Peterborough, ON – The final leg of the twelve stop OSCAAR Super Late Model tour is upon us this Thanksgiving weekend. The fifty-lap season finale is part of the 19th annual Autumn Colours Classic at Peterborough Speedway. The 2011 OSCAAR Champion will be crowned at Peterborough and it will be the fourth straight for Glenn Watson, as Wayne Isaacs sits too far back to catch him, regardless of Sunday’s outcome. The Inside Track Motorsports News Rookie-of-the-Year award will also be awarded, this year to Todd Campbell. Even with many award winners already decided, expect nothing less than the best racing the series has to offer all weekend long. Every driver wants the bragging rights for the winter months and to call themselves an Autumn Colours Classic champion in the OSCAAR Super Late Model division.
Brandon Watson is the defending champion of the event and is keen on defending his title. The younger Watson posted five top-five finishes in seven events in 2011, including two second place finishes and a remarkable third place finish two weeks ago at Sunset Speedway. When asked about defending his title, Watson replied rather matter-of-factly, “we’ll be here for Autumn Colours.”
One driver to fly under the radar for much of his OSCAAR career has been John Owen. Owen will make his 19th Autumn Colours Classic start in the traditional red and black #2. Owen has never missed ‘the classic’. After one of
his strongest outings ever one month ago at Peterborough with a second-place finish, Owen is very excited about taking to the track once again at Peterborough.
“I’ve been in all 19 Autumn Colours Classic (events). We won’t miss,” said Owen.
Meanwhile, Glenn Watson has unofficially been crowned the 2011 OSCAAR Champion, but the driver of the #22 machine is still hungry for another win. After sweeping the first half of the season, Watson is winless since July 23 at Mosport Speedway. He posted second place finishes to Jeff Hanley at Peterborough and Kawartha on July 30 and August 5, respectively. In addition, Watson narrowly missed his seventh win of the year at Sunset Speedway when Rob Clarke edged him out by mere inches on the final lap two weeks ago. While six wins may be enough to keep some content, for Watson, winning never gets old.
“We’ve been a while without a win now, so were hungry to get back there and try and get another ‘W’,” said Watson.
As previously mentioned, Todd Campbell has locked up the Rookie-of-the-Year title and has been Mr. Consistency all season long with 10 top-ten finishes in 11 starts this season. Campbell narrowly missed breaking in to the top-five on a few occasions this season and has his eyes set on the mark heading in to the final event.
“Our goal is to finish in the top-five and try to get a top-three finish. A top-three I would be pretty happy with,” explained the Guelph, Ontario native.
Lloyd Ritchie will look to duplicate the efforts that led to his first ever OSCAAR feature win in the series’ last visit to Peterborough Speedway on September 3. Ritchie’s tenth place finish two weeks ago was less than ideal and Ritchie hopes to end the year with the #62 ‘Orange Blossom Special’ on the podium.
There certainly will be no shortage of talent on hand come Saturday afternoon and it will come from what is expected to be a full field of twenty or more cars. While the OSCAAR action will be fantastic, the other seven divisions
in action will also keep the adrenaline flowing throughout the day. Don’t miss the final stock car racing event in Ontario this season featuring Ontario’s top touring series. For a full schedule of events please log on to www.peterboroughspeedway.com
By Clayton Johns
OSCAAR Schedule of Events
Friday – Rotating Practice every ten minutes from 1:00pm to 5:00pm.
Saturday – OSCAAR Practice from 12:40pm-12:50pm and 2:00pm-2:10pm.
First set of Heat Races at 3:30. Second set of Heat Races at 7:00pm.
Sunday – Racing Starts at 12:30pm, OSCAAR 50-lap feature scheduled for 3:10pm.
*All times are subject to change.