PETERBOROUGH, On – Glenn Watson finished the 2011 season on Sunday afternoon with his seventh OSCAAR feature win of the season, claiming the overall points championship in the process. The now four-time champion had already locked up the crown prior to the start of the event, but made sure to end the season on a high note. Watson started from the inside pole position after drawing the number one starting spot in the invert draw after being the number three qualifier following Saturday’s heat races.
As with past Autumn Colours Classic events, it was a two day event for OSCAAR at the Peterborough Speedway. The ‘Supers’ started off the day on Saturday with their first round of qualifying. Due to time constraints all OSCAAR heats were eight laps rather than the usual ten. Brandon Watson won a rather 7/uneventful first heat after a lap three pass of Shawn Chenoweth in the #89x.
Lloyd Ritchie won the second heat of the day from the pole and looked very fast doing so. He opened up a lead of about ten car lengths from the very start, a lead Rob Clarke and Glenn Watson were not able to surmount in the short race.
George Wilson made his first start of the season in the #77x and did so in style, winning the third heat of the day. Wilson started on the pole after Craig Stevenson elected to start scratch and Dave Taylor did not start after an incident in practice. Jeff Dunford was also strong, but was not able to catch Wilson after starting fourth.
The second round of heats posed a challenge for most drivers as the sun began to set and the track cooled off from the earlier set of heats. A light dew began to coat the track and counter-acted the temperature change to keep
the racing surface slightly slick.
The fourth heat of the day had Shane Gowan starting on the pole, a spot he would never relinquish. Brandon Watson moved through the field from his fifth starting position, but gave Gowan plenty of room to manoeuvre through the slick corners. Gowan later thanked Watson and spoke highly of the teenager’s talents.
“We made a couple changes with the sway bar. It was great actually, just a little tight in the centre. Brandon was a good sport back there. We were running nose to tail and he gave me lots of room, never tried to turn me. It worked out good,” said Gowan.
The fifth heat saw another driver win from the pole, and this time Glenn Watson was the beneficiary of the top starting spot. Dwayne Baker finished second after making an early pass to the inside of John Owen who was forced to the high side of the track.
The sixth and final heat saw Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native George Wilson win his second heat of the day, this time coming from the fourth position. Wilson took the lead from Jeff Dunford off a restart on lap 4 following a Kyle Passer spin in turn number one. Dunford did not want to see the caution as he had opened a sizable lead over the rest of the field. With the win, Wilson was the top qualifier on the day and would receive the top pick in the invert draw.
“Well depending on the pick, I’ve never been able to have the first pick. However that works, I’m hoping number one would work real good. Hopefully we have a good crop of the fast cars at the front and we can duke it out, keep the fenders on it and have a good time in the end,” said Wilson.
Jeff Dunford emphasized the importance of having a strong showing in the heats in order to have pick in the invert draw.
“It’s very important here. Small track, tight racing. If you don’t get the invert and start in the top twelve, you’re in trouble. There’s no room to pass and everybody’s really fast.”
The invert draw was conducted Sunday morning at the drivers meeting and saw the defending champion Glenn Watson draw the top spot. With the first pick George Wilson drew the tenth starting position. Jesse Kennedy drew
the second starting spot, but elected to start scratch and later explained the reason.
Said Kennedy, “I kind of elected to start scratch because I know I’m a little under horse-powered and sometimes the rest get a little impatient when they can’t just go cause I’m stuck in front of them.”
When the green flag dropped around 4:30pm, Glenn Watson led the field to the start. Shawn Chenoweth jumped at an early opportunity to get to the front, moving around the outside of Todd Campbell.
The race was quickly slowed on lap two when Al Thomson got loose out of turn four and spun on to the front stretch grass, taking the #2 of John Owen. Neither car sustained any significant damage. The restart allowed Rob Clarke and Brandon Watson to shuffle Lloyd Ritchie back to the fourth position as he was stuck in the upper groove.
Jesse Kennedy and Dave Taylor began to make their way through the pack after stating at the back and by lap the pair were running 13th and 14th in the 22 car field. George Wilson was wasting little time as well after starting ninth. On lap 11, Wilson passed Chenoweth on the bottom for the fifth position, just before caution flew for the second time.
The caution was for Kyle Passer who spun in turn one on what was described as a ‘greasy’ racing surface by Jeff Dunford. Several drivers elected to bring the car down pit lane in order to make adjustments, including Brandon Watson who was running in third place.
“I thought we had a good car at the start of the race. Five, ten laps in it started to get real loose. We decided we weren’t going to win with this car so we came in and made a few adjustments,” said Watson.
On the ensuing restart, disaster struck. Rob Clarke, restarting on the outside of the front row, began to move down to the bottom groove. Clarke looked to be clear of Dwayne Baker, but the nose of the #48 was already occupying the bottom line. This sent the #49 sideways towards the outside wall, but short of hitting it. Baker was also collected, but sustained minimal damage. George Wilson was not able to get to the bottom of the track and stopped just short of hitting Baker. The real problem arose when Al Thomson was not able to get to the bottom and it appeared as though the throttle stuck on the #34. Thomson clipped the right-rear of Wilson’s car and continued over the hill in turn one at the entrance to the off-track pits. The race was immediately red-flagged as Thomson exited the track at full speed. The delay was approximately one-hour long as the roof was cut off the #34 in order to have Thomson moved in to the ambulance. He was taken to hospital for further examination after announcing breathing and back problems.
Rob Clarke explained the incident.
“This track’s hard to get a hold of and there just aren’t two grooves like there is at Sunset. That’s the way it goes. It was just one of those deals where we were clear and we started to come down a bit, but we got taken around.”
Wilson and Thomson could not be reached for comment.
When it became apparent Thomson was conscious and stable, and that the race would resume, drivers were permitted to bring their cars down pit lane and make any adjustments as the final clean-up occurred. Drivers would
return to their running position prior to the stoppage. All drivers elected to use the opportunity.
Only the #77x of Wilson and #34 of Thomson would not continue. Both Clarke and Baker would restart at the tail end of the field. At the restart, the top five were#22 G. Watson, #62 Lloyd Ritchie, #7T Jeff Dunford, #40P Charlie Gallant, and #97 Brandon Vanderwel.
Dunford quickly took hold of the second spot after Ritchie slipped up the track exiting turn two. Dave Taylor was quick to move up to fourth, passing both Gallant and Vanderwel on the inside.
Jesse Kennedy also continued his surge to the front, moving past Todd Campbell for seventh on lap 15. Both Shawn Chenoweth and Brandon Watson were pinned on the outside of a long line of cars and were forced back to the 12th and 13th positions respectively.
With 23 laps complete the engine on Craig Stevenson’ #77 imploded entering turn one, ending his night. Fortunately, the blown engine left no oil on the track and little clean-up was required.
The race would then run twenty laps under green flag. Dwayne Baker’s surge to the front was perhaps the most impressive after being collected in the spin on lap 13.
By lap 36, Glenn Watson’s lead had opened to a full straightway over Dave Taylor who gained the second position off the lap 23 restart by moving inside of Jeff Dunford.
On lap 42, Dwayne Baker caught and passed Lloyd Ritchie for fourth and moved inside Jeff Dunford for third one lap later, but he could not complete the pass prior to the fifth caution of the race. The caution was the result of a spin turn three by Brandon Vanderwel who looked to be a bit loose entering the turn. It was unclear whether the #97 was bumped.
The restart with seven laps to go gave the field one more chance to catch Glenn Watson for the lead. Dwayne Baker who was restarting fourth looked to be strong enough to do so. Once the green flag flew, Taylor could not keep up with Watson in the second groove. Dunford and Baker both jumped at the chance and shuffled the #51 back to fourth.
The race was then for second place as Watson was nearly ten lengths ahead of Dunford and Baker. Baker presented a clean challenge to Dunford, nudging him at time entering the corner, but never enough to spin the #7T.
The final seven laps were not enough for Baker to complete the pass, who rounded out the podium with Watson and Dunford claiming the top two spots respectively.
Dunford was very happy to end the season on a high with a second place finish that resulted in his second consecutive runner-up finish in the overall championship standings.
Said Dunford, “Yeah we had the car come together for the race this weekend. We put all our eggs in one basket and it paid off for us. It’s been an up and down year, we’ve had some tough times. It’s all worked out for us. We still finished second with three DNF’s. So, we’ll be back next year and maybe go after Mr. Watson for first place.”
Baker was equally happy about his run even with the early spin.
“I drove the wheels right off her. She was a run from the back to the front, we had an awesome car tonight. We should have gave Glenn a good run for his money if we had gotten up there. The car was good as long as we kept on going. It was the cautions that kept on bollowing us up again,” explained Baker.
One of the underlying stories for the weekend was John Owen competing in his 19th consecutive Autumn Colours Classic, the only driver in the OSCAAR field to do so. Owen earned his second top-five finish of the year by finish
fifth at Peterborough. Owen previously finished second at Peterborough in September.
“We’re extremely happy. It’s good for us. We would always like to do better, but we crashed at the beginning, then we got a flat. Then we were in the pits and out of the pits. The crew did a great job, and I was yelling at them. I apologize for that.”
Racing has truly become a family affair for the Owen family.
“It was a good day all around. My daughter did well in go-karting over at Kawartha Downs. We’re pretty happy. I’m just happy to be here and race,” explained Owen.
The race winner Glenn Watson was ecstatic at achieving his goal for the weekend. Prior to any racing, Watson had his eyes set on a win.
“We’re here to win, and that’s our plan. We won the Fall Colours race in our rookie year in OSCAAR. It would be nice to back that up and get another win on the season for sure,” said Watson prior to the final event.
Following the race, Watson was very happy to achieve his final goal.
“Yeah we’ve had an awesome year, as you say with seven wins. To cap it off today with a win and a fourth championship, it’s pretty special.” Watson went on to comment about the prestige of the event. “That’s up there, it was a really nice weekend, a lot of people here. It’s really nice to pull that off.”
The Autumn Colours Classic was the final event of the 2011 season for OSCAAR and concludes the season on a high note. 2011 was one of the most successful seasons for the series and saw the largest field of cars in OSCAAR history with 28 arriving at Sunset on September 25. Stay tuned to OSCAAR.ca in the coming weeks for a season wrap-up.
The OSCAAR Year-end Banquet will be held at the Best Western Milton on Saturday, November 12, 2011. Tickets are available for purchase at $65 per person by contacting Edna White at emac1963@hotmail.com
By Clayton Johns
Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey
2011 Final Standings Posted by Mike Charest
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 1 | 22 | Glenn Watson | Barrie , On | 310.00 | |
| 2 | 8 | 7T | Jeff Dunford | Callander , On | 290.00 | |
| 3 | 6 | 48 | Dwayne Baker | Stayner , On | 280.00 | |
| 4 | 21 | 51 | Dave Taylor | - | 270.00 | |
| 5 | 14 | 2 | John Owen | Port Hope, On | 260.00 | |
| 6 | 9 | 9 | Brandon Watson | Stayner , On | 250.00 | |
| 7 | 3 | 62 | Lloyd Ritchie | Southampton , On | 240.00 | |
| 8 | 7 | 49 | Rob Clarke | London , On | 230.00 | |
| 9 | 2 | 10 | Jesse Kennedy | Oneida Nation, On | 220.00 | |
| 10 | 12 | 40P | Charlie Gallant | Pefferlaw , On | 210.00 | |
| 11 | 5 | 89X | Shawn Chenoweth | Ayr , On | 200.00 | |
| 12 | 19 | 64B | Chris Burrows | - | 190.00 | |
| 13 | 4 | 07 | Todd Campbell | Guelph , On | 180.00 | |
| 14 | 22 | 13 | Gary Passer | Innisfil , On | 170.00 | |
| 15 | 15 | 97 | Brandon Vanderwel | Port Elgin, On | 160.00 | |
| 16 | 17 | 42 | Tyler Hawn | Oro Station, On | 150.00 | |
| 17 | 20 | 58 | Mike Hilliard | - | 140.00 | |
| 18 | 16 | 77 | Craig Stevenson | Courtice , On | 130.00 | |
| 19 | 10 | 77X | George Wilson | Sault Ste., On | 120.00 | |
| 20 | 13 | 34 | Al Thomson | Uxbridge , On | 110.00 | |
| 21 | 18 | 14 | Kyle Passer | Innisfil , On | 100.00 | |
| 22 | 11 | 39 | Shane Gowan | Waterford , On | 90.00 |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat B 3 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 1 | 77X | George Wilson | Sault Ste., On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 2 | 7T | Jeff Dunford | Callander , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 7 | 51 | Dave Taylor | - | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 3 | 10 | Jesse Kennedy | Oneida Nation, On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 4 | 34 | Al Thomson | Uxbridge , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 5 | 77 | Craig Stevenson | Courtice , On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 6 | 14 | Kyle Passer | Innisfil , On | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 8 | 83 | Ian Bourque | Newmarket , On | 0.00 | DNS |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat B 2 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 3 | 22 | Glenn Watson | Barrie , On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 5 | 48 | Dwayne Baker | Stayner , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 2 | 49 | Rob Clarke | London , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 1 | 62 | Lloyd Ritchie | Southampton , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 4 | 2 | John Owen | Port Hope, On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 6 | 42 | Tyler Hawn | Oro Station, On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 7 | 58 | Mike Hilliard | - | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 8 | 81 | Frank Tulipano | Toronto , On | 0.00 | DNS |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat B 1 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 6 | 39 | Shane Gowan | Waterford , On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 1 | 9 | Brandon Watson | Stayner , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 5 | 07 | Todd Campbell | Guelph , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 3 | 89X | Shawn Chenoweth | Ayr , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 4 | 40P | Charlie Gallant | Pefferlaw , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 7 | 64B | Chris Burrows | - | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 8 | 13 | Gary Passer | Innisfil , On | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 2 | 97 | Brandon Vanderwel | Port Elgin, On | 3.00 |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 3 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 3 | 77X | George Wilson | Sault Ste., On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 6 | 7T | Jeff Dunford | Callander , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 5 | 10 | Jesse Kennedy | Oneida Nation, On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 4 | 34 | Al Thomson | Uxbridge , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 1 | 77 | Craig Stevenson | Courtice , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 7 | 14 | Kyle Passer | Innisfil , On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 2 | 51 | Dave Taylor | - | 0.00 | DNS |
| 8 | 8 | 83 | Ian Bourque | Newmarket , On | 0.00 | DNS |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 2 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 1 | 62 | Lloyd Ritchie | Southampton , On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 4 | 49 | Rob Clarke | London , On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 7 | 22 | Glenn Watson | Barrie , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 6 | 2 | John Owen | Port Hope, On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 5 | 48 | Dwayne Baker | Stayner , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 3 | 42 | Tyler Hawn | Oro Station, On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 2 | 58 | Mike Hilliard | - | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 8 | 81 | Frank Tulipano | Toronto , On | 0.00 | DNS |
| OSCAAR – Qualifying Heat A 1 |
| Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Hometown | Points | |
| 1 | 3 | 9 | Brandon Watson | Stayner , On | 10.00 | |
| 2 | 2 | 97 | Brandon Vanderwel | Port Elgin, On | 9.00 | |
| 3 | 1 | 89X | Shawn Chenoweth | Ayr , On | 8.00 | |
| 4 | 4 | 40P | Charlie Gallant | Pefferlaw , On | 7.00 | |
| 5 | 6 | 07 | Todd Campbell | Guelph , On | 6.00 | |
| 6 | 7 | 39 | Shane Gowan | Waterford , On | 5.00 | |
| 7 | 8 | 64B | Chris Burrows | - | 4.00 | |
| 8 | 5 | 13 | Gary Passer | Innisfil , On | 3.00 |
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