Whew! What an AWESOME night to be a Delaware race fan!
As always, the full report for tonight will be up later, and I'll just hit the high points for now.
ISMA Supermodified 30
An even 20 ISMA Supermodifieds took green tonight for the first leg of the Tammy-$10,000 dollar weekend at Delaware. Tonights 30 lap ISMA main is won going away by the 37 machine of Jeff Locke, who got out in front early and rocketed away, setting an "under green flag conditions" track record of 15.573. (it'll never be official because it want done in a time trial...blah blah blah)
Second place was 29-Russ Wood, followed by 84-Lichty, 94-McKnight and 78-Sammut. Lets just say the three way race for third between the Canadians: Sammut McKnight and Lichty was the race to watch, and a whale of a race it was. These guys were running side by side, swapping spots back and forth, and at one point going almost three wide. At one point it looked Sammut and McKnight were really getting into it with one another too with a little fist shaking and recipe exchanging during one caution flag.
Notably absent from the top 10 was the Pearl, Chris Perley, as he had something go wrong with his car even as the white flag flew to bring them to the start of the race. He took green but slowed up bad on the backstretch on the first lap, enough to bring out the caution.
APC Late Model - 25 laps
The LM main saw 52-Sheridan start pole and lead caution-free flag to flag. Hooker was tight with him but couldn't mount a charge. Robblee was looking a wee bit off, staying at the front of the 2nd pack for most of the race. Matthews was looking pretty good early on then seemed to have some kind of brake problem, putting up a good cloud of smoke and falling off the pace. He managed to hang on and pull it home in 3rd.
1st to Sheridan, 2nd to Hooker, 3rd to Matthews, 4th to 3-Rijnen, 5th to Lindsay
Denmar Aggregates Trucks
This race was a typical Truck division slobberknocker. 16-Hosang gets a lead but has it taken away late in the race by 01-Bloemendal. She then finds herself unable to get back in line putting her out of the running. The points shakup will come from a incident early on when Fothergill gets together with another unknown (to me) truck. This causes him to get really squirrelly going down the backstretch, and he ends up going around and taking Showler around with him. Fothergill's got a busted spindle/control arm/something that keeps him from returning to the race.
1st to Bloemendal, 2nd to 7-Clark, 3rd to 33-Sid Mcdonald, 4th to 99-Koricina and 5th to 82-Demelo. (great war for 4th between Koricina and Demelo...the girl knows how to play rough if she needs to.)
APC Late Model II - 25 laps
Jokers were wild tonight, and Hooker comes up aces as Mr Excitement finally becomes Mr Feature Winner! ;D ;D ;D
This race started with a full inversion of the lead lap cars putting 8-Jacobs and 81-Gresel on the point. Coming to the green flag someone bobbles and a huge frontstretch pilup ensues, collecting Matthews, Lindsay, Thompson, Watson, 37-Elliott, and Urlin. Red flag to clean up the mess.
For the first few laps the lead pack is Gresel, Jacobs, Delisle, Stewart and 32-M. Robblee. Soon the leaders are coming, and the first one up there is 77-Verhoeven then 10-Kennedy and 38-Hooker. Hooker's on a mission tonight, and slices and dices his way to the front by lap 10.
By the halfway, Hooker's out front with Robblee right with him, and the two open up a lead. The rest of the race at the front comes down to Robblee trying to pass and Hooker not letting him. Things get feisty as Robblee tries everything except an outright dump, and can't quite manage it. Meanwhile Sheridan has broken free and is just bearing up on Robblee. There's a questionable yellow flag on the white flag lap when Delisle goes around in turn 1. (The leaders were in turn 3 and coming to the checkers when the caution came out for an incident in turn 1)
But Hooker was not to be denied tonight, and he certainly pulled it off in a way befitting the nickname of "Mr. Excitement"
1st to Hooker, 2nd to Robblee, 3rd to Sheridan, 4th to Ramsay, 5th to Lindsay
BTW, to JesKen10...great to see you out tonight man. You had me worried there for a while. 😉
Richmond Row...and the resolution of the 50/50 money question. 😉
The Richmonds, Powerade Mod and Super Stock 24 had a rare night off tonight, as both of their divisions are running tomorrow. So they were able to join us in the stands for the evening.
Smiling Stephen made the call tonight. At the end of the 1st LM race, announcer John was just gushing about how the APC Late Models had managed a season best record of 0 caution laps. Stephen says "Great, John just jinxed it for the next race"
Sure enough, 7 car pileup on the first lap of the next race. Go figure.
So, I don't even remember the options on the poll, but "Nachos for Richmond Row" was one of the options. Well, I don't know if anyone knew this, but bar food like wings, nachos etc are available in the Crabby Joe's beer area. Partway through the night, Crazylady comes back to the section with 2 huge platters of nachos with all the fixings. Being the helpful type of guy I am, I was happy to help her eat em. (and what a mess of nachos it was) Funny thing was that Mr Nacho King, aka FromtheStands, was nowhere to be found...so we had to eat his too!
Thanks Crazy! A good time was had by all.
Thats it for ISMA weekend part 1. Stay tuned as the Supers hit the track again tomorrow night, theis time with a side order of Powerade Modifieds and Super Stocks.
And you know number 11 Mr. Perley is gonna be out to avenge himself tomorrow night.
See ya there.
Shadow out
good job 01 way to win it
Thanks for the updates as always Shadow!!!
Rookie and Veteran Hit Victory Lane for the First Time
The tail end of the night at Delaware Speedway Friday night ISMA Rookie Jeff Locke led all 30 laps at for his first series victory, followed by dirt and asphalt star Kirk Hooker capturing his first career Delaware feature in the final Late Model race.
Locke started on the outside of the front row, taking the lead early, and outdistancing Russ Wood throughout the feature. Jeff also was forced to survived three restarts throughout the entire event, including the final one on lap 22 with wily Russ Wood on his tail end.
When the green dropped again, Locke was able to drive away to the victory, and was still awestruck speaking about the victory. “It hasn’t totally sunk in yet - and to beat Russ Wood - I grew up watching him and Chris Perley, and still can’t believe it.”
Starting up front was a big advantage for the driver as well, “No doubt. It’s hard to pass here, but we still had a really good car.”
With the drivers returning to action tomorrow night for the second event of the weekend, a 50-lap feature, Locke thinks they are good to go, “We’ve had some bad luck this year and have had a good car all season. We just had one race with brake problems, and one race with power steering problems. As for tomorrow night, we lost some grip tonight when the tires wore out, so we’ll have to tighten it up a bit for tomorrow.”
Second-place finisher Wood started seventh and worked his way through to a second-place finish, and spoke about trying to get around Locke, “I needed to get him in traffic, because I have more experience with it, but I couldn’t get him. Our car started to push, and we have to get it turning better in the corners for tomorrow night.”
For Wood, Delaware is quickly becoming one of his favorite stops on the circuit. “It’s unique, and a real drivers track and I like that. It was also nice to see the stands so full.”
Following Wood were a string of Canadians as Mike Lichty would up third, and said, “This is a tough place. It’s about 1 ½ grooves wide, and we were able to come from ninth to third, which was pretty good, because 30 laps is real short. We need to make some improvements before tomorrow night, but we have a good baseline.”
Two-time defending ISMA Delaware winner, and Lichty’s teammate Dave McKnight Jr. of Brampton, finished fourth after getting as high as third. He had to hold off a hard charge from London pilot Mark Sammutt who rounded out the top-five.
In another emotional win, Hooker closed the night with a stunning run out the high line, after starting deep in the field. He was able to use the outside to blast around everyone, including when he took the lead from Andrew Gresel and explain the strategy. “I just drove it like my dirt car. I got on the outside and went. Then, at the end, I had to hold off Steve Robblee for the win. I kept it down on the bottom and our AP power was able to keep us ahead. Steve and I always race clean together, and I just knew I was going to make him go to the outside to pass me.”
Hooker, who has won a ton of other big races, including the Late Model trio of the Summer Sizzler at Kawartha, Autumn Colours at Peterborough and Octoberfest at Flamboro puts this one in the top-five with those. “This is a big win for our team. This race track is so historic. To see our number on the top of the scoreboard was awesome, and to have my brother beside me in victory lane was even better.”
The Hooker Brothers Racing Team had a rough off season as car owner Randy suffered from a heart attack. He has since returned to the track and was on hand for the victory Friday night. “I just have so many people to thank, from Randy to Debbie – I told Randy we didn’t even have to race this year but he wanted to race – to Ron O’Brien, to J.B.M. Leasing. This is just awesome.”
Ron Sheridan was able to come through to finish second, after winning the first 25-lap segment earlier in the night. In the first feature, Sheridan was on the pole after turning fast time in qualifying. He led wire to wire and didn’t get a ton of pressure from second-place Hooker. Mathews finished third with Chad Rijnen posting a career high fourth, and Scott Lindsay fifth.
Rounding out the top-five in the second event were Sheridan, Jamie Ramsay, and Lindsay.
Notes -
Sheridan's night was enough to unofficially take the point lead aware from Steve Robblee in his quest for track championship number one to Robblee's eight.
Scott Lindsay looked better than he had all season with a pair of top-five performances.
There should be two addtional Super Modifieds in attendance Saturday night.
Photos available at www.maudsleymotorsports.com
Photo highlights and notes
Super practice
Super Heats
Late Model feature #1
Truck feature
Super Feature
Late Model feature #2
Great story Jamie, and thanks!
Man...what a win by Hooker though. I should probably apologize a little to the people around me in the latter stages of that race...lets just say I got a little excited, both good and bad, and my language might have got away from me a little when that stupid last lap caution came. (I get it, they're playing by the rules....but it was still unnecessary. It was the last lap, and the field was past the wreck by the time the yellow came out)
But it was great to see Hooker in victory lane. Some clown had written something in the program about Hooker being the most successful driver to never win a feature, and threw in a picture of the little Joker head on his number 38 graphic on the side of the car. All night the announcers were referring to him as "the Joker" and you know, I think that's a way cooler nickname than "Mr Excitement"...maybe it was good luck.
I'll tell ya though, I cant help but resspect Robblee just a little more after that show. Robblee did not go easy on Kirk, but he didn't dump him either, and it would have been very easy to do. You can't be a Delaware fan and not have a little respect for Robblee, but last night he was a class act in a tough race.
Also, it was great showing, and a career-best 2nd place by the 7 Truck of Derek Clark. Congrats. A win won't be far away now.
Great show last night. 🙂