, the Ray’s Auto Center & Towing Thunder Cars. Jeff Bean and Dave Silverthorn Jr. led the field to green and Silverthorn quickly shot out to the lead. Last week’s feature winner Rick Burbridge started second from the back but quickly made his way through traffic and made in close but Silverthorn was able to hold him at bay for the win. Heat number two saw the other Burbridge, Mark, start up front along side Gary Slama. Both Burbridge brothers have been on fire this year. Rick has taken three checkered flags this year including two features while Mark has six victories including three features. Mark dominated this race leading all ten laps and picked up another checkered flag.
After a week off the Grisdale Late Models made their return to the “asphalt arena.” Brent Wheller and Matt Balog were on the pole but it didn’t take long for “Hurricane” Paul Howse and his rocket ship to find the front. Rookie Dale Shaw led the first four laps but he couldn’t hold off the veteran Howse and Paul got by on lap five and took the win. Steve Laking started along side the defending Grisdale Points champion Jason Shaw in heat number two. The two battled bumper to bumper for ten laps and Laking was able to keep Shaw on his tail and took heat two. Pure Stocks closed out qualifying with their heat race. Derek Martin made his return after a few weeks off but couldn’t hold off “The Wild Thing” Davey Boughton from taking his fourth straight Pure Stock heat win holding off Tyler Martin in a close race. It was intermission time and the majority of the large crowd made their way to the front stretch where the cars lined up to meet their fans. Lots of smiling faces and excited youngsters made their way around and a great time was had by all for sure!
The Mini Stocks lined up ready to go on the track for their 25 lap feature with James Idsardi and Chad Ditner out front as they led the 23 cars to the green. A couple of early cautions shook up the field and it included two unlikely cars. Dave Bailey and Rob Hoskins both had some issues and found themselves having to work their way through the pack from the back early. Idsardi who has really picked up his game led the first three laps but points leader Billy Schwartzenburg made his way from tenth to first by lap four. Rob Hoskins must have filled his tank with some of those yummy Reese’s Peanut Butter cups he was handing out to the kids at intermission as he recovered from the early spin and was rocketing through traffic. Lapped traffic proved to be a good thing for Schwartzenburg as he built up a half a track lead between himself and McFerran, Van Wyngaarden and Sam Shaw to pick up his third feature win of the season.
As in the heat, Jeff Bean and Dave Silverthorn Jr. were up front for the Thunder Car feature. The hot shoe of Mark Burbridge started sixth in the field but made his way to the front and held off Shawn Chenoweth to pick up the feature win. Nick Troback, Dave Silverthorn Jr. and Brad Collison weren’t far behind in a great race. Davey Boughton held off a hard charging Tyler Martin to take the Pure Stock feature. Dale Shaw and Brad Corcoan led the Late Models to green and Corcoran took off and took the lead early. Paul Howse and Matt Balog had some tire issues and headed for the pits to change them but returned. Jason Shaw was knocking on the back door of Corcoran and got by on lap four and held on for the feature win.
That brought an end to another spectacular night of racing. Next weekend it’s Canada Day Weekend racing with the Late Models, Thunder Cars, Mini Stocks and F4 Modifieds. Pit Gates Open at 4pm, the Grandstand Opens at 5pm, Qualifying starts at 6:30pm with Main Events scheduled for 8:00pm. And in two weeks time plan to attend the second installment of the 10th Anniversary Grisdale Triple Crown Tournament presented by Grisdale Racing Products. 75 lap invitational event for Late Models (rain date next day, afternoon, Sunday July 8th) plus Thunder Cars, Mini Stocks and the Ontario Pro Challenge make a return visit. Pit Gates Open at 3pm, Grandstand Opens at 5pm, Qualifying gets underway at 6pm with Main Events starting at 8:00pm. Don’t forget to plan on joining us this Tuesday and every Tuesday, weather permitting, and sign up for a ride in the Full Throttle Marketing and Promotions two seat Late Model race car during track practice day. It’s an amazing ride, I loved it!! Also every Thursday night, the race car Cruise night from 5-8pm at the RONA store parking lot on Pinebush Road Cambridge location where you can get up close and meet the racers and see the cars and get an autograph and pictures. See you all at the track!!
Notes : T.J. Marshall returned in the #75 Late Model after and 18 month absence. Shane Gowan has been battling some health issues and after having George Wilson and Rob Neely behind the wheel for the past couple of weeks, got back into action. Jeff Stewart’s Late Model got loose coming out of the gate for the feature and after a quick trip to the pits returned but had to retire when smoke was coming from the rear end before the green fell. “The Shadow” Brad Corcoran has his car running consistent and now has the next generation out as son Chad is running a Pure Stock. The car has an identical paint scheme. Chad didn’t look out of place in his first race of the year. After some tough luck in the Grisdale 75 lapper, Jason Shaw returned this week to his “King of Speed” form picking up the feature win.
James Idsardi picked up his first Mini Stock heat win and had the car running really well, watch that car next week. Great job by Mark DaSilva, Kevin Nichol and John “Crash” Myers to get DaSilva’s #01 car repaired after a hard hit in last week’s feature and back out for this week’s show. Matt Dean had a nice looking paint job thanks to mom Linda. Several cars were back after a missing some action recently. Eric Van Wyngaarden, Josh Shantz, Scott Mast and Rick Robinson weer back tonight while Rich Schwartzenburg was out attempting to make his first start of 2012. A new number, 18, and a new style reminiscent of Dan Monaghan’s Laser from the 80′s but Rich experienced some issues during practice and was unable to start the main show. You can bet Ricky will make it out next week with the help off his crew that includes members of the Spira racing family.
Dave Silverthorn Jr. has returned to Flamboro after an absence in the Ray’s Auto Center & Towing Thunder Cars and after three weeks already has a couple of heat wins. In honor of Meet the Drivers night, Brad Collison and sponsor Mike Schmidt of London Recreational, gave away a couple of nice looking door panels off the #13 to two lucky kids through the Kids club draws as the autograph session concluded. Not sure what’s in the water in the Brantford area but the brother tandem of Mark and Rick Burbridge have been on fire. Between the they have five heat and six feature wins thus far in 2012. Watch this week for an exclusive story on the Burbridge racing family history on OntarioOval.com that includes the brothers, their grandfather Jack, dad Dave, Uncles John, Paul and Glen, John’s son John Jr. and even includes Mark’s wife Erinn Bailey and her dad and Uncle who raced as well. Bobby Mercer continues to honor the memory of Charlie Beck with his tribute to Charlie with his replica paint scheme. Watch this week for a story on OntarioOval.com about Bobby and Charlie. The crew of Scott Laporte also put in a lot of long hours this week getting his car looking like new. He’s had some tough luck and gone through a couple of motors so far and had some issues during practice tonight as well. Flamboro is trying to draw larger car counts and working with visiting drivers. Case in point was Shawn Chenoweth making his return tonight. His car is set up to run Sunset Speedway and the “Man in Black” was out with his Camaro and seemed to run right there with the rest of the field.
Seven cars were out in the Pure Stock division tonight. Davey Boughton continued his winning ways. He has won the past four consecutive Pure Stock heats and the past three features. He should consider jumping to the Mini Stocks soon. Tyler Martin gave Boughton all he could handle tonight. Boughton races the car quite successfully at Ohsweken Speedway on Friday nights. Derek Martin of Waterdown was out tonight. He was featured on the Discovery Channel program World’s Toughest Trucker of late. Jenn Kowalski raced her second night in the number 10 car and has been sharing driving duties with Jeremy Hughes who has been tearing up the dirt at Ohsweken Speedway. Ashley Holmes is still looking for her first checkered flag. She’s been very consistent and is in second spot in the points standing. Her dad Mike has been running well in the Mini Stock division so it’s just a matter of time until his winning ways rub off. Kevin Nichol returned tonight in a different car, a true dirt car with the chicken wire and all. Loved it!!
Results (scored finish, not official)
Mini Stock Heat #1: , #77 James Idsardi, #01 Mark DaSilva, #13 Mike Holmes, #61 Chad Ditner, #15 Matt Dean, #22 Wade Watson, #44 Scott Simmons, #9 Brittany Idsardi, #32 Glen Vandergeld, #05 Dave Goodacre, #5 Ken Stenhouse (DNS)
Mini Stock Heat #2: #81 Samantha Shaw, #31 Dave Bailey, #37 Rob Hoskins, #86 Billy Schwartzenburg, #64 Brandon McFerran, #92 Eric Van Wyngaarden, #1 Josh Shantz, #75 Scott Mast, #71 Russ Aicken, #47 Bruce Wheller, #42 Rick Robinson, #10 Courtney Scott, #18 Rich Schwartzenburg (DNS)
Mini Stock Feature: #86 Billy Schwartzenburg, #64 Brandon McFerran,
#92 Eric Van Wyngaarden, #81 Samantha Shaw, #13 Mike Holmes, #1 Josh Shantz, #37 Rob Hoskins, #01 Mark DaSilva, #15 Matt Dean, #31 Dave Bailey, #77 James Idsardi, #22 Wade Watson, #75 Scott Mast, #61 Chad Ditner, #46 Bruce Wheller, #5 Ken Stenhouse, #44 Scott Simmons, #42 Rick Robinson, #32 Glen Vandergeld, #19 Brittany Idsardi, #10 Courtney Scott, #05 Dave Goodacre, #71 Russ Aicken
Thunder Car Heat #1: #9 Dave Silverthorn Jr., #2 Rick Burbridge, #10 Dennis Cybalski, #37 Jeff Bean, #55 Chris Howse, #5 Linda Dean, #7 Bobby Mercer, #89 Bill Watson, #88 Scott Laporte
Thunder Car Heat #2: #02 Mark Burbridge, #13 Brad Collison, #73 Nick Troback, #27 Kevin Albers, #8 Shawn Chenoweth, #4 Gary Slama, #14 Rob Istead, #22 Paul Huskins, #31 Kevin Gallant (DNF)
Thunder Car Feature: #02 Mark Burbridge, #8 Shawn Chenoweth, #73 Nick Troback, #9 Dave Silverthorn Jr., #13 Brad Collison, #2 Rick Burbridge, #31 Kevin
Gallant, #27 Kevin Albers, #37 Jeff Bean, #55 Chris Howse, #7 Bobby Mercer, #5 Linda Dean, #22 Paul Huskins, #88 Scott Laporte, #89 Bill Watson, #10 Dennis Cybalski (DNF), #4 Gary Slama, #14 Rob Istead (DNF)
Late Model Heat #1: #8 Paul Howse, #56 Jeff Stewart, #83 Dale Shaw,
#05 Brad Corcoran, #22 Bill Lassaline, #77 Matt Balog, #61 Brent Wheller (DNF)
Late Model Heat #2: #44 Steve Laking, #82 Jason Shaw, #24 Brennan Didero, #75 T.J. Marshall, #39 Shane Gowan, #88 Scott Gibson, #58 Paul Dudnyk
Late Model Feature : #82 Jason Shaw, #05 Brad Corcoran, #44 Steve Laking, #24 Brennan Didero, #8 Paul Howse, #83 Dale Shaw, #75 T.J. Marshall, #88 Paul Gibson, #61 Brent Wheller, #58 Paul Dudnyk, #39 Shane Gowan (DNF), #77 Matt Balog (DNF), #56 Jeff Stewart (DNS), #22 Bill Lassaline
Pure Stock Heat : #18 Davey Boughton, #1 Tyler Martin, #08 Derek Martin, #10 Jenn Kowalski, #05 Chad Corcoran, #22 Ashley Holmes, #25 Kevin Nichol
Pure Stock Feature: #18 Davey Boughton, #1 Tyler Martin, #22 Ashley Holmes, #10 Jenn Kowalski, #25 Kevin Nichol, #05 Chad Corcoran, #08 Derek Martin (DNF)
Photos by Randy Spencer
