Wilson Classic on Labour Day at Brighton Speedway!
For Immediate Release
by Mark Rinaldi
September 5, 2011
Despite Mother Nature’s grim forecast the crowds of fans and racers flocked to Brighton Speedway as Lucas Oil, Hutchinson Fuels, Rock 107, Mystical Distributing and Custom Carts presented the 8th annual Labour Day Classic Weekend. Campers started rolling into town on Wednesday as build up for the Southern Ontario Sprint Championship weekend. This year offered a new twist with Sunday titled “Topless Night at the Oval”. Both the late models and sprints raced without roofs or wings for a night of “topless” racing.
Saturday night the stands were packed and the pits were full for an action packed night of racing that featured Quinte Towing Stingers, Bill’s Johns Comp 4, The Gord’s Water Vantastics, Brighton Automotive Pro Stocks, Bainer’s Radiator Canadian Modifieds plus the Southern Ontario Sprints. There were also a number of Vanderlaan Building Supplies Late Models on hand testing their topless cars and at the end of the night Dibbits Excavating put on a ten lap Dash for those cars on hand.
The man on a mission this weekend was Rick “the Joyceville Jet” Wilson with two wins already in hand this season during SOS events at the Brighton Speedway. #98 Paul Pekkonen lead the field to green with #25 Warren Mahoney but it was Pekkonen that would take off to an early lead. Wilson who started 4th had a close call with the turn four wall on lap one and would drop back to 6th place. It would not take him long to get back into the top five where there was a heated battle for positions two through five between Mahoney, #5 Keith Dempster, current points leader #51 Lee Ladouceur and Wilson. Pekkonen who seemed to dominate most of the first half of the race had his heart broken when a $10 hiem joint broke on the rear end of the car ending his night! With Pekkonen out of the picture this would put Ladouceur on the point but he was still to be contested closely by Wilson, Dempster and Mahoney. Wilson would work around the top side and get past Ladouceur and then move back to the bottom to take away Ladouceurs line. Well it wasn’t long after Wilson moved to the bottom that Dempster now moved by Ladouceur on the top side and start to show Wilson his nose! Wilson caught on quickly and moved right back to the top while Dempster now tried the bottom on a number of attempts but could not make it stick. Wilson would go on to take the popular victory followed by Dempster, Ladouceur and Mahoney. The third place finish allowed Ladouceur to keep his slim points lead over two time champion Warren Mahoney going into Sunday’s final point’s event.
Other winners on Saturday night included #42 Andy Fletcher in Stingers, #17 Jeff Humphries in Comp 4, #19 Del MacGregor beat a field of 23 Mini Vans in the Vantastic’s feature, #01 Brandon Gregory was tops in the Pro Stock feature and #11 Dan Ferguson in the Canadian Modifieds while Adam Naylor won the Dibbits Excavating Dash for Cash in his Late Model.
Sunday’s forecast didn’t sound promising with environment Canada calling for 100% chance of rain but Speedway officials and staff went on with an attitude of “the show must go on”! The day started out with a drivers meet and greet in the court yard with the fans. There was also a pig roast all afternoon on Sunday with all proceeds going towards the Brighton Speedway Drivers point’s fund which turned out to be a big success.
Hot lap sessions were about to start when a light shower came through at 5pm but with the help of the Pro Stock drivers we were able to get the track back in shape in no time at all. At 6pm the first green flag fell on the night and the action was non-stop from then on in with the Bill’s Johns Comp 4, Brighton Automotive Pro Stocks, Humber Nurseries presented the Vanderlaan’s Building Supplies topless show, the Southern Ontario Sprint Cars Championship and Cooney Excavating presented a special appearance of the Legend Cars.
The Southern Ontario Sprint Car Feature would see the green fall on the number 11 of Chris Jones from Picton. Jones who took home the only Labour Day checkered from 2010 was dominant the first half of the race while the #5 of Keith Dempster , #0 of Dave Dykstra and the Joyceville Jet tried to chase him down. By lap 9 Dempster had made his way around Jones while Wilson had made his way around Dykstra.
Dempster began to check out on the field while Wilson worked on Jones. Wilson and Dystra were able to clear Jones and would start to chase down Dempster. Just as fast as Dempster had got his lead he had now run up onto lapped traffic allowing Wilson and Dykstra to close the gap. The three would now be in real tight quarters as they tried to work their way through the slower traffic. Dempster would move low to try and get under the #66 of Frank Baranowski just as Baranowski moved low himself opening the door for Wilson to shoot around the outside with just two laps left! Wilson would not look back and would go on to take his forth all time Labour Day Classic win placing him in front of Glen Styres who has 3 Labour Day Classic wins. Dempster would come home second with Dykstra a very close third. Lee Ladouceur would get a top ten finish which was enough to secure him his first ever Southern Ontario Sprint Car Championship.
Other winners on the night were #14 Jim Whaley in the Comp 4 Division, #72 Doug Anderson in the Pro Stock invitational. Greg Belyea won the Humber Nursery Late Model Topless invitational, Tim Fernandez won the Cooney Excavating Legends race and Warren Mahoney won the rain shortened topless Sprint Car Dash sponsored by Riverside Bar and Grill , RBM Transport and Blacks Transport.
Labour Day was great but it only just starts off the super hot month of racing at Brighton Speedway as this up coming weekend, September 10th School Busses return to the track for what is sure to be a jammed night of excitement. Also as a last minute addition the “Prelude to Applefest Dash” has been added to the card for Saturday where some of the best 358 Small Block DIRT modified drivers will bring their 600 HP cars to Brighton Speedway to get some track prep time before the main event happens on Applefest! Vanderlaan’s Building Supplies Pro Late Models, Bainers Radiator Canadian Modifieds, Bill’s Johns Comp 4, Quinte towing Stingers and the Larry’s Towing Spectator 1 on 1 races will all hit the track this Saturday! Gates open at 5:30 and racing starts at 7 pm sharp. For complete details on this event or others please visit www.brightonspeedway.com or email info@brightonspeedway.com
RESULTS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2011
Bainer’s Radiator Canadian Modified
Feature: 1. Dan Ferguson (#11), 2. Mat Vanderlinden (#9), 3. Zeke Mckeown (#19), 4. Walley Alderdice, 5. Henry Schneider
Brighton Automotive Pro Stocks
Feature: 1. Brandon Gregory (#01), 2. Jay O’hara (#83), 3. Lyn Miller (#71), 4. Dale Lock (#13), 5. Leslie Mowat.
Bill’s John’s Comp 4
Feature: 1. Jeff Humphry (#17), 2. Chris Gregory (#1),3. Warren Mowat (#46), 4. Derrick Greig (#84), 5. Jim Whaley
Southern Ontario Sprints
Feature: 1. 42w Rick Wilson, 2. 5 Keith Dempster, 3. 51 Lee Ladouceur, 4. 25 Warren Mahoney, 5. 71 Travis Cunningham
RESULTS FOR SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2011
Bill’s Johns Comp 4
Feature:1. Jim Whaley (Trenton, ON), 2. Derrick Greig (Carrying Place, ON), 3. Justin Ramsay (Trenton, ON), 4. Bob Akey (sub Steve Baldwin) (Trenton, ON), 5. Dwight Feltham (kingston, ON),
Brighton Automotive Pro Stock
Feature:1. Doug Anderson (Trenton, ON), 2. Jay O'Hara (Brighton, ON), 3. Gary Vandertoorn (Brighton, ON), 4. Mike Schonauer (Brighton, ON), 5. Brandon Gregory (Trenton, ON),
Vanderlaan Building Supplies Pro Late Models
Feature:1. Greg Belyea (Frankford, ON), 2. Andrew Hennessy (Picton, ON), 3. Adam Nayler (Quinte West, ON), 4. Caley Weese (Carrying Place, ON), 5. Beau Brown (Brighton, ON),
Southern Ontario Sprints
Feature:1. 42w Rick Wilson, 2. 5 Keith Dempster, 3. 0d Dave Dykstra, 4. 11 Chris Jones, 5. 71 Travis Cunningham
Southern Ontario Sprints Wingless presented by Riverside Bar & Grill, Blacks Transports & RBM Trucking
Wingless Dash: 1. 25 Warren Mahoney, 2. 5 Keith Dempster, 3. 42w Rick Wilson, 4. 98 Paul Pekkonen. 5. 15aw April Wilson
Photo Tags Labour Day Classic Weekend
Photo #1: Lee Ladocoudeur #51 battles with #0 Dave Dykstra and #42 Rick Wilson all weekend long on route to his first Southern Ontario Championship.
Photo #2: #25 Greg Belyea and #75 Beau Brown race side bi side through turns 1 and 2 in Late Model topless action.
