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.
