Jeff Hanley Wins At Kawartha Speedway

Sunshine, full grandstands, big car fields and plenty of race action – what more can a race fan ask for? It was all there at Kawartha Speedway on Friday night as OSCAAR joined the weekly divisions for a full night of racing. The Twin 35 format brought out a good crowd of spectators and the OSCAAR drivers delivered excitement on the track. In the end it was Glenn Watson winning the 1^st race and Jeff Hanley winning the 2^nd race. On the strength of a 2nd and 1st compared to Watson’s 1st and 3rd, Hanley takes the overall win. He also took the Hard Charger Award gaining a total of 21 positions over the two races.

The Rival Office Solutions/Race2Way.ca #22 team had their work cut out for them between practice and the first green flag. Knowing that practice was more important than usual with the lack of heat races, OSCAAR drivers were taking full advantage of the opportunity. An unfortunate outcome was the worst wreck of the day involving the 22 and 15 cars. Both cars sustained significant damage and the teams spent the remainder of the afternoon making repairs. As a testament to both teams, repairs were completed in time for the first race.

Glenn Watson never let the afternoon set-back bother him a bit as he took home his first feature win of the season. He went green to checkers leading all 35 laps in a very strong run that brought memories of his domination at Kawartha in 2008. The only driver to come close was Jeff Hanley who charged from 13^th to take 2^nd place. But the hard driving effort used up tires with nothing left to challenge Watson.

For the 2^nd feature race, Hanley saved the “best for last” and had the tires to make a late race pass on leader Brandon Watson. “During practice we set aside the best two right’s for the second race”, said Hanley. Very happy with his feature win and overall performance for the night, Hanley continued, “It was a good night of racing. I want to thank Bob and Garlene of Raylene Racing. I also want to thank Kelly and the guys who had to put up with a lot of stuff. They had a busy week with cleaning oil lines and taking motors apart”. It was a good way to bounce back after a disappointing run at Peterborough five days earlier when their motor broke.

Hanley had high praise for Brandon Watson who made his first appearance of 2009 in the #9 Ken MacKinnon Construction car. “That kid ran awesome” said Hanley,” I don’t know exactly how old that car is, but it’s out-dated. That kid’s really talented.” Brandon surprised everyone with a very competitive run in the first feature and a near win in the second race. Taking only a couple of laps to move from 4^th to 1^st, Watson charged ahead and quickly built a big lead over the rest of the field. The young racing phenomenon looked destined to take home his first win and at the age of 16 to be the youngest driver ever to win an OSCAAR race.

But racing luck was not on his side as the yellow would fly, bunching up the field. After the restart, Hanley went to work and made the pass on the #9 car. Then a few laps later, Brandon quickly pulled off on the back-stretch, with a steady stream of oil pouring out onto the track. Being close to curfew time and with so much clean-up to do, Kawartha called the race at lap 29, awarding the win to Jeff Hanley.

Derrick Tiemersma finished 4^th and 2^nd as the Wayfreight #7 Team continue to improve in their quest to return to 2007 Championship form. Tiemersma would finish the night 3^rd overall, making it another great points night. The 2^nd place finish matches their best result of 2009 from Sunset and leaves Tiemersma happy with the direction they’re going in, but still hungry for a win. More good news is the jump from 3^rd to 2^nd in the points, keeping the race tight with Glenn Watson.

Two more drivers made their first appearances on Friday night along with Brandon Watson. Al Shepstone brought out the famous black Shepstone Haulage #15 Outlaw. He and the 15 team bounced back from the practice incident to record 5^th and 6^th place in the two features, good for 4^th overall. Shepstone had to charge from 16^th to grab 5^th spot in the first race.

Also earning a 5^th place finish, this time in the 2^nd feature race, was Mike Beyore in the CNC Custom Machine and Fabricating #54 Outlaw. Out for the first time this season, Beyore looked very strong in his brand new  Super Late Model built by Jeff Hanley and with a new Stefco motor. The car also has a new look with the red and yellow paint scheme and Cadillac nose. Beyore would finish the night sharing 5^th place overall with TJ Woolsey.

Two drivers with top-five finishes in one race included Jeff Dunford and Rob Clarke. Jeff Dunford and the Malcolm Wallace Professional Auto Repair #7T team had their best finish of the season with 4^th in the second feature, while in their first they drifted back to 13^th. Dunford was happy with their season-best performance, saying the team figured out something about the car that should help in future races. Rob Clarke took 3^rd place in the first race but misfortune struck just before the second feature. While preparing to line-up for the race, the #49 had a part break down, the yoke connecting from the transmission to the drive-shaft. With no spare part available, let alone time to replace it, the JBM Leasing #49 team loaded up and watched the race. They were disappointed at not racing, but relieved that the part failure happened in the pits instead of during the race when it would have been much worse.

OSCAAR would like to thank all the drivers and teams who made the trek to Kawartha. You contributed to one of our best car counts in a long time with 23 teams in the pits. A big thank you also goes to all the race fans for your continued support. You filled up the grandstands around the track and witnessed some great race action. Next stop is Mosport on August 22^nd – see you there!

Overall points for the twin 35 event were the average of “regular” points associated with the finish positions of both 35 lap races. For example, if a driver came 3rd (280 points) in the first race and 5th (260 points) in the second race, then the average of the two (270 points) would be the overall points awarded for the night. In the case of ties – they stand. The points remain as calculated and the purse for the tied finish positions is shared equally. The +5 is for leading laps and +10 for the most laps.

Race Report by Don McLeod

Photo Albums

Web albums can be viewed through these links:

• Dave Franks Photos
• Don McLeod

Video by Don McLeod on YouTube

• 1st 35 Lap Feature Race (Part A)
• 1st 35 Lap Feature Race (Part B)
• 1st 35 LapFeature Race (Part C)
• 2nd 35 Lap Feature Race (Part A)
• 2nd 35 Lap Feature Race (Part B)

Results: Kawartha Speedway, August 7, 2009

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