OK. Took an extra day for the report but I hope its not too late. Spent last night and the day today giving my wife a little bit of my attention. She deserves a medal for putting up with all my track trotting.
Man...what a weekend though. Delaware Friday night for the double Truck and SuperStock features (report is HERE), then off to Cayuga on Saturday for the Nascar Canada race, (report is HERE), then back to Delaware under sunny but not too hot Labor day skies.
Of a 36 year lifetime of being a race fan, this weekend was the tops. Wretch, Racenut, DB1, FromtheStands, Mobil1Fan, and SS3, it was nice to hang with you all for a while.
So...the races.
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The Invaders
EDIT - I just went back and checked, and you know...Mobil1Fan's annual prediction list was pretty damned accurate. Chack it out. Mobil1's Thread The guy was only off by 3 or 4. Nice work.
I'm sure everyone wants to know who came and who stayed home. I'm sure most of the guys who really wanted to know already do by now, but here's a list of the "Invaders" (The Delaware race was the usual Delaware group)
07-Todd Campbell, 3-Kennington, 2-Smiling Stephen Richmond (in the Beal car), 5-Woodside, 7x-Vanderwyst, 9x McGillivary, 9 Robbie Thompson, 10x-Starr, 28-Steve Robblee (feels wierd calling him an invader), 30-Terry Jones, 35-Mark Hickson (brand new car) 35x Tim Tolton, 36 Lebert, 36x-Gary Elliott, 37-Dave Elliott, 44-Steve Laking, 49-Rob Clarke, 72 Rob MacDonnell, 80-Mike Hryniuk, 81-Bryan Mercer, 82-Jason Shaw, 88-Scott Gibson, 89-Dan Monaghan (in a retrofitted Super Stock) 95-Kevin Benish, 97-Jeff Cassidy, 98-Ray Morneau (also in a Super Stock) 99-Todd Powell and 106-Simon WIld.
From this fan here and all the rest of the fans on the Delaware Hill on Sunday, A HUGE thanks for making the trip. YOU guys made the show what it is, every bit as much as our regular competitors. The fans in the stands truly appreciate the efforts you put into making the APC 300 a success. Personally it was cool to get to meet some of you in the pits in the morning, and I'm only sorry I didn't get around to everyone.
And to the Flamboro 86 car...thanks for your kind words on Saturday night. Real professional. We did just fine without ya.
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Delaware Only 75 Lapper
The race starts out with Ron Sheridan taking the early lead, followed by Delisle, Kennedy, Verhoeven and Hooker. First part of the race, it seems the guys are playing it fairly safe with little passing. On lap 5, Jamie Ramsay goes around to bring out the caution. The top guys are fairly spread out, and the real race is watching Verhoeven desperately trying to get around Pearn. It had been reported that after time trials, there was only one point separating Kennedy and Verhoeven, so Verhoeven had a lot riding on getting by Pearn.
Little change in the order at the halfway point. Sheridan has a big lead on Delisle. Kennedy's still in 3rd and Verhoeven is still trying to get around Pearn. Then Kennedy gets around Delisle and begins closing the gap on the 52 car. 6 and 77 also manage to get around Delisle. Verhoeven is getting racier with Pearn, starting to lay the bumper on him, but Pearn keeps slamming the door. (this was the best battle of the race)
Now theres 5 to go with Kennedy on Sheridan's bumper and lapped traffic coming up. I'm sure everyone was thinking of last year when Kennedy and Sheridan seemed to be having a feud and wondering what was about to transpire. 4 to go and Verhoeven finally gets Pearn wiggled enough to get by to take 3rd.
Last lap, Sheridan's up to lap traffic. Kennedy pulls alongside. the two race side by side. It stays clean, but it is Sheridan's race.
1st to Sheridan, 2nd to Kennedy, 3rd to Verhoeven, 4th to Pearn and 5th to Delisle.
The announcers say the Championship is too close to call. It isn't till much later that it is determined that Kennedy is indeed the APC LM Champ for 2007. Nice job Jesse!
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Invaders Only - 75 Lapper.
Your front row is Jones with 37 Elliott alongside, then Kennington, Vanderwyst, Mercer and Shaw.
Right off the hop, Jones is out front and Vanderwyst manages to get right up alongside. Going down he backstretch, the two get somehow hooked together and Kennington manages to slide by. First caution comes shortly after with 91 Brown and Robblee both hitting opposite walls in turn 2.
At the restart its Kennington, then Vanderwyst and Jones still running side by side, then 37 Elliott. Kennington is a rocket and starts putting some distance in. Vanderwyst manages to get by Jones and closes on Kennington. By the 30th circuit, the 37 car is in 3rd.
Meanwhile further back, theres been an interesting battle going on between Stephen Richmond and Hrynuik. By lap 23, Richmond manages to get around Hryniuk, but alas, loses traction in 1-2 and loops it to bring out the caution. (welcome to LM racing!)
On the restart lap, 37 Elliott has something wrong and basically comes to a stop in turn 2 (maybe slipped out of gear?) Gets it quickly fired again though without bringing a caution. Vanderwyst is in 1st place now with Kennington right on his heels. Both of them begin to open up a fairly large lead. Mercer and Jones are battling for 3rd.
Now Wild and Richmond get together in 4. One of them clips the pit wall tire and out comes the caution. Your order on the restart is Vanderwyst, Kennington, Jones, Mercer, Thompson and Shaw. (I'll level with ya here...I have in my note the 9 car in 5th, might've been McGillavary, but I'm pretty sure it was Thompson)
Great 3 way duel for 3rd between Jones, Mercer and Thompson. Coming out of 2, Jones drifts up enough for Mercer to get under him, putting the 81 car into 3rd. But then a see saw battle between the two, as Jones regains 3rd, and then Mercer takes it back.
At this point, around lap 51, the leaders are coming up on lap traffic. In one moment Vanderwyst comes up on the 88 car of Gibson, and very neatly punts him out of the way, not even taking the moment to try and pass fairly. Inexplicably, theres no black flag for Vanderwyst.
Now Vanderwyst, Kennington and Mercer are leading the way when Shaw appears to blow a tire on the frontstretch going into the turn, but gets out of shape in the turn to bring out a caution. I beleive the tire mightve gone down after some contact, but didn't see. Now Robblee's up to 5th.
Lap 57 and McGillivary is into the wall to bring out another caution, setting up the final run to the checkers. Kennington pushes Vanderwyst hard, and Robblee is really working on Thompson, but the race ends in that order.
1st to Vanderwyst, 2nd to Kennington, 3rd to Mercer (good show, man) 4th to Thompson and 5th to Robblee.
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MAIN EVENT - The Final 150
So, accordoing to what I've got, there were 42 cars there for the day, so only 4 didn't make it. Unfortunately, after the Invaders 75, some gremlins became apparent in the 2 car before the race, so they decided to park it, leaving Stephen Richmond and the 2 crew up in the stands with us. Morneau also inherited some problems so he was out. As to who else didn't make it, I'm not sure. 38 cars started.
Front row-Sheridan and Vandewyst, second row is Kennedy and Kennington, third row is Verhoeven and Mercer, 4th row is Pearn and Thompson and 5th row is Delisle and Robblee.
Right off the bat there's a schmozzle on the backstretch as someone gets wiggly and Shaw goes around in the middle of the pack.
Restart order (Using a single file restart) is Vanderwyst, Sheridan, Kennedy, Kennington, Verhoeven and Pearn. A few laps pass and everyone gets sorted out, till lap 28, then Robblee goes into the turn 3 wall and Gibson spins out in 3-4.
The top 4 of Vandrwyst, Sheridan, Kennedy and Kennington form a tight pack and begin to run. Another caution flies.
On the restart, Sheridan gets a good jump on Vanderwyst, pulling alongside on the front straight. He completes the pass and brings Kennedy with him. Vanderwyst is falling way off the pace now. 52, 10, and 3 begin to run away again.
About this time, its trouble for Doerr, as he gets out of shape behind lap traffic and heads toward the wall, unfortunately becoming the baloney in a Rob Starr-and-concrete sandwich as Starr slides into the back of him.
Now at lap 60, Kennedy is right up to Sheridan and pushing him hard, managing to finally get around him. Kennedy starts to run as Kennington goes to work on Sheridan for 2nd. The battle for 4th is taking place at the same time, with Verhoeven, Delisle and Pearn.
At the 75 lap mark, Urlin spins Thompson in turn 1 to bring out the competition yellow.
Restart. Sheridan pulls alongside Kennedy and its a drag race around the track, with Kennedy keeping the 1st spot. Delisle gets by Kennington for 3rd. Another caution as Laking and Powell both spin.
Restart. Now Delisle is up to 2nd and Kennington is up to 3rd. Delisle is hot now, pushing Kennedy hard for 1st, but Kennedy is hot and begins to pull away again. Now your order is 10, 7, 3, with Pearn up to 4th, Verhoeven up to 4th and Vanderwyst up to 5th.
Around lap 125, Kennington is pushing delisle and gets by him, then Delisle's car dies on the frontstretch and coasts into the pits.
Then on lap 134, same thing happens to Verhoeven, except he doesn't make it in, bringing the car to a stop against the turn 2 wall. Caution.
Restart order is 10, 3, 6, 7x, Urlin up to 5th, and Stewart up to 6th. a couple laps later and the 72 of Rob McDonnell goes around on the frointstretch and hard into the wall, bringing out he final caution.
Final 10 laps. Kennington is all over Kennedy.He goes high. He goes low. He gives him the bump. But, as Joe Bowen would say, "deee-nied!"
In 07, It's Jesse Kennedy's fist pumping in the air as he sails under the checkers and into turn 1. Kennington takes 2nd, Pearn in 3rd, Vanderwyst in 4th and Urlin in 5th.
Big big congrats to Jesse. If you read this man, I've been a fan for a long time and that was just great. (I mighta even got a little misty myself about it at the end.) Good show!
Some other pics
A little humor from the Urlin Crew
Some invaders and some regulars
Final Notes
A few things. First, it is so AWESOME to see Jesse Kennedy wrap up the season like this. I've been watching this guy for probably over 20 years, and he's earned a big day like that. In the closing laps I was having Bill Rowse flashbacks, just waiting for god-knows-what to happen, but DJ ran him a good race at the end. I couldn't be happier.
Shout out to our own racer43...bad luck man, sorry you had a rough day. Hope its not bent up too badly.
Again...To all the visiting teams who made the haul...Thank You so much for coming down.
To Stephen Richmond, great job out there in the 2nd 75. Too bad mechanical woes kept you out of the main event.
And a big thanks as well to the guys who put some bucks in the hat for our "Matts fund" collection. There were some donations made in a couple different areas, and its yet to be put all together, but we'll get that to Racewoman ASAP. I'm not sure what the ettiquette would be here for attaching names to the donations, but suffice to say, many of the regular posters here on the Delaware forum helped out. Thanks guys.
To Richmond Row. You guys are the best, and the funnest! I've only been hanging with you guys for less than a year, and now I can't imagine watching the races at Delaware without you all.
Great writeup shadowracer. We had a great time and wish we could head down that way more often (wish we had the big crate though). A thumbs up to everyone at Delaware, was a very well run show
Great to see you Bryan. Again...great showing. Tell all your Kawartha friends about us. 😉
In other notes, I'm gonna post the winners for out Matt's Fund draw here, as well as in the other thread about it.
The ride/drive along in the Perkins Super Stock on Sept 16 goes to blue ticket number 897893.
The Hoppy the Clown party, for the kid in your life, goes to blue ticket 897913.
Contact me if you've got a winner.
Just some random pics:
And to note some of the posters here:
Next year I'll make sure the damn batteries in the digital camera are charged, so I can get pics through the whole day.... ;D
Nice, Mobil1. Great to hang with you!