Jeff Hanley Takes 3rd Win of 2009 At Mosport Speedway

For the 2nd race in a row, Jeff Hanley in the Raylene Racing #70 Outlaw, has proven to be the hottest ticket in Super Late Model racing. With his 3rd win of the season Hanley has finally combined some good luck and a good car to get the winning results he wants. The last time he won at Mosport was July 5, 2005. The years in between had plenty of racing heartache especially with motor problems.

Starting from 5th, Hanley quickly jumped to 4th and by lap four had passed two more cars to take 2nd. That set up a fierce battle for the lead with the Wayfreight #7 of Derrick Tiemersma that went on for 14 laps. Initially, Tiemersma had the upper hand on the front and back stretch with Hanley making up ground in the corners. Then over lap 17 Hanley pulled right up to Tiemersma and stuck his right front up alongside the 7 car. As they crossed the finish line the 7 car pulled ahead a little but heading into turn one, Hanley was back on the inside.

Just as the caution light came on, the 7 and 70 made contact sending the 7 into a spin through turns one and two. Hanley was able to pull around and keep going, but Tiemersma came to a stop in the racing groove and like a sitting duck became an easy target for the next Outlaw car in line. That happened to be 3rd place car #54 Mike Beyore who’s right front clipped the front of the 7 car and that ended the night for Tiemersma.

A lot of race fans expected to see the 70 car go to the back of the field being an involved car in bringing out a caution. But in a strange twist, the yellow flag was being waved for an earlier incident that happened just seconds before the contact between the race leaders. Ed Bowlby in the #19 Outlaw had spun along the backstretch in an area that was mostly out of view for  the spectators in the grandstand. The caution came out for that spin and the incident involving the 70, 7 and 54 occurred under caution. Hanley inherited the lead, Tiemersma was towed off the track and Beyore went pit-side for repairs and later returned at the back of the field. For the remaining 32 laps, Hanley held a strong lead in the race with the only challenge coming from 2nd place finisher Glenn Watson.

In a post race interview, Hanley was quick to point out his concern for Tiemersma. “Yeah, I hate to see that happen to Derrick. He’s probably one of the guys I like to race most in this series” said Jeff, “We were just racing hard, he closed the door a little bit and around he went.” When Hanley was questioned about what’s been working for him lately, “I don’t know, I think we’ve been getting a little lucky and the car’s been really good. Just everything’s coming together finally, I had three years of bad luck and now it’s my turn for some good luck.”

Glenn Watson took home 2nd place and had the closest car in the end to challenge Hanley. For a while in the second half of the race, Watson pulled up to within a few car lengths but in the final laps, Hanley pulled ahead by a good margin.  Asked if he had any strategic plan at the end, Watson admitted. “Hopefully he’d mess up but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.”

The Rival Office Solutions/Race2Way.ca 22 Team can be proud of their effort in making repairs and keeping their ‘Red Rocket’ as sharp-looking as ever. That was despite the nose being ripped off at Kawartha. During the last two weeks they installed a brand new front end. From the outside it was impossible to tell that anything had happened.

No doubt the car was quick on the track, but a poor starting position played against them. While moving from 9th to 2nd earned Watson the Hard Charger Award for the race, it must have added additional wear and tear to the tires, making it difficult to challenge at the end. The podium finish was still an excellent result and along with Tiemersma’s misfortune, propelled Watson to a solid lead in the 2009 Championship standings.

After Mike Beyore crashed into the #7 car, and the right front body was flapping in the wind, it looked like the strong 3rd place run for the #54 Outlaw was done. But with some quick pit work and hard-nosed determination, Beyore wheeled his car back through the field to claim and finish in 3rd.

Very happy with his best OSCAAR finish in a few years, Beyore wanted to thank his crew and all his sponsors. Folks in attendance included sponsors from CNC Custom Machining & Fabricating and Millenium Crane Service. Driving a brand new Cadillac Outlaw built by Jeff Hanley with a new Stefco motor, Beyore was happy with the car’s performance despite the damage from the crash. Looking a little spent there was undoubtedly a lot of driver effort in that hard earned 3rd place  finish.

Rounding out the top five were the Bourque Transmission Services #83 of Ian Bourque in 4th and the South Shore Services #40P of Charlie Gallant in 5th. Both drivers recorded their best finishes of 2009 and earned improved positions in the standings. Both drivers have had more than their fair share of bad luck and were very pleased with the outcome at Mosport.

Out for the first time in 2009 was the #19 of Ed Bowlby.  Bowlby  worked out some kinks in the heat race and by the feature he had the car working well. He moved up as high as 5th mid-way through the feature race but then got caught up in a multi-car spin after which his motor was done.

Another victim in that spin was Jeff Dunford who hit the wall and damaged the front right wheel and assembly. That ended a promising night that saw Dunford pick up a heat race win. On a positive note, his race at Mosport moved him ahead of TJ Woolsey and Rob Clarke to take over 3rd in the standings.

Weather once again was a factor and came very close to ending the night. It certainly impacted the plans for several drivers resulting in a low car count for the event. A severe storm passed just west and north of the track. A few light showers affected the schedule of events and reduced the scored heat races from four to two. But in the end, OSCAAR caught a break and was able to get a feature race in despite the weather. We can hope for more good fortune for the remainder of the season.

Heat race winners were:

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

• Feature Race (Part A)
• Feature Race (Part B)
• Feature Race (Part C)
• Feature Race (Part D)
• Heat Race 1
• Heat Race 2

Results: Mosport Speedway, August 22, 2009

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