29 cars in the enduro, I was last LOL... Fuel pump pressure problems >.< Still a fun night.
Battles on the Track and in the Pits
It was a four division night at Delaware Speedway Friday July 24th, with the Late Models headlining the show, and the Enduro class in action for one of their All-Star events.
Qualifying was much more meaningful, as the field started straight up from where they qualified in the first 25-lap segment. Steve Mathews was able to put his # 15 on the pole, with Ron Sheridan qualifying in the number two slot.
Mathews spoke about his pole winning run, “We really struggled with the brakes here last time and hopefully this means we have them fixed.”
The first feature would start off with a bang, as a lap three incident heading down the front straight would damage the cars of Mark Watson, Jamie Ramsay, David Elliott, and Rick Emery, while eliminating Jesse Kennedy from the event.
Mathews, who had tucked into line on the start behind Sheridan, would still have to overcome brake problems, as he started to lock up the left front wheel getting into the turns and then skating high, while dropping back in the field.
Steve Robblee, who qualified fifth, picked his way by Kurt Hooker, and then Mathews, before setting his sights on Sheridan just after the halfway mark.
Sheridan was able to open a up a lead of a few car lengths, but as the 12.5 mile sprint neared its’ end, He reeled in Ron, but it was a case of countless Robblee / Sheridan duels from throughout the years. When one is able to get out front, the other has no choice but to wait for a mistake that rarely happens. Robblee clearly had the faster car, but wasn’t able to mount enough of a charge and wound up second, as Sheridan took the checkers in his # 52.
Sheridan spoke about the late race battle with Robblee as he captured his third feature win of the season, “Just the same as a few weeks ago when I was faster than Steve and I couldn’t get him, this week, he was faster, but not fast enough. You know that Steve will drive you hard, but he will drive you clean. It was a pretty good race for us.”
Following Sheridan and Robblee to the line were Kurt Hooker, Scott Lindsay, and Jon Unlin.
The cars still running at the finish were inverted for the second half of the twin bill, putting Marc Jacobs and Doug Stewart on the front row.
Absent from the event was Kennedy, who had suffered too much damage from his accident in the first event, and would fail to take the green, all but eliminating the 2007 champ from contention for the season title.
Stewart would lead early, but it didn’t take Mathews, who started third, long to get to the front and start showing the way.
In the second 25-lapper at Delaware Friday for the Late Models, Mark Watson found his way to Steven Mathews’ bumper and it was a battle of freshman and sophomore, each looking for their first Late Model win. While this action was doing on for the lead, Sheridan was passing two cars a turn on some laps as he came to join the scrum with the halfway point coming.
Mathews, who spent last year winning features in the Lucas Oil Sportsman Series as an 18-year old – versus Watson, former Micro Sprint, Hurricane Midget, and Delaware Speedway champion - versus Sheridan former APC 300 champ and perennial championship contender Ron Sheridan.
Watson and Sheridan made contact while coming down the coming out of turn four and onto the front stretch on lap 12, with Sheridan’s Chevy winding up on the business end of the hook.
Watson limped his # 02 to his trailer, and Sheridan and his crew arrived shortly after to greet Watson to ‘discuss’ their argument over the events of the evening, while Watson was still strapped in. By the time he was able to climb from the car, officials had separated the pair
Sheridan was then interviewed by the track announcer and cut a promo that would have made Vince McMahon proud.
While he was working hard to hold off those two, his next challenge would be keeping Robblee behind him. Many a young driver has fell victim to Steve on Friday nights at Delaware, but this night would not be the case. With just a couple of laps to go, Robblee tried on the inside coming out of turn two. His car got loose, snapped around, and Steve couldn’t keep up with the steering as he spun the car.
He would finish 15th.
Hooker rose to second, but couldn’t match the raw speed of Mathews, who won his first Delaware feature.
Steve spoke about the win, after having brake troubles in race number one, “The brake pistons were stuck on. We took some of the fluid out and then during the race I dialled in a little more read brake.”
Mathews also talked about racing Steve at the end, “Steve and I raced before in the Sportsman Series, and he tried me off turn two and got into me. I had the car sideways and saved it, and he went around. We’ve finished second this year, and we needed this.”
Mathews also spoke about making a NASCAR Canadian Tire Series start at Mosport in early August.
Hooker wound up second, with Scott Lindsay, Jamie Ramsay, and Jon Urlin rounding out the top-five.
Street Stocks
Scott O’Conner was behind the wheel of the #9 machine and jumped out to an early lead before Darrell Lake broke traffic. Lake spent the second half of the race reeling in O’Conner and got there before the final lap. The pair would race clean, but hard, making contact twice in the closing laps, and bringing the huge crowd to their feet. Steve Smith finished a distant third and fading, but the rookie continues to outrun his Friday night experience.
Trucks
Jeff Showler took the lead early and left the field in his dust, as Katherine Hosang finished a career best second.
PHOTOS viewable at www.maudsleymotorsports.com
Photo Legend
001-024 – Truck
025-035 – Super Stock
037-102 – Late Model 1st 50
- 048-067 – Watson / Kennedy / Ramsay / Elliott wreck
- 086-098 – Mathews brake troubles
103-130 - Truck
131-155 – Super Stock
156-208 – Late Model 2nd 50
- 186-188 – Sheridan and Watson ‘discuss the front stretch incident’.
- 198-200 – Robblee just before he gets into Mathews and spin.
- 202-208 – victory lane
- 210-287 – Enduro
heh...you know Jamie, at first I read that and thought sheepishly "wow...that report is way better than mine are. I thought I was the Delaware reporter dude"
My second thought was "its about time."
🙂
Great job, and best of luck with the new website.
Trev
