Ok time for the 20 min rundown.. What an eventful night on track with some wild and hair raising action.. The Thunder Car feature was by far the best race of the night but more on that later..
In the Rama Moccasin & Smoke 1st 30 lap feature, it was #69 Al Inglis taking the feature win for the 4th time in 5 feature races. #8 Dave Lewis jumped out to the early lead from pole. After an early caution, it was #5 Steve Quesnelle who found himself to the outside of Lewis and set to challenge for the lead.. The two battled side by side for maybe about 5 laps until the #10 of Gordie Shepherd stuck a nose under Quesnelle and took over 2nd. Shepherd, followed Lewis for approx ten laps pinned to his bumper, trying him to both the high and low side.. Finally on lap 17, Shepherd would grow impatient with Lewis (who appeared to be blocking pretty severely) and dumped him in turn 1, with both summoned to the rear. This turn of events put the 69 of Inglis out front and from there it was "Turn out the lights the party's over" as the 69 would take the checkered. Lewis would battle back valiantly after being sent shotgun to record a 2nd place finish. #57 Ron Quesnelle had a stout run in finishing 3rd, with Shepherd and #5 Steve Quesnelle rounding out the fast five.
In the final 30 lapper, it was defending track champ Shepherd gaining a measure of revenge by notching his first feature win of the season.. #22 Rob Inglis took the early lead, getting the jump on rookie #49 Mike Woodward from the drop of the green. Inglis would open up a marginal lead as the Quesnelle brothers (Steve and Ron) filed into 2nd and 3rd respectively, after disposing of Woodward. This is the point in the race where the spectacular happened, as Al Inglis would run up on Woodward who pushed up the track just a shade while racing down the backstretch. There was contact made the pair, with Inglis launched up on two wheels while also riding the top of the wall.. I'm really suprised the 69 didnt get launched into the fence and crowd it was that spectacular. But Inglis being the true veteran he is was able to turn it back down onto the racetrack and kept the car going.. How he managed this I'll never know but just shows how great a pilot the "Red Rocket" is.. Back to the race where Steve Quesnelle would quickly gain the lead after outduelling Rob Inglis on the restart. Quesnelle would lead for the next 15 laps, until Lewis would execute a inside pass just past the 20 lap mark.. This would lead the way for Shepherd to follow into 2nd, despite a valiant effort from Quesnelle who ran on the high line for what seemed like an eternity.. With 4 laps remaining, Shepherd broke to the inside of Lewis in corner 4 and was finally able to clear him racing down the backstretch one lap later.. At the finish it was Shepherd, Lewis, Steve Quesnelle, Al Inglis, and Rob Inglis the top 5..10 cars in attendance with the return of the 22 of Rob Inglis.. Former Peterborough champ #91 Don Hart would break in the first feature and was unable to take green in the 2nd 30 however.
What a race in the Thunder Car feature on this night, and it was two of CRO's own #12 Jim "The Polish Prince" Belesky and #14 Thayne Hallyburton who made it that way.. The two battled the last half the race side by side litterally an inch apart not laying so much as a paint scrape on one another.. The two were set to fight to the finish when unfortunately they would run up on the lapped #17 of rookie John Mitchell, with Hallyburton having to give a little ground on the outside of the track. This would allow Belesky the advantage he needed to take the win by the narrowest of margins over Hallyburton at the finish. #3 Ken DenHollander would make a brillant late race charge to finish 3rd, after being mired mid pack for the first 20 laps or so.. The battle between DenHollander, #9 Chris Burrage, and #24 Leonard Johnston also produced some remarkable racing as the 9 and 24 finished 4th and 5th respectively.. Good run for our own Khanefreak #38 Steeve Melson who finished in 6th, and gave the afore mentioned trio everything they can handle..Huge props to the #14 of Hallyburton who changed shocks, springs and went to a entirely different set up than he'd been running the initial weeks.. The improvement on Thayne's car was very noticeable, as he and Belesky took turns leading at the stripe virtually every lap in what was one of the best battles I've witnessed at the tight Barrie confines in quite some time.. 3 in a row for the PRINCE.. Can anyone stop this man??LOL
Thayne gave it his best tonight in an attempt to dethrone The Prince and might of gotten it done if not for the lapped traffic working in favor of Belesky. I think the 14 will notch that elusive first feature win in a Thunder sooner rather than later. Kudos to both Jim and Thayne as well as the other drivers that finished top 5.. I cant empathize enough how great of a race this one was..13 cars in attendance.
Heat wins went to Denhollander with a pair, Belesky, and Burrage...Another solid point night for the 3 car as he just missed his hat trick by finishing 3rd in the feature for the 3rd week in sucession..
In Pure Stocks it was #16 Bryan Penny winning for the 2nd week in a row, in the borrowed Mustang campaigned in past years by Nick French. Penny would manuver around the 39 of Travis Hallyburton in the late stages. Hallyburton would suffer some misfortune later, as he cut a tire and spun in 4 with just a couple laps left. Huge props to CRO's own CHARGER #90 Jim MacDonald who kept a clean car under him all night long in finishing 2nd, with #15 Will Davies, #19 Tim Foster, and #115 Kevin Coulson rounding out the top 5. 12 cars in attendance
Heats went to Penny and Hallyburton..
Once again sorry for the cheesy report tonight but I'm pretty pressed for time.. Will add further comment later on.. Once again you know the insignia...... FROM THE CHEAP SEATS.
Great job Dave as usual. It's always nice to spend some time with you and do a little bench racing ;D
Hope the chili was to your satisfaction and you're always welcome to come by whenever I make it. ;D
great report as always. Thanks Davey for taking care of my sponsorship deal with giving out the free pizza. Much appreciated. Hopefully somebody will enjoy eating it.
A little disgruntled on some of the shananigans in the feature. Got a good starting spot and ended up getting freight trained to 12th, but drove it back to 6th, at one point with 2 laps to go I was 4th, but got slowed by lapped traffic. Almost got taken out twice in one lap by the same car. So I guess it wasn't too bad....Accidentally bumped Desi coming off as I wasn't paying full attention cause i was unbuckling, I'm a dumbass, but running on empty at that point as we were burning the 3am candle fixing the car.
Had fun with the autograph session. My pictures went in a hurry. Had some chats with some nice people and saw a few people I knew from high school.
Congrats to Inglis, Sheppard, Belesky and Penny on their wins. Next week we'll have the 2101 intake so we'll see some more ponies for sure.
Chili was AWESOME thank you very kindly TEX.. And I know I said I wasnt gonna do this report tonight.. Then I thought of my loyal readers...LOL
Would also like to thank the Hallyburton race team for the awesome pork on a bun..That's right ol BLACKFLAGAGAIN made a pig of himself and didnt have to settle for track food tonight.. So thanks very much guys!! 😉
A+ report as always dave.
