Derrick Tiemersma Captures First Win of 2009 At Peterborough Speedway

Sep 052009

Derrick Tiemersma and his Wayfreight #7 Team made the ultimate come-back of the 2009 season with a dominant 50 lap win at Peterborough Speedway. Just two weeks ago the #7 Outlaw was towed off the track and hauled back home with a mangled front end. The 7 Team returned to Peterborough with repairs completed and their car ready to race.

But during the first heat race of the evening, disaster strikes again – not once, but twice in the same race! Tiemersma was able to limp to a 7th place finish in the first heat race. Back in the pits it was action time as the #7 crew went to work and again made repairs to their car. Back out for the second heat race, Tiemersma showed promise with a 2^nd place finish.

Catching a lucky break for a change on the feature race draw, Tiemersma drew the pole position. Quick out of the gate, he pulled ahead of outside pole-sitter TJ Woolsey and went on to build a multi-car lead. Al Shepstone in the #15 Shepstone Haulage Outlaw followed Tiemersma and passed on the inside of Woolsey putting him back in 3^rd. The first part of the race saw the 7, 15 and 88 in 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd with Tiemersma holding a solid lead in the pack.

Al Shepstone came close to Tiemersma when the leader started to lap cars. But when the traffic cleared, the 7 car would pull away. Shepstone’s Outlaw would lose some grip through the race and eventually he would fall back to 3^rd. The podium finish was his best result in a while and testament to the black Shepstone Haulage Outlaw being one of the quickest Super Late Models on the track.

TJ Woolsey and Jeff Hanley figured prominently in the race outcome with the duo racing for 2^nd. As Hanley challenged from the 3^rd position, he got into the back end of the 88 resulting in Woolsey going for a spin and bringing out the caution. Both would have to go to the back and yet both worked their way back towards the front. Woolsey would later bring out the last caution, which also brought out the checkered flag due to the curfew and relegated Woolsey back to a 9^th place finish. Hanley’s 4^th place finish was erased when a post-race penalty put him in last place.

Methodically working his way through the field from 9^th on the starting grid was the Rival Office Solutions/Race2Way.ca #22 of Glenn Watson. His patience and hard work were rewarded with 2^nd place. He also maintained a good lead in the points over rival Derrick Tiemersma, although the #7 win did allow Tiemersma to close the gap by 15 points. The 133 point spread means that Watson can’t rest easy yet with three races to go for the 2009 Championship.

It was a break-through race for Roy Passer in the Jenco Equipment #27 Outlaw. Passer would finish the night in 4^th to record one of his best finishes ever. Moving up to 9^th in points with 7^th in sight, Passer is having a good season and showing improvement with each race.

John Owen and the John Owen Performance Engines #2 Team made a solid come-back from heat race damage. All hands were on deck to make repairs including daughter Marlie Owen who quickly demonstrated her abilities in repairing the rear quarter panel! Owen picked up 5^th place for his first top 5 of the season.

The APX Racewear Hard Charger Award goes out to Charlie Gallant in the South Shore Services #40P Outlaw. He moved up from 15^th to finish 6^th. The Hoosier Tire Award goes to Gord Bennett in the Bennett Motorsports #1 Outlaw. Congratulations to Bennett on capturing his first OSCAAR heat race win!

A warm welcome goes out to Bob Oppersma who made his return to racing after several years absence. Brother Rudy had the misfortune of a hard crash on August 2nd and that chassis is now in the junk pile. A lot of hard work went into transferring the good parts over to another chassis which was brought to Peterborough as the #4 Ajax Automotive Services/Ajax Muffler Outlaw. Great work guys!

The corn roast was a success and thanks go out to the staff from Peterborough Speedway and OSCAAR for their time and effort. Important notice to all race fans: the next race is in two weeks at Sunset Speedway on September 19^th. The original schedule showed the 12^th, but that was changed to the 19^th. Hope to see you at Sunset!

Heat race winners were #1 Gord Bennett, #70 Jeff Hanley, #15 Al Shepstone and #22 Glenn Watson.

Race Report by Don McLeod

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Results: Peterborough Speedway, September 5, 2009

Feature Race
Finish	Start	Car#	Driver	Points
1	1	7	Derrick Tiemersma	300+10
2	9	22	Glenn Watson	290
3	3	15	Al Shepstone	280
4	4	27	Roy Passer	270
5	7	2	John Owen	260
6	15	40P	Charlie Gallant	250
7	11	7T	Jeff Dunford	240
8	6	62	Lloyd Ritchie	230
9	2	88	TJ Woolsey	220
10	17	4	Bob Oppersma	210
11	16	16	Rob Bickle	200
12	10	95	Neil Smith	190
13	14	51	Mark Ruigrok	180
14	5	1	Gord Bennett	170
15	12	23	Paul Milligan	160
16	13	00	Wayne Isaacs	150
17	8	70	Jeff Hanley	140
Heat 1 Race
Finish	Start	Car#	Driver	Points
1	3	1	Gord Bennett	10
2	5	15	Al Shepstone	9
3	6	62	Lloyd Ritchie	8
4	4	2	John Owen	7
5	8	4	Bob Oppersma	6
6	1	95	Neil Smith	5
7	2	7	Derrick Tiemersma	4
8	7	51	Mark Ruigrok	3
Heat 2 Race
Finish	Start	Car#	Driver	Points
1	2	70	Jeff Hanley	10
2	4	88	TJ Woolsey	9
3	6	22	Glenn Watson	8
4	1	40P	Charlie Gallant	7
5	3	27	Roy Passer	6
6	7	7T	Jeff Dunford	5
7	8	00	Wayne Isaacs	4
8	9	16	Rob Bickle	3
9	5	23	Paul Milligan	2
Heat 3 Race
Finish	Start	Car#	Driver	Points
1	1	15	Al Shepstone	10
2	4	7	Derrick Tiemersma	9
3	3	1	Gord Bennett	8
4	2	2	John Owen	7
5	6	62	Lloyd Ritchie	6
6	5	95	Neil Smith	5
7	8	51	Mark Ruigrok	4
8	7	4	Bob Oppersma	3
Heat 4 Race
Finish	Start	Car#	Driver	Points
1	2	22	Glenn Watson	10
2	7	70	Jeff Hanley	9
3	5	88	TJ Woolsey	8
4	3	23	Paul Milligan	7
5	4	27	Roy Passer	6
6	1	7T	Jeff Dunford	5
7	6	00	Wayne Isaacs	4
8	8	40P	Charlie Gallant	0
9	dns	16	Rob Bickle	0