Well good afternoon people.. Sorry for a slight delay in this weeks report, but was a busy busy weekend for me personally.. Great night of racing at BSW this past Sat, with another pretty decent crowd on hand, as extremely hot temperatures made for a pretty slick track throughout the heat races..
Once again the story of the night was formed in the LLM division, as #54 Randy Bull would capture the 30 lap finale to the evening, marking the Haliburton driver's first win of any kind at the high line.. Great to see for the 54 team, who is very dedicated and put alot of time into the racecar. This one was only a matter of time for the ever improving Bull. The 2010 Peterborough champion has had a recent string of top finishes over the last month, and has also become a perennial front runner, eclipsing some of the quickest lap times in the division during that time period..
Bull, was the benefactor of some fortunate circumstances however, as the front running cars of #8 Dave Lewis and #11 John Gaunt got together in turns 1&2 just past the midway point, with Gaunt going for a spin and Lewis summoned arrears for his part in the melee.. It was tough racing for that duo who started on the front row.. Gaunt got the lead from pole early, but Lewis looked a bit faster once he found the inner line.. On lap 16, Lewis would give Gaunt a slight tap out of 4 in attempt to get him loose and free up the preferred bottom of the track.. Gaunt moved up the track half a lane, and as the duo hit turn 1, Lewis dove hard to the inside causing the afore mentioned Gaunt spin, after the 11 chopped the 8 off a bit as well.. This was the only caution in the last four 30 lap feature races so kudo's to ALL drivers for keeping the action fast paced and exciting!!!
This is when the oppertunist Bull took control at the front, after outduelling #10 Gord Shepherd on the restart.. Pretty ironic those two found the front row after the Gaunt/Lewis tangle up, as the 10 currently has a borrowed motor from the 54 team, after blowing their own power plant in warm up last weekend.. From there Bull would open up a 2-3 car length advantage over Shepherd, who came under heavy fire from the 57 of point leader Ron Quesnelle. Quesnelle, would eventually wrestle the runner up spot away from Shepherd on lap 23, setting his sights on the stout Bull Camaro SS the front of the field.. Over the closing 5 laps, Quesnelle really cut into the Bull lead, getting to within a half car length as the drivers exited turn 4 on the final lap.. Bull, who admitted to being a little nervous as the laps wound down, was able to keep enough composure to maintain the lead, relegating the hard charging Quesnelle to 2nd at the checkered.. Shepherd, would keep within striking distance of point leader Quesnelle with a 3rd place showing, as Gaunt and Lewis both battled back to complete the fast five..
The first 30 was a caution free affair, that saw the Quesnelle brothers making up the front row.. #57 Ron Quesnelle would get the jump on brother Steve from the initial start, clearing him by lap 2, and opening up a marginal lead on the rest of the pack. Early on the best battle was taking place for 3rd, as Gaunt and #69 Al "Red Rocket" Inglis waged war for that position, with Inglis eventually coming out on top.. From there Inglis schrewedly began to track #55 Steve Quesnelle for 2nd place, with Inglis making a clean pass in 1&2 just shy of the 10 lap mark.. By this point in the race, leader Ron Quesnelle was out front by a half straightaway, with Inglis beginning to narrow that gap with each passing lap.. Inglis, would get right to Quesnelle's bumper by lap 21, as he began to look to both the high and low side for any sort of opening.. In what has become somewhat of a familiar sight this season, the Quesnelle and Inglis duo began to stretch out a bigger lead on the 3rd place battle involving the trio of #2 "Hometown" Mike Brown, Shepherd, and Bull.. Over the closing stages, Inglis stayed pinned to Quesnelle's bumper but was unable to negoiate his way around, as the #57 Sunrise Toyota Camry would capture his division leading 11th feature win of the season.. Inglis would get the night started on solid footing with a 2nd place result, as Brown, Shepherd, and Bull comprised the remainder of the top 5.
In the OLG Slots at Georgian Downs 30 lap Thunder Car main, the fans were treated to a whale of a show as #10 Rick Walt would notch his 3rd feature win of the season.. Walt, would move out front just beyond the midway mark, after getting to the inside of #77 Brian Murray while racing out of turn 4, and completing the pass entering turn 1. Also fast on the move was defending track champ #12 Jim "Polish Prince" Belesky, as the division veteran would charge past both #14 "Hurricane" Thayne Hallyburton and #55 Shawn Goggins to assume control of third in the running order.. Speaking of Goggins and Hallyburton, they were having a impressive side by side battle of their own for 4th, in what was a great display of tough and clean short track racing. Hallyburton, would eventually win the duel with Goggins, as Belesky had now caught the 2nd place car of Murray just ahead.. Belesky, would pull his #12 Malibu to the top side of Murray and would scrape the wall on the exit of 2, thus slowing his progression to the front and allowing Murray to maintain 2nd in the running order.
The man with the biggest smile on his face as the door to door battles formed behind him was the 10 of Walt, who was steadily pacing the field with laps in the 15.8 sec. range, his lead now half straightaway over the smooth and steady Murray. The race's only caution would fly on lap 27, as #92 Teri Lynne Dixon went up in a cloud of smoke on the backstretch.. This set the stage for a final 3 lap shootout between Walt and Murray from the front row, with the ever ominus #12 Malibu lurking in the pocket in behind, all be it in what looked to be a somewhat ailing ride.. Walt, would display a acute sence of timing on the restart, easily powering out front once again, as Murray was able to file to the inside of Belesky for 2nd, with Goggins taking advantage of an opening to the inside, releiving Hallyburton of 4th on lap 28. Once out front it was clear nobody had anything for Walt on this evening, as the Shellswell Racing/Shepherd Trucking Ford Fusion would take the win by 2 car lengths over Murray at the checkered. Belesky, would ride it out for a respectable 3rd, maintaining his slender 11 point lead over Walt in the season long standings.. Rookie stalwart Goggins would keep his nose clean, and a solid piece under him all night long in finishing 4th, with CRO's own Hallyburton rounding out the top 5..
Heats went to Belesky x2, Walt, and Murray..
In the St.Onge Recreation Pure Stocks a season low 19 cars showed, but ironically enough it was one of their better features with only a single caution slowing the fast paced and sometimes 3 wide action..The win would go to #31 Jack Horner, his 2nd of the season in the Earl Ireland's Auto Sales Honda Prelude.. #91 Andre Pepin would finish a deserving 2nd, after a wreck last week not of his own valition, as well as having a tremendously fast car all night long.. #13 Dave "Gipper" Glaze would cap off a solid point night coming home 3rd, with the #02 of point leader Shawn Murray, and #39 Travis Hallyburton making up the rest of the top 5.. Looked like the latter 3 Mustangs had a bit of a tougher time finding the front of the field this week, as I imagine the lack of cautions played a part in that as well.. As I mentioned really good race here, lots of 3 wide action and especially out of turn 2. Now that did cause a bit of a pile up for the only caution, but that's short track racing.. Also much more entertaining having just 2 heats for this class and there was no real incidents in heat races either.. 😉
Speaking of heat races, the wins in this class were notched by Horner, Murray, Glaze, and the #400 of rookie Justin Holmes.. Keep in mind alot of this is off memory and might be a little vague as I was announcing too thus not as much time for detailed notes.. there you have it..... FROM THE CHEAP SEATS.
Dont take this in the wrong way but barrie needs to do something about the racing. its boring just watching single fill racing. like no one is allowed to bump or rub if they do there in trouble. And i noticed two weeks ago when stands were pretty full at the begining of the night and by the late models second feature people started to get up and leave. Like thats not right they want to see some action and the drivers arent allowed to do it. I think it should be like nascar drivers have at it. To a point that is. bring back the good old short track racing. Because right now it suxs we pay 25 bucks to get in we want our money worth it.
raceteam22, i know what you are saying, people used to pack the stands at any given race track to see heated rivalries between different drivers and i can tell you that sure as hell brought people into the stands. watching cars go out and race and see sparks flying off the cars and shouting matches was put down by track owners because they wanted to make racing a family venue, but some of those same tracks have beer tents. it is not good for the sport of racing to see drivers lose their temper with each other and get even out on the track,or get into a scrap in the pits afterwards but it seems quite all right to see joe redneck fill himself up with overpriced beer in front of the same crowd of families with kids.
With all due respect RACE 22 I will attempt to rebutt your post from another point of view..I'm guessin by your posting you like to see the odd tangle up on track and some on track/ post race pitside confrontation after said tangle up occurs?? I'm ok with that too BUT if a track adopted the "Boys have at er" style as your suggesting, that to me would be walking too fine a line in just what "is acceptable" and what isnt.. Too hard to remain consistant from an officiating standpoint as every on track incident is unique to its own.. At the beginning of the year we did sort of have a policy similiar to what your talking about as on track calls were left in the hands of the race director, and at his discresion cars could be sent arrears if deemed involved while another car might get his spot back if it ruled another car intentionally spun him or such.. All that did was bring about complaints and accusations of favortism yada yada.. To me all involved cars to the back is the way to go..
Technically a Barrie LLM knowing its now all involved cars to the back, might be slightly reluctant to push too hard for the sake of gaining one spot, knowing if it goes badly he'll only end up losing positions in the end.. That could be part of the reason for more "single file" racing as you put it, and the lack of an outer groove on select nights doesnt help matters much either.. I've really noticed in the last 6 weeks when most Sat nights have been scorchers the "high line" isnt really there, yet throughout the cooler months of May and early June the top side was noticeably more racy.. Outside of making the track bigger (which I dont think is a priority) I'm not really sure how to have a viable racing high line every evening??? I would also concede the actual configuration is average at best compared to others when it comes to producing exciting, intense race action. That said, Barrie also produces its share of tight finishes as well..Evidence of that would be the 15/1000ths of a second Kennington beat Thompson Jr. by in the NCATS race last year..It all depends on circumstance there I think..
I'd rather see the type of races we've been treated to the last couple weeks.. Caution free features with tons of flow and fast paced action.. Now with only 10 cars most nights sure it will tend to get a little more strung out going caution free, but the passes you do see are quality ones.. And to suggest there's no side by side racing in this class, on that I'd beg to differ there as well.. To watch guys like Quesnelle, Inglis, and Shepherd carve their way to the front, and the side by side battles once they get there, has produced some great on track action from what I've witnessed.. Some great balance in this division as well with 7 of the 10 regulars having won features.. Just look at the points race from third through to sixth currently.. Eight points separating 4 different drivers at the 3/4 point in the season.. This suggests to me in the coming 6 weeks or so, your bound to see some of that door to door, bump, smash, and grind racing that you apparently adore so much.. 😉
Just another perspective:: I had a friend come down from Penetang this weekend ( 1st time at track this season) he also brought along his wife and family and he said to me at the end of this night this past Sat " Gee that was some great clean racing tonight.. Not like another local area track.." Not mentioning any names!!! 😉 My point being is everyone is different, some like the banging, crashing have at er style while others perfer cleaner, fast paced action with more racing flow..
And Don I get what your saying to an extent with the cleaning up the show seemingly being proirity, yet they seemingly allow "rednecks" to mingle amongst the family atmosphere others desire at a racetrack.. I do feel I should mention to you that Barrie no longer has the "stadium liquor licence" in which drinkers can just roam and sit anywhere they like.. Its back to how it was in the ol days (Moran era).. The beer gardens is in turn 3, and I believe alcohol is also permitted in seating area from turn 3 right up to the gate midway down the backstretch ( I could be wrong on that but I think thats correct).. So if you are seated in said seating area with family and kids your there by choice and should know what to expect. The liqour and smoking laws and allowances, as it relates to said areas are also heavily announced prior to and during the evenings racing with security also patrolling the beer gardens area to ensure nobody gets carried away.. Just sayin..
to be fair, they gave us TONS of chances and space to have a little bump & rub action.. but people are taking it to far.. rubbings racing but straight up taking someone out is not.. means your a poor loser who cant deal with the fact that someone is faster then you..