Rob Clarke became OSCAAR’s third winner this season as he outlasted the rest of the 21 car field for 75 laps on Friday night at Delaware Speedway in Komoka, Ontario. Clarke continued the streak of driver’s winning from the pole (Jeff Hanley accomplished the same feat the previous two events) after he drew the pole position in the invert draw following his heat race win. The man they call ‘magic shoes’ sat second until a lap 41 incident saw leader Brandon Watson spin out of turn two, handing Clarke the lead for the remaining 34 laps. The race was a war of attrition on all fronts as the caution flag would fly for a total of twelve different times. The activity behind Clarke could not dampen his spirits and the London, Ontario native remained very excited about his first win in his first start this season.
“We worked really hard. My crew worked hard, and we we’re pretty lucky. So I’ll take it all. We just tried to be as best we could,” explained Clarke post-race.
Brandon Watson started on the outside of Clarke and took the lead from the very first lap, opening up a lead of as many as 10 car lengths by lap 8. One lap later, third place Wayne Isaacs became very loose exiting turn two and was shuffled back to the sixth spot as Brandon Vanderwel, Jesse Kennedy, and Jeff Hanley wasted no time moving up a position.
The leaders began to lap the back of the field on lap 10. On lap 14, yellow flew for the first time when Roy Passer spun on to the front straightaway. Several cars were saved from falling one lap off the pace.
The ensuing restart saw Jeff Hanley move in to the third position past Brandon Vanderwel’s #97. On lap 20, Gary Passer lost traction out of turn four, cutting a tire. Passer would come to a stop on the high side of turn one with a flat right-rear
tire, bringing out the night’s second caution. The lap 21 restart allowed Dave Taylor to make an impressive pass on the outside of Jesse Kennedy for the fifth position.
The next nine laps saw the field fall in to single-file and it looked as though green-flag racing would continue for several laps. However on lap 30, Dave Taylor misjudged passing the lapped car of Shane Gowan as the pair exited turn four causing Taylor to nudge Gowan’s rear-end and spin him on to the front straightaway without further contact. Drew Spicer spun to avoid hitting Gowan and was not deemed an involved car, thereby returning to his eighth position.
When racing resumed following the night’s third caution, it was once again Brandon Watson leading Rob Clarke by 15 car lengths. Jeff Hanley tried high and low to gain the second position from Rob Clarke, but was unsuccessful in each attempt. On lap 36, Drew Spicer attempted a pass to the inside of Jesse Kennedy for the sixth position, but was denied the room.
Lap 41 saw the fourth caution of the night when the power plant on Chris Burrows’ #64b imploded and erupted in white smoke. Burrows would later say he heard the motor begin to blow as he exited turn two. Burrows shut the engine off, but it was too late. Fortunately the engine imploded and left little fluid on the track, allowing for a short clean-up.
The ensuing restart was the beginning of a long string of cautions, followed by the night’s fireworks. Brandon Vanderwel was loose exiting turn four towards the restart as the field came to speed, allowing Jesse Kennedy to take the fourth spot on his inside. When the field raced in to turn two, Jeff Hanley was not able to check-up in time behind race leader Brandon Watson, sending the #9 towards the outside wall. Watson would suffer only minor damage to the left nose of the car. The spin also caused a bottleneck and #00 Wayne Isaacs, #7T Jeff Dunford, and #42 Tyler Hawn to spin, but all three were deemed to have spun to avoid further contact.
Both Hanley and Watson were sent to the back. Watson pitted twice during the caution to change both front tires and fix damage to the nose of the car. When Watson returned to the race track, he announced his displeasure to Hanley by nudging his car a few times. Hanley retaliated and both drivers were black flagged, ending promising nights for both drivers.
On the restart Brandon Vanderwel got loose and was passed by Jesse Kennedy, Lloyd Ritchie, and Roy Passer. The green flag was only for a limited time however as Gary Passer spun on the first lap back to the starter stand. Another restart
allowed Roy Passer to move in to third past Lloyd Ritchie. The caution would once again be brought out on the following lap when Gary Passer tagged the outside wall on the front straightaway causing the right-rear tire to go flat and Passer to hit the turn one wall, ending his night.
“I’m not really all that sure who got in to the back of me and spun me around. I was really happy to be out front. I got a little excited and jumped the start (on lap 41). I really wanted to get down in that first groove. Then, I think I slowed up because I really wanted it to be straight then somebody got in the back of me and put me around,” explained Vanderwel.
Vanderwel would then pit for two fresh right side tires, restarting him in eleventh. On the ensuing restart, only one lap could be completed once again as Drew Spicer lost the right-rear wheel off his #89 and the caution flew again to remove the tire from the race track. The race would then run green flag for four laps, allowing Wayne Isaacs to move in to sixth over Dave Taylor.
Caution came out again on lap 51 when Tyler Hawn spun a very loose #42 machine in turn one.
Said Hawn, “I’m pretty sure we burnt the right-rear off of it, it was just really loose coming off (off the corners). I just kept driving and it just kept getting looser and looser coming off as the night went on.”
The numerous amounts of cautions led OSCAAR officials to restart the race in single-file fashion on lap 51. The field thinned out and racing was close for seven laps until Drew Spicer drove his car hard out of turn four and hit the outside wall very hard. Spicer slowed, but never stopped. OSCAAR officials decided to throw the caution anyhow as a safety precaution. Shane Gowan received the lucky dog which meant the 14 remaining cars were on the lead lap.
On the restart Jesse Kennedy mounted his best challenge against Rob Clarke, staying with the #49 for several laps until Clarke pulled away to lead by half a straightaway on lap 65. During the caution Dunford pitted for tires for the second time. The numerous amount of cautions caused Dwayne Baker to run out of fuel in his #48 Ford. Baker made it to his pit stall, but the car was unable to stay fired, ending Baker’s night.
On the restart, Lloyd Ritchie also ran out of fuel, but the Southampton, Ontario native remained optimistic about his night.
“I’m a little disappointed right now. I thought the cautions were a little too long, but I can’t cry over spilt milk. I was happy that the car worked well after the big accident I had at Kawartha. To run the way it did, that’s a consolation for me,” 
stated Ritchie post-race.
On lap 70, Wayne Isaacs fell off the pace and looked to have a tire going down which resulted in his final finishing position of tenth.
As the cars came to the white flag for the final lap, Jesse Kennedy ran out of fuel. Kennedy was having a phenomenal run at his home track when the clock quite literally struck midnight.
“Yeah it is disappointing. To have a good solid second place would have been great. I knew a lot of this carnage was going to happen. You just kinda have to wait it out and it usually comes to you. Sometimes you just have some of the other front runners take off. Rob (Clarke) just had one of those cars tonight. It is what it is,” explained Kennedy post-race. He would finish in eleventh.
The race winner also commented on the aggressive nature of the race that resulted in so many cautions.
“It’s not frustrating; you just hate to see guys tear up the equipment. These cars are expensive. There are a lot of good drivers in this series, and it’s a lot of fun to be with these guys. You just don’t like to see lots of cautions,” explained Clarke post-race.
Clarke also explained that his equipment, as well as his own strategy, allowed him to conserve enough fuel to finish.
“The motor that we’ve always had, they run awesome and they make a lot of power. We tuned the carburetor a little bit trying to get better fuel economy. We knew it was going to be a long race. No magic, we just tried to be the best we could.”
The lighter story of the night saw the OSCAAR family come together in a big way for the second race in a row. At the Don Biederman Memorial, several driver’s offered time and parts to Lloyd Ritchie following a heat race accident. The efforts allowed Ritchie to start the feature. Similarly on Friday night, point’s leader Glenn Watson was rescued following the first practice session where the motor in his car blew up. Four different drivers offered their cars and Watson would accept the offer from #40P driver Charlie Gallant.
“It was a lot of fun tonight, man we raced hard. I was wishing it was maybe 25 laps. It was a long race, but the car worked good, it turned nice, came off the corner nice and had lots of power. A little more time out there and we might have been able to get a little more out of it,” stated Watson, who still managed a fifth place finish in a car he had never driven to continue his streak of nine consecutive races this season with a top-five finish.
“It’s awesome for him to offer that up and let us do whatever we wanted to do to it. I can’t thank those guys enough. They were really quick to offer it and it says a lot for them,” said Watson
Watson also explained what went wrong in his #22 Chevrolet.
“Something let go in the bottom end (of the motor). That’s the first time we’ve had that in a long time, so we’re disappointed about that. The car was really good. Even after the first practice session it was quick. It’s unfortunate.”
Also on a high note, Roy Passer finished his OSCAAR career-best second, and attributed his success to finally receiving some good fortunes.
“Yeah it’s my best. It’s the best luck I’ve had in OSCAAR. Tonight was a great night and I’m more than happy. I just drive my race. I just try to miss all the mayhem that happens in front of me,” explained Passer.
OSCAAR is back in action in two weeks at Peterborough Speedway on the Labour Day weekend. Be sure to take in all the action and stay tuned to OSCAAR.ca for times and further information. Look for a feature article on OSCAAR official Bob Finnegan in the coming weeks.
By Clayton Johns
Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey
Standing’s by Mike Charest
| OSCAAR – Feature |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 1 | 49 | Rob Clarke | London , On | 310.00 | |
| 2 | 15 | 27 | Roy Passer | Innisfil , On | 290.00 | |
| 3 | 9 | 51 | Dave Taylor | - | 280.00 | |
| 4 | 4 | 97 | Brandon Vanderwel | Port Elgin, On | 270.00 | |
| 5 | 13 | 22 | Glenn Watson | Barrie , On | 260.00 | |
| 6 | 14 | 07 | Todd Campbell | Guelph , On | 250.00 | |
| 7 | 10 | 7T | Jeff Dunford | Callander , On | 240.00 | |
| 8 | 6 | 89 | Drew Spicer | Woodstock , On | 230.00 | |
| 9 | 16 | 39 | Shane Gowan | Waterford , On | 220.00 | |
| 10 | 3 | 00 | Wayne Isaacs | Brampton , On | 210.00 | |
| 11 | 5 | 10 | Jesse Kennedy | Oneida Nation, On | 200.00 | |
| 12 | 17 | 42 | Tyler Hawn | Oro Station, On | 190.00 | |
| 13 | 12 | 62 | Lloyd Ritchie | Southampton , On | 180.00 | |
| 14 | 11 | 48 | Dwayne Baker | Stayner , On | 170.00 | |
| 15 | 7 | 13 | Gary Passer | Innisfil , On | 160.00 | |
| 16 | 18 | 18 | Bruce Gowland | Grand Valley, On | 150.00 | |
| 17 | 20 | 64B | Chris Burrows | - | 140.00 | |
| 18 | 19 | 81 | Frank Tulipano | Toronto , On | 130.00 | |
| 19 | 21 | 67 | Rob Reimer | - | 120.00 | |
| 20 | 8 | 70 | Jeff Hanley | Georgetown , On | 110.00 | |
| 21 | 2 | 9 | Brandon Watson | Stayner , On | 105.00 | |
| 22 | 22 | 14 | Kyle Passer | Innisfil , On | 25.00 | DNS |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 3 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 1 | 97 | Brandon Vanderwel | Port Elgin, On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 4 | 51 | Dave Taylor | - | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 5 | 89 | Drew Spicer | Woodstock , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 2 | 48 | Dwayne Baker | Stayner , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 3 | 27 | Roy Passer | Innisfil , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 6 | 18 | Bruce Gowland | Grand Valley, On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 8 | 67 | Rob Reimer | - | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 7 | 14 | Kyle Passer | Innisfil , On | 3.00 |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 2 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 4 | 49 | Rob Clarke | London , On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 1 | 7T | Jeff Dunford | Callander , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 7 | 13 | Gary Passer | Innisfil , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 5 | 00 | Wayne Isaacs | Brampton , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 2 | 07 | Todd Campbell | Guelph , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 3 | 42 | Tyler Hawn | Oro Station, On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 6 | 64B | Chris Burrows | - | 4.00 |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 1 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 2 | 9 | Brandon Watson | Stayner , On | 15.00 | |
| 2 | 4 | 70 | Jeff Hanley | Georgetown , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 7 | 10 | Jesse Kennedy | Oneida Nation, On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 6 | 62 | Lloyd Ritchie | Southampton , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 1 | 22 | Glenn Watson | Barrie , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 3 | 39 | Shane Gowan | Waterford , On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 5 | 81 | Frank Tulipano | Toronto , On | 4.00 |
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