Yes folks the Richmond camp had lots to grin about tonight with a Mod heat win and two feature top 5's. Congrats to them! ;D
Great nights racing, started out with a hot rod cruise and lotsa Beach Boys and Chuck Berry music, as well as a couple exhibition laps by AL Patrick's restored 02-B Ford coupes.
Vintage Modifieds rocked and rolled with 16 cars making the trip. Gotta love the sight, and especially the sound of these old coupes. I just absolutely love watching these guys race, and in fact, they put on a whale of a race. (Someone forgot to tell them that 3 wide racing isn't normal, as they seemed to take every opportunity to do it, and caution free to boot.) Congrats to the Canadian Vintage Modifieds on a great show. (And say hi to Ray Hughes...I always root for him but he was absent this time around. Didn't look the same without that black and yellow 24 car.)
Powerade Modifieds
Heat 1
Features some great side by side racing between Hendricks and Richmond for the lead. Richmond takes it on the outside and Hendricks bobbles enough for McCullough to get past.
1st 24-Richmond, 2nd 39-McCullough, 3rd 38-Hendricks
Heat 2
New guy, Adam Addams is in this one, but pretty much stays at the back. This race is primarily a 2 car race between Shipway and Cox.
1st 3-Cox, 2nd 88-Shipway, 3rd-1-Newman
Feature
This feature starts with a flashback to the heat race where once again, Richmond and Hendricks battle side by side for the lead. This time its Richmond who falls off slightly to let 39-McCullough through. Wouldn't you know it, but a couple laps later, Richmond and Hendricks are side by side again, this time for 2nd.
While this battle is going on, there's another race shaping up for 3rd between Limon, Newman and Shipway. Newman wins this tilt, and before long, he's up past Richmond for 2nd. At the 16th lap, the 31 car of Addams goes around by itself to bring out the caution and set up the rest of the race.
At the green, now McCullough and Newman are on rails, leaving Richmond in 3rd and battling to hold 3-Cox off. Newman tries McCullough hard, but its the 39 car's night. Richmond does manage to keep Cox behind him too...quite a feat in itself.
FINAL 1st 39-McCullough , 2nd 1-Newman, 3rd 24-Richmond, 4th 3-Cox, 5th 54-Limon
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Super Stocks
Heat 1
Dave Silverthorne Jr is piloting the 66 car for Jens Peters, who suffered a broken wrist in an accident the last time out. Silverthorn jumps out front but 7-Sheilds gives chase. There's a caution when Lawrence and DeJesus get together in turn 1-2, and on the restart, Sheilds jumps the green. Black flag is shown to him but he repeatedly ignores it, putting some serious pressure on Silverthorne. Sheilds crosses the line in 2nd, but of course is DQd.
1st 66-Silverthorne, 2nd 04-Humphreys, 3rd 28-Lawrence
Heat 2
This was a pretty good race featuring the stoutest of the SS performers racing in one big pack. 67 and 76-Reid battle side by side for a full 5 laps, and 67 manages to pull out front at the halfway mark. 99-Nagy puts some pressure on 67 but cant close the deal.
1st 67-, 2nd 99-Nagy, 3rd 11-Lidster
Feature
Race starts with an incident involving 52-Clark and 48-McColl that ends with the 52 car getting cradled back to the pits, and the driver none too happy with McColl.
It was Jimmy Mairs was the class of the field in the feature. He got out front and built a huge lead while the rest of the top runners all jockeyed for position. By the time it was over, Lidster and Lake were just starting to reel him in, but they ran out of time.
FINAL 1st 5-Mairs, 2nd 11-Lidster, 3rd 77-Lake, 4th 51-Rabideau, 5th 24-Richmond
PS Congrats to the Perkins team. Tonight featured the return of "Gert", sponsored by George Costanza's Vandelay Industries. Gert is the Perkins back up car. She struggled a little keeping up with the top guns, but as a whole, not too shabby. Great work guys and glad to see having your car totaled wasn't enough to keep ya down!
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Lucas Oil Vintage Modifieds
Heat 1
1st 00-Easton, 2nd 19-Karley (?), 3rd 5-Podd/McIntyre
Heat 2
1st 0-Phil Shaw, 2nd 38-Hood, 3rd 1-Sauder
Feature
Vintage Modified rocked tonight going flag to flag caution free, and still a heck of a race to boot. 81-Jeff Shaw takes an early lead but the twin lime-green cars of 00-Easton and 18-Keen are bearing up quickly. Before too long the 46 car of Mike Klotz is pressuring Shaw for the lead and soon makes the pass, and now the race is for 2nd between 81-Shaw and 5-Podd.
Now a few laps later, 81-Shaw is dropping back and 0-Shaw is on the way up. It shapes up as a furious battle between the two for 5th with lots of rubbing. 0-Shaw pulls ahead to take 5th, and just before the checkers fly, 81-Shaw heads inexplicably down pit road and out of the race.
0-Shaw actually looked like the top dog tonight but got stuck in traffic early on. Might've won had there been a caution later in the race but there wasn't....at least not till the checkered flag lap and we found 57-Trendell sitting sideways in turn 1.
FINAL 1st 46-Klotz, 2nd 5-Podd/McIntyre, 3rd 00-Easton, 4th 0-Phil Shaw, 5th 21-Milwain
Night of Firsts at Delaware
Delaware Speedway saw a night of first Friday July 17th, as one driver was able to record his first career feature win, while another was able to find victory lane for the first time since 1993.
Twice earlier this year, Jim Maris has been in position to win features, but the checkered flag has slipped from his grasp. Friday night he was finally able to close the deal, with his first feature win in 16 years at Delaware. Maris started on the outside pole and was able to get the jump on the polesitter David Silverthorne Jr. and took the lead into turn one. David would hold up some of the faster cars, while Maris streaked away, opening up a cushion of an entire straightaway. D.J. DeJesus would also hold up championship contenders Scott Nagy, Jason Lidster, and Darrell Lake, but on lap 13 they kicked Dejesus to the high side and all streaked by, looking for the black #5 who was long gone.
Maris was a regular competitor at the speedway for years, but hung up the helmet in the early 90’s, only to return to Delaware on a full-time basis this season. “I have to admit that I have been working on my car more and more lately,” Maris said. “When I first started back this year, I would just put it on the trailer on Friday night, unload it when I got home, and then leave it until the next Friday night. The last few weeks, I’ve been putting in more time, and it’s starting to show.”
Maris spoke about grabbing the lead early, and building up the large cushion, “The #66 didn’t get up to speed and we had a great starting spot. I think the #66 held up all those guys and that really helped us out. Then when I got the lead, I was trying to keep looking ahead, but was still checking every once in a while to see how big of a lead I had. I was just trying to drive my own race, and I also didn’t want to see a caution.”
After moving to second, Lidster was starting to reel in the leader with Lake in tow, but the event remained caution free (other than a yellow on the initial green), and despite Lidster’s efforts, Maris was able to hold on for the win.
Maris continued to speak about seeing everyone closing on him late in the event. “I saw the #11 getting closer, but I didn’t think he had enough time. I saw the halfway flags, and then I missed the five to go, but when I got the white, I was just lapping a car, and knew that once I got that car between him and I, that I should be all right.”
With a career now spanning two generations, Maris also spoke about the Super Stock division, and how much it has changed since his last spin around the ½-mile. “I think the single biggest change is the crate motors. It’s made it more affordable. Sure, it costs $4,000 for a motor, and while you can probably build a cheaper motor if you had some parts laying around, but it won’t be as durable. I remember when I left racing the first time you could spend close to $10,000 for a motor, to try to get it over 300 horsepower. These things are 350 horsepower, right out of the box. It’s also helped with the parity -everyone in our class is running between 21.3 seconds and 21.9 seconds.”
Maris summed up his first Super Stock trophy in almost two decades by admitting, “We weren’t the fastest car tonight, but we didn’t have to be. This old piece is pretty old, but it was enough tonight.”
Lidster finished second, with Lake third, but the most impressive drive of the night might have been by Jeremiah Rabideau who started shotgun on the field, and drove all the way through to a fourth-place finish. Steven Richmond rounded out the top-five.
With the second-place results, Lidster took over the championship point lead. Lidster had been the point leader following the last event until he was found guilty of a rev limiter violation and issued a 25-point penalty.
On the flipside of Maris is David McCullough. The 23-year old Glencoe driver has been a fixture in the Open Wheel Modified division for seven years now, but was still shut out of victory lane, having yet to knock off drivers such as current competitors Jamie Cox, Barry Newman, and Paul Shipway, or past division wheelmen like Mark Watson and Jim Wiersma.
Friday David was finally able to bask in the limelight of a feature win. After rolling off third in the main event, McCullough made short work of rookie Tyler Hendricks, taking the lead early and putting some distance between himself and the rest of the field. McCullough seemed to be skating towards victory until the dreaded yellow flag flew 16 laps into the 25-lap feature.
David said, “That wasn’t what I wanted to see. I was trying not to look in the mirror, and then the yellow flew and I had Barry Newman right behind me.”
McCullough had been trying to overcome two tough weeks, including a wreck the last time out, and he was being stalked by Newman, a multi-time division champ, who was third in the championship chase. The green flew, but McCullough was able to hold off the advances of Newman, who would be forced to settle for a second-place finish as David put the wraps on his first career Open Wheel feature win. “I was trying so hard not to look back. My crew gave me a pretty good car tonight, and I just kept trying to hit my marks, and not look behind me, because I knew if I started to worry about Barry I would drive in too deep, mess up a corner and that would have been it.”
McCullough still looked like a deer in the headlights as he sat on a tire of his #39, still trying to get a handle on what had just happened on the ½-mile. “It still hasn’t sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will be a big confidence boost for our team. We all deserve this one, from my sponsors to my parents, and my crew, because they have been behind me the entire way. I also really have to thank Barry Newman for racing me clean.”
The double duty weekend will continue for the Glencoe driver Saturday as he competes in the Enduro event at Delaware where he holds a 25-point lead in the championship standings. “I’ve already started to think about what we have to do tomorrow and tonight hasn’t sunk in yet. We’ll just have to finish [the endure race] and we’ll be good.”
McCullough also shared his best story of the night, and his confusion after winning the Modified feature, “I wasn’t really sure where to go for victory lane.” In the end he found it all right, and after so many near misses over the years, he’s finally broke through, and will be able to look like a seasoned veteran the next time he gets there, which should happen in far less starts than it took him to get there the first time.
The Canadian Vintage Modifieds were making their only appearance at the track for the year, and Mike Klotz ran down Ron Shaw, passing him just after halfway and going on to take the win, with Mike Podd coming home second, and Ron Easton joining them on the podium.
Canadian Vintage Modified Gallery
pretty sure Mairs had a feature win in '08
Could be. Only points results available for Delaware last year are the jrs.
But it sounds like JMaudsley was actually talking to Mairs. I'd imagine Jim would remember that if it'd happened.
Great job Jamie. Thanks for the article. Its great to stand shoulder to shoulder with another reporter! (Sorry didn't get much time to jaw with you...we'll make up for it next week..you bring the kids, I'll bring the balloons ;))
Photos of the Vintage Modifies and the Classic cars.
http://picasaweb.google.ca/srracing24/July172009DelawareSpeedwayVintageModifieds#5359800572620223106
Photos aren't too bad considering they are taken on my little Canon Camera while I am sitting in the stands.