By Elaine Burke

Another Photo Finish in the Late Models with Potts Victorious!

Saturday night we honoured the brave men and women of the Canadian Forces on
whom we depend to defend our freedom and assist those in crisis with the
Free Flow Petroleum Salute to our Canadian Forces night at the Speedway.

On a hot sticky night in front of a large crowd the action was non-stop and
kept fans on the edge of their seat with exciting races in all 5 divisions
that were on hand!

Heat races flew by and after a little track maintenance and a short
intermission the Features were underway beginning with the Bills John's Comp
4 Division. On the first lap of the race, pole sitter Mark Packer (#66) and
rookie David Fargey (#88) suffered mechanical difficulties and were forced
into the pits.  On the restart, Warren Mowat (#46) and Bob Akey (#00) would
lead the pack; Mowat would take over the lead on the third lap.  The rest of
the race proceeded like the week before without any further cautions and
Warren Mowat who has dominated this class in 2011 took his 6th feature race
of the season. His wife Leslie Mowat (#2) who made a rare appearance in the
Comp 4 Division joined Warren on the front stretch in her car to
congratulate him.

Vanderlaan's Building Supplies Pro Late Models raced hard from the beginning
with Kyle Sopaz (#12) and Beau Brown (#75) starting on the pole.  Caley
Weese (#77) and Brown made contact coming out of corner four on lap 2
resulting in Brown spinning to the infield and Weese hitting hard into the
retaining wall.  Both were done for the night and Weese is expected to be
side lined for a couple of weeks with a broken thumb.  On the restart Phil
Potts (#29) and Sopaz would battle for the lead with Potts taking over and
pulling away from the pack.  All the while the action at the front was
heating up, Charlie Sandercock (#57) was powering his way around the track
from 10th place with Greg Belyea (#25) as the two battled hard for second
and third.  Sandercock was able to edge by Belyea and sets his sights on
Potts who now had a ¼ of a lap lead.  On lap 16, Terry Hunt (#20) took out
some aggression on Mark Rayner (#55) and Adam Nayler (#42) got tangled up in
the melee, Hunt received a black flag for his actions and sent to the pits.
The real looser on the caution was Potts as his large lead would now be
erased and he and Sandercock would restart side by side.  On this restart,
Rayner and Nayler spun around in corner 1 in a lovely duet bringing out
another caution.  Potts and Sandercock would duel again this time with
Sandercock rocketing around the outside to take over the lead and being
chased closely by Potts and Belyea.  With 2 laps to go, Potts and Belyea
trade places, back and forth and a caution comes out on lap 24 for Mike
McCrory (#1) spinning in turn two.  This would give Potts one last shot at
Sandercock on the restart as the two battle side by side for the final lap,
Sandercock up high, Potts down low in a classic battle with Potts edging
Sandercock and winning by a nose in a photo finish.  "We work on this car
night and day - I think we're more married to this than our wives.  The
track was great tonight, the guys did a great job as there was lots of bite
everywhere out here tonight!" said Phil as he thanks his crew and his
family.  For Sandercock although he has two wins this season Saturday marked
the fourth time this season he has lost by less than half a car length at
the start finish line!

The Gord's Water Vantastics made their return Saturday night as 12 Vans
signed in for another wacky night of minivan racing!  As always there was a
surprise on tap for the mini vans and this week it was the "pit stop race"
feature - their challenge was to complete 10 laps however some where
throughout those ten laps they needed to pull into the infield 3 times for
pit stops to pick up their token from Promoter Mark Rinaldi.  The first
Driver to complete ten laps and have three tokens at the end of the race was
the winner.  To make it a little more interesting, the flagman was throwing
water balloons at the vans as they were crossing the flag stand.
Experienced Vantastics racer Kyle Sopaz and his Passenger John Perry (#12)
would take the win in a very close race with Jan Steenstra and Richie
Saunders (#29).  An impressive run was put on by Man Cave Racing Team John
Bodwditch and Phil Leadbeater (#68) who actually had to pit four times and
still came a close third place after a botched pit spot when Adam Flieler
(#3) turned them sideways as they were about to pit and they could not
collect their token on their first stop.

The Bainer's Radiator Canadian Modifieds would take the green on the final
feature of the night with Terry Loxley (#8) taking the early lead. After a
caution on lap 6, Dan Ferguson (#11) would restart on the outside of Loxley
and the two battled side by side for a number of laps until Ferguson finally
cleared Loxley on the outside.  Zeke McKeown (#19) would follow Ferguson
around the high side and stayed hot on his heels for second place.  McKeown
was set to make a real run on a lap 18 restart until his right front tire
went down coming to the green which allowed Mat Vanderlinden (#9) to move
into second and Terry Loxley in third.  In spite of an excellent effort by
Vanderlinden, Ferguson won his second feature win of the season to retain
the points lead.  "It sure is nice to get back to victory lane, we are
trying to remain consistent in chase of the championship but wins are always
great!"

This Tuesday night Brighton Speedway will be hosting a special test and tune
session between 6 pm and 8pm, for details please contact the speedway.

Be sure to join us next week as Hotch's Auto Parts presents the Ontario Dirt
Late Model Series.  These 700 Horse Power Super Late Models will invade
Brighton Speedway and try to take on some of our locals as they battle on
the 1/3rd mile clay oval.  They will be joined by the Bainer's Radiator
Canadian Modifieds, Brighton Automotive Pro Stocks, and Bills Johns Comp 4.
Also Saturday night marks the return of Brighton Automotive Fan Appreciation
where the families can get out on the track, up close and personal to all
the cars for autographs, hero cards and more!  Gates open at 5:30 and racing
starts at 7:00 pm sharp.  For complete details visit
www.brightonspeedway.com

Saturday July 16th Results:

Bainers Rad Can. Modified Feature: 1. #11 Dan Ferguson (Bloomfield, ON), 2.
# 9 Mat Vanderlinden (Trenton, ON), 3. #8 Terry Loxley (Trenton, ON), 4.  #7
Henry Schneider (Picton, ON), 5. #84 Wally Alderdice (Wooler, ON),

Bill Johns Comp 4 Feature: 1. #46 Warren Mowat (Trenton, ON), 2. #8 Zac
McBride (Baltimore, ON), 3. #00 Bob Akey (Trenton, ON), 4. #2 Leslie Mowat
(Trenton, ON), 5. #14 Jim Whaley (Trenton, ON),

Quinte Towing Stingers Feature: 1. #40 Mike Lammle (Trenton, ON), 2. #42
Andy Fletcher (Carrying Place, ON), 3. #17 Jeff Inia (Colborne, ON), 4. #7
Todd MacDonald (Shannonville, ON), 5. #90 Jorden Pickell (Trenton, ON),

Vanderlaans Pro Late Models Feature: 1. #29 Phil Potts (Frankford, On), 2.
#57 Charlie Sandercock (Belleville, ON), 3. #25 Greg Belyea (Frankford, ON),
4. #12 Kyle Sopaz (Carrying Place, ON), 5. #87 Andrew Hennessy (Picton, ON),

Gord's Water Vantastics Featuer: 1. #12 Kyle Sopaz and John Perry,  2. #29
Jan Steenstra and Richie Saunders , 2. #68 John Bodwditch and Phil
Leadbeater

Photo Tags

Photo 1: #29 Phil Potts beats #57 Charlie Sandercock to the line by a nose
in a photo finish after a last lap shootout where the two battled it out
side by side in the Vanderlaan Building Products DIRTcar Pro Late Models!

Photo 2: Three wide racing in the Gord's Water Vantastics as #15 Gary
Vandertoorn, #68 John Bowditch and #3 Adam Flieler race up the back shoot!