OSCAAR

After 13 successful seasons as a competitor at Sunset Speedway on Saturday nights, Rob Poole has decided to make the jump to Ontario’s top asphalt touring series, the OSCAAR Super Late Models. After finishing third in championship points at Sunset Speedway in the limited late model division in 2011, the Cookstown, Ontario native decided he and his team needed a new challenge.

“We were competing against arguably the best field of limited late models around”, said Poole in an e-mail interview with OSCAAR.ca. “My team has been with me since I started in 1999 and together we keep challenging ourselves to grow and develop in our racing career, so OSCAAR seems to be the obvious next step.”

Poole will be driving his familiar #45 Visser Farms ‘Pick Your Own’ Strawberries, R.A. Electrical, Alliston Auto Sales & Leasing, AgNav, BFI Canada, Reliable Waste Management (RWM) Chevrolet Impala SS. Poole’s car will be powered by a built motor out of Ideal Supply Machine Shop in Collingwood, Ontario.

Part of the reason behind Poole’s move to OSCAAR is the opportunity to compete at different tracks throughout the province and the challenge associated with determining a new setup each and every week.

“I anticipate many challenges, adapting to the speedways in which I’ve never been too, learning the new car and setups, and just getting comfortable with the speed of the car is what I’m expecting,” explained Poole.

Nonetheless, Poole is particularly excited to return to his home Sunset Speedway among other tracks on the OSCAAR tour.

“I’m excited to return to Sunset Speedway. With it being the first race of 2012, it will be good as I’ve done lots of laps around there and it will be one less thing to get use to for the first night out,” said Poole. “I’ve always liked racing at Kawartha Speedway, so I’m looking forward to that as well.”

Poole will be among half a dozen or so rookies that will be competing for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. While the rookie championship is certainly a goal of Poole’s, the team simply hopes it can stay competitive and finish every race.

“We’re just going to try to stay consistent, hopefully not have too many mechanical failures and the rest will sort itself out,” said Poole.

Poole is excited to be joining the close-knit OSCAAR family. On multiple occasions in 2011, OSCAAR drivers came together to help their fellow competitors ensure they would be able to run the feature for the night’s event. Poole explained that this atmosphere is not only what makes OSCAAR great, but racing in general.

“I think that is what racing is all about. It’s not much of a race if the cars are on the trailers.”

Perhaps the most exciting element of joining OSCAAR for Poole is the chance to race with some of the top drivers in the province. Poole is familiar with several drivers on the OSCAAR tour, including Dwayne Baker, Charlie Gallant, and Brandon Watson after competing against them at Sunset over the past five years, but is most excited to race amongst the big names of the sport.

“I never thought I’d ever get to this level so just being able to be out there with the likes of the Watsons, the Hanleys, and the Clarkes is something I’ll definitely appreciate,” said Poole. “I’m looking forward to racing them all but it will be fun to run against Glenn Watson as he has helped us a bit over the last little while.”

Rob Poole’s OSCAAR career will kick-off with the OSCAAR season opener on Sunday, May 20 at Sunset Speedway. For more information on Rob Poole and his race team, visit www.robpooleracing.com .

OSCAAR will be attending the 2012 Canadian Motorsports Expo presented by Inside Track Motorsport News from February 10-12 at the International Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Stay tuned to www.oscaar.ca for up-to-date news as the season approaches.

By Clayton Johns

The 2011 season brought Glenn Watson his fourth OSCAAR championship in as many years, but this season was different than the past three. Watson was absolutely dominant in 2011, winning the championship over runner-up Jeff Dunford by 761 points. Take in to consideration that a driver can earn a maximum of 330 points in one night if he were to win both heat races, the feature, and lead the most feature laps. Watson finished 11 of 12 races in the top-five, with the other a top-ten finish. Watson won seven of twelve races in 2011, leading the championship standings for the entire season.

The season kicked off at Sunset Speedway where Watson finished second and fifth in his first two heats of the season, leading to the third starting position. Watson ran second all race behind his nephew Brandon Watson until Brandon decided to pit on lap 35 under caution. Glenn assumed the lead and from that point on he never looked back, leading the final fifty laps on his way to victory lane.

The second event at Kawartha Speedway had Watson draw the pole position for the 50-lap feature. Watson out duelled Lloyd Ritchie on a few restarts and opened up a big lead in order to lead all fifty laps en route to a second consecutive victory.

Mosport Speedway brought more of the same as Watson led 47 laps en route to his third victory of the season after starting fifth.

Watson put on one of his most dominating performances of the year at Sunset Speedway as he won both of his heat races and drew the fifth starting position. Dwayne Baker jumped out to the early lead in the #48 Zancor Homes Ford, but Watson wasted little time getting to the front, taking the lead from Baker on lap 11 to lead the final 40 laps for his fourth straight win. Continue reading »

Lloyd Ritchie is one of OSCAAR’s most recognizable faces with one of the most distinguishable cars. Ritchie’s bright ‘Orange Blossom Special’ has become a staple on the OSCAAR Super Late Model tour each and every summer, making him a fan favorite. A resident of Southampton, Ontario, Ritchie faces some of the longest travel times of any driver. The dedicated driver, however, never lets that phase him and participated in all 12 events in the 2011 season, accumulating nine top-ten finishes, of which seven were in the top-five.

Ritchie’s season did not start off as planned as he suffered a blown engine in practice at the season opening event at Sunset Speedway and was unable to compete.

Two weeks later, Ritchie made his presence felt at Kawartha Speedway as he won his first heat of the season. This led to Ritchie starting the feature in third. A strong starting position coupled with a smooth and consistent race landed the #62 on the podium, narrowly missing his first OSCAAR victory with a second place finish. Ritchie later said he didn’t feel he would have been able to catch winner Glenn Watson.

“I tried everything I had there. If he had gotten a little loose on the restart I might have been okay, but he was hooked up pretty good,” said Ritchie.

Ritchie then took his act to the Mosport Speedway and won both of his heat races to give him three consecutive heat victories. Ritchie started the feature outside the second row in fourth and battled with the #9 of Brandon Watson and the #00 of Wayne Isaacs all night long and later with the #89 of Drew Spicer before settling for a fifth place finish.

Ritchie returned to face his demons at Sunset Speedway and things appeared to be looking up as two strong heats landed him the fourth starting spot. Unfortunately, a blown engine once again ended his night, this time on lap 10. Ritchie felt the events were outside his control. Continue reading »

A fifth place finish in the 2011 OSCAAR points’ championship does not tell the full story for Wayne Isaacs. Isaacs had his best season yet with the OSCAAR Super Late Models in 2011 and was in contention for the overall championship until personal reasons forced him to miss the final two events of the season. Nonetheless, the season was an exciting one for the Brampton, Ontario native and included debuting a brand new car for the season’s second half.

The season kicked off well for Isaacs who drew the pole at Sunset Speedway for the season’s first feature event. Isaacs had a strong race and finished just shy of the podium in fourth place.

The second event was much the same for Isaacs as he started outside four-time champion Glenn Watson. Isaacs kept pace until he lost several positions on a lap 34 restart when he avoided an accident with Dave Taylor. Isaacs finished fifth.

Isaacs registered his third top-five in as many races to start the season after he finished fourth at Mosport Speedway following a consistent run with the leaders, but falling just shy of the podium.

A return to Sunset Speedway put Isaacs on the podium for the first time after he finished third behind Glenn and Brandon Watson in a caution filled affair that Isaacs explained may have hurt his chances for a win.

“It was very frustrating. My car needed about good 7 or 8 laps before it came in, stopped the pushing, and started working. Each time we had a caution, to try and get (the car) back to (the way it was),” said Isaacs.

The fifth event of the year took the series to the beach and Sauble Speedway, where Isaacs posted the second quickest time in time trials, which guaranteed him a spot on the outside of the front row. Isaacs never relinquished the position and challenged leader Glenn Watson on several occasions, but was unable to make the pass, finishing second and registering his fifth top-five in as many races. Isaacs joked after the race that he had developed a new strategy to beat the now four-time champion. Continue reading »