Very interesting night at the track tonight.. First off great crowd on hand which was really nice to see, probably the 2nd largest crowd to date this season behind the June flea market weekend..Amazing what good weather can do for once!!LOL
I'll start off with the LLM division, and what a couple dandy features we had.. Lots of passing and late inning drama for sure.. First off the heat races were won by Shepherd & #2 Mike Brown, meaning they would make up the front row for the 25 lapper to follow.
The race started off with Shepherd moving out front from pole, while Baker was able to pass Brown a couple laps in, coming out of corner 4. A few laps later, both the 69 of Inglis and 19 of McLeod would also find a way past Brown. Shepherd was running laps in the 14.5 sec. range at the front, and would open up about a 5-6 car length advantage over Baker, with about the same distance back to 3rd place Inglis..Great battle going on for 6th at this point with 28 Jongen and 8 Lewis battling tooth and nail for several laps, with neither gaining a clear cut advantage..At this point the 88 of Steven Mathews would look to the low side of Lewis out of 2 and got him loose with perhaps a slight bump(cant say for sure there or not.) This would allow Jongen to move past Lewis and into 6th , with Mathews passing Lewis a few laps later.. The race for the top 5 would really get strung out at this point, and they would come to the line with Shepherd winning his 5th 25 lapper of 2009. Baker finished a solid 2nd, with Inglis, McLeod, and Brown the fast five. Caution free in this one to boot
As mentioned the 5th feature win for Gordie (all of the 25 lap variety) and I just checked the notes and for at least 3 of those he's had a front row starting spot..Gordie has also had some very favorable heat draws, so if I were ever to play the 6/49... the #10 will pick my #'s in the future!!LOL
The 35 lap feature was eerily reminiscent of the 50 lap Mid Season championship, and featured a great late race duel with the 9 of Brandon Watson and the 69 of Inglis once again.. Watson would take the lead from the outside groove on a late restart and really pulled away from the 69 over the closing stages. This was Brandon's 2nd ever BSW feature in a Late Model..Inglis finished 2nd, in a reverse 1-2 finish of the way it was for the Mid Season 50 lapper. #6 Keith Maiato came home 3rd, after having a really solid run on the high side for much of the race. Shepherd and Baker finished out the top 5. Interesting turn of events occured on the last lap of this one, as Lewis while running in 3rd spun in 2, and McLeod stopped to avoid (or coulda been involved I didnt see it).. But there was talk after that McLeod might of stopped to avoid, so they were contemplating going back to the last completed lap before the incident (lap 34)for the final finish..McLeod was in 6th at this point I think, but I'm not sure where the 19 was scored in the end..
Pure Stocks was a pretty entertaining and clean race, with #4 Mike Meyer leading much of this one, after making a brilliant inside move in 1 to pass then 2nd place man #61 Larry Gauci.. Meyer, would then storm past early leader #46 Ian Burney on the next lap and led right until 2 to go when the #2 of current point leader Ben Melenhorst passed him on the high side out of corner 2. Great clean battle these two front runners put on in the late going, and both should be commended for racing each other squeaky clean!! Melenhorst would increase his point lead with his 4th feature win of the season, as Meyer, #16 Bryan Penny, #37 Robbie Sikes, and #88 John Mitchell rounded out the top 5. Again really impressed with Mitchell, he's the most improved driver in any class this season BAR NONE.. Heats went to Melenhorst, Meyer, Penny, and Sikes..
Now the UGLY!!!LOL Namely the first TQ Midget 25 lapper that must of had 10-12 stoppages between cautions and red flags.. This one took 50 plus minutes to complete a 25 lap race!! NUFF SAID!!! #82 James Gray would come home victorious, with #3 Todd Cresswell, and #74 Rob Neely also making the podium. 23 cars started and only 14 finished, again NUFF SAID
The 2nd TQ 25 was a much better race throughout the entire field and saw only one early stoppage. Gray would relieve #4 JR Fitzpatrick of the lead around mid race, and closed it out in fine style with another dominating win.. Gray was running times in the 13.1 sec. range the entire night (well under the official track record) It was the 6th consecutive feature win for the 82 in this series, and that covers 3 different race tracks.. IMPRESSIVE to say the least. Fitzpatrick finished 2nd, with #5 Jody Bound (who also impressed me a great deal) coming in 3rd..
In closing I'm a huge fan of the TQ's (since 73) but this was the worst show I can ever remember seeing them put on at a short track..Maybe its their year end points battles taking over their enthusiasm, or maybe just an off night, but there were lots of hard senseless wrecks in the 1st feature caused by simple impatience..... There you have it.... FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
First time this year at BSW and the Late models was a great race to watch last nite. Now that was good racing. The TQ's well it started off good, just unfortunetly all the stops and cautions made it way too long and boring. Every 3rd lap it seems there was something on the track going wrong. It was good to see some racing friends and chat with drivers.
King of the hill was great. Just awasome that the 500.00 bucks put up by Davenport Subaru going to such a great cause. " Gilda's Place."
::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) Wow ''''Number 9 Brandon Watson That Guy LOL He has Talent!!!,,I would Call him a Boy But He is now Taller than me''LOL This Gifted Driver I remember first Meeting Him when He was 5 Ft. nothing''in the 4 Cyl and Met his Dad Tim' I would not be Surprised Hendriks or Hass_ Stewart or Gibbs Picks this driver up!!,, I hope one of them do!!!,,, this 16 for 17 I forget but its close'''LOL"""He is not only a Polite and Clean driver he is very nice to Chat with!!,, This is one driver thats going places!!Good job Brandon''', The Midgets how ever Now Dave I know you like The Midgets But Come on'''Every 3rd Lap a Caution',,Enough Said''But Jr' Fritzpatrick'He is also One hell of a Driver'I even ask Him Last night How he likse The Nationwide and The Trucks NASCAR' series'He is having the time of his Life,,He deserves it ''!!!,,Im Glad we Still have The Championship on King of the Hill!! Davenport Subaru With the Driver ''Joe' who Won'and Gave the money back to Gilda's Club''WELL His heart is as big as Mikes Himself!!!, What a Bunch of great folks at Davenport Subaru''!!,,''I Need to Win That 2010 Outback''LOL I going to get ticket Its for a Good Cause,My wife being a Survior of it!!,,,It was Nice to see Some Freinds that we have at BSW'' All In All not a bad Night The Food'''Weelll' No Comment....JMO
It was an awesome night at BSW last night, yeah, Mike has a huge heart and does lots for motorsports. Kicking off that Gilda's club fund raising shows how big a heart that guy has. It was a pleasure giving back the bucks to a great cause, and it'a always a pleasure helping out Mike Davenport, and the rest of the gang at Davenport Subaru. Barrie Speedway is a first class venue and it's a blast running in Barrie, the stands were full full full!!
With regards to the King of the Hill, it would be more fun if more locals showed up. Competition is why we go out to play, and it's more fun when there's more competition. What can be done to get more people out to the King of the Hill?
See y'all next time.
Great gesture you made there JOE T by donating the 500 bones back to Gilda's Club!!! Sure was a fast paced exciting night in the LLM division.. How bout that drive by #9 Brandon Watson in the 35 lap feature?? The kid starts 16th in a field of 17 and wins the race and didnt have a scratch on the car afterwards.. That alone is not easy to do at the tight Barrie track..