Five races in to the 2011 OSCAAR season, Jeff Dunford looked to be completely out of the championship picture. Mechanical difficulties plagued Dunford for the first half of the season, putting him at an early disadvantage. Hard work and a bit of good fortune turned the season in a better direction for the Castrol Canada #7T team. A string of top-ten finishes in the second half and a podium finish in the season finally earned Dunford the runner-up spot in the championship standings for the second year in a row.
Dunford’s season kicked off at Sunset Speedway with a seventh place feature finish. After being a lap down and driving without any brakes at all, Dunford received the lucky dog on lap 35 that led to his first top-ten finish of the year.
At Kawartha Speedway, an incident on a lap 34 restart caused significant cosmetic damage to the nose of the #7T and was the result of a flat tire on Dave Taylor’s #51 which prevented Taylor from getting up to speed. Dunford would finish 11th.
Two weeks later at Mosport, Dunford missed both of his heat with more mechanical issues in the engine. The crew rallied to fix the car for the feature where they finished seventh for the second time this season after starting in the scratch position.
A return trip to Sunset Speedway gave the Callander, Ontario native his first top-five finish of the year. Dunford had one of the strongest cars of the night, working from his 12th-place starting position up to fifth in just 15 laps. Dunford ran a clean race and finished fifth.
“We’ve had a tough season. The first three races were junk and this one here happened to come around and we’re getting back to where were supposed to be,” said Dunford post-race. “The car worked great from start to finish. I
just needed a couple more laps and might have picked up a couple more positions.”
The power under the hood of the #7T was exhibited at Sauble Speedway when Dunford qualified third with a quick time of 14.648 seconds, just four hundredths of a second off second place Wayne Isaacs’ time. Dunford then won his heat to maintain his third starting position. After running in the top-five all race, Dunford succumbed to another brake issue on lap 45, resulting in a tenth place finish.
The second visit of the season to Mosport Speedway was much better than the first for Dunford and good things seemed to come in threes. A pair of third place heat finishes led to a third place finish in the feature, the first podium finish of the year for the Castrol Canada team.
“The guys worked really hard. We’ve had a tough five races. We’ve got the bugs worked out, we’re so close now,” said an excited Dunford after the race.
The following weekend at Peterborough Speedway, Dunford started the feature fifth after two strong second and third-place heat finishes. The #7T ran in second place for over 10 laps and in the top-five all race before a tire rub and oil leak forced Dunford to park his car with nine laps to go.
A pair of top-ten finishes was in store for the two 75-lap events at Kawartha and Delaware Speedways. At Kawartha, Dunford started mid-pack and quickly moved his way up to the front and made a pass for sixth on lap 52, but couldn’t catch Ian Bourque for fifth in the final 20 laps and settled for sixth. Dunford was once again challenging for the top-five at Delaware when a spin on lap 68 forced him to start at the back. He would work his way back to seventh in the final seven laps.
After a slow start in the second stop at Peterborough Speedway that included a pair of top-five finishes, Dunford rebounded in the feature to finish third for the second time on the year.
The final stop at Sunset Speedway earned Dunford his second heat win of the year and had him sitting on the pole for the feature. Dunford was running with the lead pack when he lost power on lap 6, and had to end his night just six laps later on lap 12 due to engine failure.
The final event of the year at the Autumn Colours Classic gave Dunford a chance to earn the second spot in the championship standings. Dunford made a statement on qualifying Saturday with two second-place finishes in his heats. He drew the eighth starting position for the feature, but had a very quick car and took the second spot from Lloyd Ritchie on lap 12. Dunford closed the season with a second-place finish, his best of the year. His third podium finish of the year secured the runner-up spot in the championship standings for the second consecutive year.
Dunford evaluated his season and explained he is looking for more than second place in 2012.
“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.”
Dunford intends to run a full schedule in 2012, but hopes the season can go without the hiccups that plagued 2011. Congratulations to Jeff Dunford and the Castrol Canada #7T on a second consecutive second place finish.
By Clayton Johns
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