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

Watch Video’s Here

2011 Final Standings Posted by Mike Charest

Stroud, ON – Rob Clarke won his second OSCAAR feature of the season on Sunday night at Sunset Speedway as part of Sunset’s year-end Velocity 250 event. Clarke started the feature in the sixth position, to the outside of #70 Jeff Hanley. Clarke was very happy with the win, and with such a short schedule, Clarke certainly made the best of it winning both events he entered. The other win came at Delaware Speedway on August 19th.

“There’s a lot of great drivers in this series. Fortunately I have a great crew and they gave me a great car. It makes my job a lot easier,” explained Clarke. “Glenn (Watson) ran me clean and Jeff Hanley is a great driver. There’s a ton of them. Maybe our equipment is just a bit better than some of them, but we really maintain it, so that’s (the difference).”

The race got off to a quick start as Lloyd Ritchie jumped in to the lead in his #62 machine past pole sitter #7T Jeff Dunford. Ritchie, fresh off his first ever OSCAAR win two weeks previous at Peterborough, led the first two laps before Todd Campbell made a power move to the outside of Ritchie on lap three. Campbell would lead until lap 6 when he fell off the pace because of engine troubles, ending his night.

Ian Bourque’s night came to an end just two laps in after a spin in turn two brought attention to a larger problem, leaving Bourque to finish in the last position. Tyler Hawn would also pull his machine behind the wall under the first caution of the night.

Lap 6 saw a spin in turn one involving the #13 of Gary Passer, #00 Chris Burrows, and #48 Dwayne Baker. Jesse Kennedy skidded to a stop to avoid the accident and was not deemed an involved car. The ensuing restart caused the worst event of the night when Gary Passer hit both the inside and outside retaining walls on the back straightaway, destroying the front of the car and ending Passer’s night.

The restart allowed Rob Clarke to take the lead on the outside past Lloyd Ritchie, and Jeff Hanley and Glenn Watson moved up one position each as well as they pinned the #62 to the bottom of the race track.

On lap 11, Al Thomson was spun around in turn two and decided to end his night due to an ill handling racecar. CRA Super Series regular Rick Brown was in attendance in his #44 machine running his car with the Outlaws. Brown, however, decided to call the test of his brand new car complete and pulled it in to the main pits to end his night.

The restart on lap 11 allowed Hanley to use the outside to his advantage and Glenn Watson passed Clarke for second two laps later on lap 13. Brandon Watson began his surge back to the front of the field after spinning on lap two, separate from the Ian Bourque incident. Watson had the entire nose cone torn off the front end of his Chevrolet and didn’t hold anything back. By lap 15 he was battling the #51 of Dave Taylor for sixth position. However, on lap 19 Charlie Gallant could not check-up in time exiting turn four, causing Watson to spin Roy Passer in the #27 and all three cars were sent to the back.

On the restart it was two of the series’ top drivers side-by side in Jeff Hanley and Glenn Watson. Watson had the edge on the top side and gained the lead, and Clarke followed suit passing Hanley up high.

On lap 22, another caution flew as Jeff Dunford was off the pace and Charlie Gallant spun to avoid contact after approaching the car on full speed, not realising it was off the pace. Gallant was returned to his previous spot, as OSCAAR officials agreed he had spun to avoid causing a major incident. Jeff Hanley came pit side during the caution to change what was thought to be a flat tire. Hanley would restart in thirteenth position.

After just one lap, the caution would fly again as Kyle Passer spun alone in turn four to slow the pace. On the restart, Clarke and Watson raced side-by-side and Watson held the edge out of turns two and four.

Eleven laps of green flag racing allowed Jeff Hanley move up to the sixth position after his pit stop. Kyle Passer, however, lost control of his car out of turn two, causing him to spin a very loose racecar and bring the race under yellow once again.

The parity between the top two cars became evident as Watson and Clarke ran side-by-side on the restart for two more laps until Lloyd Ritchie drove his car in to turn two too hard and spun without any assistance, sending him to the end of the lead lap.

The ensuing restart had Brandon Watson move the #9 in to the top five and Dave Taylor passed Hanley for third. Hanley explained that is was simply a matter of circumstance that he was not able to finish better than fourth.

“Yeah we were pretty good at the start then on the one restart I got in to Glenn and I thought the tire was down. I guess I didn’t clean it off good enough. We came back through and I figured we would have got second. “

The next to last caution was in turn two when Brandon Vanderwel got some help in spinning from Lloyd Ritchie and Dwayne Baker in a battle for the tenth position. Vanderwel would restart in the fifteenth position behind the other two involved cars.

On the restart, Brandon Watson challenged Jeff Hanley for the fourth position on the inside, but the #70 managed to hold on for a few more laps, before finally surrendering. Taylor looked to have locked up the third position before slipping up in turn two with five to go, allowing Watson and Hanley to slip by unscathed.

Clarke and Glenn Watson continued to battle side-by-side, neither able to gain an advantage with Clarke`s 49 on the high side of Watson’s #22.

Kyle Passer would bring out the final caution of the night with a spin out of turn four, ending his night as a result of his third infraction.

It was on the final restart of the night that the most exciting racing yet this year was delivered, as Watson and Clarke raced door-to-door for the final three laps, touching a few times as a result of hard racing. At the line, it appeared to be dead even/ Clarke looked to have an advantage exiting the turns, but Watson would pull even down the straightaways as nephew Brandon watched from the third position.

As the white flag flew, it was a two-car drag race, door to door. Out of turn four it was anybody’s guess as to who would win, but ultimately it was Rob Clarke at the line by a matter of inches. OSCAAR officials conferred before declaring Clarke the winner, as he won by less than the nose of the car in front of the front wheels.

Clarke had nothing, but praise for the only driver besides himself to win three OSCAAR championships.

“Glenn was giving it his all, I was giving it my all. We touched a couple of times, but that’s just racing. I trusted him on the outside and he trusted me. My throttle started acting up on me and I touched him. I just let him get the front, because that’s not the way I race. Glenn ran me as clean as can be, and I had a lot of fun, but man I worked hard.”

Glenn Watson concurred with Clarke. Although Watson did not get the win that would have allowed him to sweep the 2011 OSCAAR schedule at Sunset, he did offer a lot of credit to Clarke.

“More on the restarts than anything else. If we got out in front we could run pretty good and not have to work as hard. Rob kept us honest and the rest of the guys did too. It was a lot of fun tonight. I had fun racing with Rob and all the other guys. We had to work to come up from the middle of the pack tonight.”

With the second place finish, Watson has clinched his fourth consecutive championship, with the OSCAAR Super Late Models (an OSCAAR record), bringing him within one of Rob Clarke’s record of five OSCAAR championships. Watson offered comment on another championship.

“Yeah it was a good night, we needed that. That’s pretty much locked it up for us now. It looks like that is a done deal, so four in a row is pretty awesome.”

Watson also gave credit where credit was due.

“First and fore most, my crew. They put in hours and hours on this thing. Of course the sponsors: Rival Office Solutions, Race2way.ca, Klotz Synthetics, Topshops, they really pour the fuel for us here. The whole crew and the whole family.”

Brandon Watson was very strong and accomplished an amazing feat in finishing third without the nose of his car. He gave an explanation of the racing as it was on the track.

Said Watson, “I guess it was a bit of a rough night. I got in to a bit of trouble and I think people used me as a wall kind of. I got run in to three or four times in the back. My crew did a great job getting me back out after ripping the nose off. They tightened my car to get it back out and hopefully get to the front.”

Chris Burrows was running as a double driver for Wayne Isaacs in the #00, who was away for personal reasons. Burrows spoke with OSCAAR prior to the race.

Said Burrows, “Well I want to make sure it’s in one piece. I want to do the best for Wayne, being a double driver tonight for him. It’s a lot different than my car and hopefully I can keep it together and do well for him.”

The OSCAAR Super Late Models will be back in action in two weeks’ time on Thanksgiving weekend as part of the 19th annual Autumn Colours Classic. Qualifying heats will take place on Saturday, October 8th and the 50 lap feature on Sunday, October 9th. The Classic is the ‘Superbowl of Stock Car Racing’ in Canada and features almost every division of racing all rolled in to an event no racing fan should miss. Stay tuned to www.oscaar.ca and www.peterboroughspeedway.com for up to date information on everything to do with the Autumn Colours Classic.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Click here for Video’s

It was only two laps in to the main event that caution flew when Chris Burrows suffered engine failure for the second time in as many races and Shane Gowan was stopped in the infield grass off the front-straightaway after minor contact in turn 4. The race had to be red flagged as oil had been spread the length of the race track by Burrows. Peterborough Speedway regular Tim Fernandes pulled his #77x behind the wall, ending his night as well.

Said Burrows, “It blew up again. It’s an expensive motor. I don’t even know what to say. It was running good. I don’t know, I’ll see what I can do.”

The ensuing restart saw Ritchie leading once again followed by Ian Bourque’s #83. The primary battle was for the positions fourth through sixth. Brandon Vanderwel moved to the outside of Wayne Isaacs to make a pass, as did Dave Taylor. Two laps later Taylor continued to move up and was in the fourth position past Vanderwel.

Lap six saw the second caution of the evening where Kyle Passer hit the wall exiting turn four causing a flat right-front tire and ending his night for handling reasons.

On the ensuing restart Dave Taylor moved up one more spot to third past Flamborough Speedway regular Shawn Chenoweth in the #89x with another impressive power move on the top side of the race track, but all was for not as caution flew again. This time it was the result of another blown motor; this of Mark Hiller’s #58 machine, causing oil to be laid in turns one and two, and subsequently more speedy-dry.

When racing resumed Taylor once again made a pass for the second position by Bourque and John Owen and Glenn Watson followed suit one lap later, forcing Bourque back to fifth. Glenn Watson was up to third by lap 10, passing John Owen, after starting in the twelfth position. Watson missed his first heat race due to problems with the oil pump, qualifying him outside the requirements for the invert draw.

Racing became tight in the ensuing laps and it appeared Dave Taylor had the fastest car on the race track. Taylor made Ritchie aware of the fact, nudging him several times in turns two and four over the course of a five lap period.

The leaders put Frank Tulipano down one lap on lap nineteen and the same to Tyler Hawn on lap 22. While Taylor appeared to have the quicker car in the corners, Ritchie was pulling away on the straightaways, creating a game of cat-and-mouse between the two.

On lap 28, Taylor became loose on the entry to turn three and slid high in to the corner. Glenn Watson moved low to try and pass, but Taylor seemingly did not see Watson and moved to the

bottom side causing contact and minor damage to the nose of both cars.

Lap 29 saw Shane Gowan and Rudy Oppersma fall one lap off the pace. Oppersma was making his first start of the season and finished the night with a top-ten finish.

“Well it’s nice because this is a new chassis and new car. We tried out a complete different setup. We’re happy to finish a race and bring it home in one piece. Only a few dents, if you get away with only a few dents, you’re a happy man,” explained Oppersma.

The two lapped cars allowed Ritchie to pull away from the Taylor and Watson pairing as they worked their way around the two as well.

It was then on lap 31 that disaster struck. Gary Passer was trying to work his way around the lapped car of Frank Tulipano. Sensing the pressure from Ritchie to go a lap down himself, Passer became impatient and under-braked,sending the #81 sideways through turn 1. Passer avoided further contact with the #81 as did Lloyd Ritchie who was first on to the scene. However, a race for position between Dave Taylor and Glenn Watson did not allow time to react to the car covering the width of the track. Taylor ploughed through the front end of the #81, leaving the front-end of both cars destroyed. Glenn Watson managed to jam his brakes to avoid the accident and Ian Bourque spun to avoid on the top side of the track. Taylor was not able to be reached for comment following the race, but Brandon Vanderwel did comment.

Said Vanderwel, “I wasn’t anywhere near the spin. My crew said there was caution on the track and it was all said and done by the time I got there. I just know it was a mess.”

Jeff Dunford had another theory on the accident.

“There’s just guys racing for positions on a small track and they’re racing hard. The biggest (problem) is they don’t let the tires get warm enough and they go sliding all over. It’s just short track racing.”

Wayne Isaacs, Ian Bourque and Shane Gowan all took the opportunity to make adjustments on pit lane as the accident was cleared. Passer was black flagged for instigating the incident, ending his night.

The ensuing restart saw Glenn Watson to the high-side of Lloyd Ritchie, but Watson was not able to complete the pass. Shortly after it was observed that a support arm of Watson’s rear-wing had come loose and was flailing out the right side of his #22 machine. Watson was black flagged in an attempt to bring him down pit road to have it fixed. However, Watson was running in a tight group at the front with Ritchie running first, himself second, and John Owen in third. The caution flew on lap 39 as a safety precaution. Watson fixed the problem, but was scored two laps down for not obeying the black flag.

Lloyd Ritchie jumped out to a five car-length lead over John Owen on the restart with just 11 laps to go. Jeff Dunford quietly made his way up to the top three after a thirteenth starting position and re-starting at the back several times following changes made to the car on pit road.

“It feels really good. We’ve worked really hard through the season and we’ve had some good finishes. We’ve always had stupid things breaking, but we stuck in there tonight and the car got better as we went (through the race). We went back to 13th, made it up to third, I like it,” said Dunford.

With 46 laps complete Shawn Chenoweth spun alone exiting turn four, setting up a four lap dash to the finish, with Ritchie still holding the top spot. Ritchie made no mistake on the restart, pulling away from Owen. Owen was able to maintain his second spot ahead of Dunford. Ian Bourque remained fourth, but lap 47 saw Brandon Vanderwel jump up in to the top-five past Todd Campbell. Vanderwel ran a brand new body on his car for the race.

Explained Vanderwel, “I was working in Toronto this week and the guys decided to surprise me when I came home to pack up on Thursday. They had a brand new body on the car. It’s about time. Our corporate colours are not red. We we’re going to go black or white, we decided to go white with our corporate colours for Shoreline Stone. It’s all decaled-up finally, and another top-five. I want to be in the top-five the rest of the year.”

The final three laps ran clean, allowing for a top three of Ritchie, Owen, and Dunford.

John Owen had easily his best finish in recent years as he finished second.

“(I’m) very happy. The crew worked very hard. We switched around to a new style setup (in practice) and we ended up switching it back to the way it was,” explained Owen. “The car hooked up nice, drove nice, steered nice. I’m very happy. I got pictures with my daughter, not much more I can ask for.”

While several drivers had good nights, it was Lloyd Ritchie that was the happiest driver in the pits.

“A relief. It’s been a long time. I didn’t like those cautions coming out (near the end) because I thought it was better with more green flag laps. Relief, that’s all I can say.”

Ritchie also explained that the accident he avoided on lap 31 was a lot closer than it may have seemed.

“Yeah there were a couple of them that I just missed. I couldn’t quite hear Cole on the radio. That one there was especially tight. I was thinking ‘jeez oh no, now what?’ but I was always thinking something (could go wrong).”

Ritchie led start to finish for his first OSCAAR feature win and stated post-race that track position was the key to winning.

“I think that was key (track position). Some guys just had some bad luck tonight. Some blown motors and stay-dry on the track and the track was a little slippery or so. I think that was the key, track position. I didn’t think there was a second groove because of some of the engines blowing up. I’m happy though, I’m happy.”

OSCAAR resumes action in three weeks’ time on Sunday September 25 as part of Sunset Speedway’s Velocity 250 season ending event. It is the third and final stop at Sunset for OSCAAR this season. Stay tuned to www.OSCAAR.ca for upcoming news and events.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Click here for Video’s

“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

Click here for Video’s

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Standing’s by Mike Charest

“The car was awesome at the start. I went too fast at the beginning and wore the right-rear tire out. If that last caution hadn’t come out, Glenn (Watson) probably would have got by me,” explained Hanley.

Glenn Watson drew the ninth starting position in the invert draw prior to the feature race, the furthest back the #22 team had started thus far this season. Watson took a less conventional route to the front of the field tonight after he pitted under a caution on lap seven, and then restarted at the back.

“One of the throttle return springs broke, so we only had the one left. The pedal felt really soft so I could tell it broke and it’s not something you want to mess around with.”

Watson restarted in the twelfth position and did not waste any time moving forward, reaching the fourth position by lap eighteen. Watson would eventually finish in second after challenging Hanley on multiple occasions, but running out of laps to make the pass.

The lap seven caution was preceded by a caution on lap six when Gary Passer spun all alone out of turn two. One lap later, the caution flew when Lloyd Ritchie got in to the left-rear quarter-panel of Charlie Gallant in turn three, sending Gallant in to the outside wall. The red flag was displayed while clean up ensued, but both involved drivers realize the incident was simply a consequence of hard racing.

“We just kind of went down there a little quicker than we were supposed to, I think. The #62 was coming in to us and just tagged a little bit. He didn’t mean to do it,” said Gallant. “It just turned us around. I thought I punched a rad out so we had to park it for the night.”

“We were racing for the same spot. I thought I had the inside there and it was just hard racing. Those things happen. I don’t intentionally try to spin anybody out. Charlie knows that too. It was just a tough racing deal,” explained Lloyd Ritchie.

Ritchie was sent to the back of the field for being an involved car in the incident.

Caution flew again on lap eight when Kyle Passer spun in the same spot as Gallant hit the wall. Passer also spun on lap seven and decided to end his night early due to an ill-handling race car.

When racing resumed it was for 25 straight laps. Jeff Dunford moved quickly up to the second spot, passing Ian Bourque’s #83 on the low side after starting fifth. On lap 12, Brandon Vanderwel slowed and was off the pace. Vanderwel brought the car pit side and ended his night. No report was given to OSCAAR officials.

Jeff Hanley lapped his first car of the night in the #77 of Craig Stevenson on lap 16. Chris Burrows was having his best run of the season and had moved up to the fifth position. Burrows, however, made the mistake of trying to pass on the outside and was shuffled backwards by a line of five cars.

By lap 20 Hanley had opened his lead over second place Jeff Dunford to a full straightaway. The action behind the top three of Hanley, Dunford, and Bourque was fierce. Shane Gowan, who had his best outing of the season, battled side-by-side with Gary Passer for several laps before Passer eventually gained the sixth spot. By lap 25, only the top five cars remained on the lead lap as Hanley paced the field.

Bourque quickly caught second place Dunford amidst the lapped traffic and Glenn Watson followed suit. By lap 33 Watson caught and passed third place Bourque. On the same lap, the #00 of Wayne Isaacs spun in turn one and tagged Jeff Dunford as he tried to pass the lapped Isaacs on the outside. Dunford managed to avoid spinning and regained his second position. The restart allowed Watson to pass Dunford on the low side and stay with Hanley for the remainder of the race.

Lap 36 saw Gary Passer spin out of turn two, but Passer brought the car back up to speed and a caution was avoided for five more laps. Glenn Watson pressed Hanley and looked to the low side on several occasions as the pair headed in to turn four, but was not able to make the pass.

The final two cautions of the night came on lap 41. The first arrived when a trio of cars, Shane Gowan, Chris Burrows, and Tyler Hawn were involved in a minor spin in turn one. On the ensuing restart Shane Gowan spun out of turn four and on to the front straightaway grass. Gowan later explained the spin was a result of a flat right-rear tire that he knew was slowly deflating.

“Something got in to the right-rear tire. It was going down and we were just hanging on waiting for a caution to change it. Finally it popped and we we’re able to change it. We’ll take it, it’s a good finish for us,” explained Gowan of his seventh place finish, one lap off the pace.

During the caution, Jeff Dunford brought his car down pit lane to investigate attire rub on the left-rear quarter-panel. The tire rub, however, was not the only issue as an oil leak was discovered on the car, ending Dunford’s night nine laps short of the finish.

The race was green flag for the final nine laps as Hanley held off Watson for his first win of 2011. The second place finish is Watson’s only blemish of the season, if it can be called that at all.

Ian Bourque finished third, his best of the season in only his second start.

“The #70 car was really fast. We’re a lot closer to him this year than we were last year, so we’re making gains. Hopefully by the end of the year we can run as fast as he is,” explained Bourque.

Wayne Isaacs drove a brand new Jeff Hanley-prepared car to a ninth place finish. It was the first time Isaacs had raced the car and it was evident as he fought the car all night long.

“Well it’s a good finish for the way I was running and so forth. It’s the hardest fifty laps I’ve ever done, I’ll tell you that right now. I’ve never manhandled a car like that in my life. I don’t even know where I finished. I was too tired to find out,” said an exhausted Isaacs.

OSCAAR returns to action next Friday night at Kawartha Speedway for 75 laps and the 12th annual Don Biederman Memorial race presented by Matco Tools. Stay tuned to OSCAAR.ca this week for further information regarding the event as well as a schedule of events.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan & Amanda

Click here for Video’s

Race Results by Mike Charest

OSCAAR – Feature

“We just try and bring a good car every week. We get what we get. We were fortunate we got out front quick tonight. We made some good moves to get out front. It’s a little easier to do it out front then to have to fight through the pack,” said Watson from Victory Lane.

Brandon Watson, who made his fourth OSCAAR start of the year, wasted no time moving to the front either. After drawing the eighth starting position, Watson moved to fourth by lap two, and third by lap eight. Watson had gained the second position and glued himself to the back of his uncle Glenn before spinning in turn one on lap 39. The spin ended Brandon’s hopes of winning his first OSCAAR race of the year.

“The fact is we kind of went in a little too hard. The back end started coming around,” explained Watson. “Unfortunately, the tires were starting to go away. We were loose off (the corners), loose in (to the corners). It just didn’t work out for us tonight.”

Lloyd Ritchie, who finished a season-high second, was the beneficiary of the younger Watson’s spin as he inherited the second spot. Ritchie also finished second at Kawartha in June, and attributes much of his success to a conservative driving style that limits tire wear.

“I think that was pretty crucial (saving tires). I kind of saved them as much (as I could) and I had a little run at the end there for Glenn. He was awfully good tonight.”

Rookie-of-the-Year (ROTY) Candidate Tyler Hawn finished a career-high sixth, just short of his first top-five finish. Hawn finished his first Mosport event of 2011 in eleventh after he had to retire due to engine failure. The battle on the track between Hawn and Todd Campbell, who leads the ROTY points’ standings, was tight as the two battled for five straight laps just past the halfway point. Hawn eventually secured sixth spot with a pass exiting as he exited turn four on lap 34.

“It feels pretty good, I’m happy with that. Maybe another twenty-five laps we could have caught the next guy (Al Thomson). It was getting better and better as the long run went on,” said Hawn.

Jeff Dunford had his best run of the season, finishing third. Dunford was running second until he slipped up to the high groove in turn two on lap 17 and was passed by Jeff Hanley and Brandon Watson. Dunford was steady the rest of the night and never slipped lower than fourth.

“The car was good at the start and it was good at the end. I was trying some different driving practices to get in to the corners smooth and get out hard. It worked really well. I have no complaints whatsoever,” said an ecstatic Dunford who has battled some unfortunate events throughout the season.

Several drivers suffered mechanical difficulties that forced them to end their nights early. Wayne Isaacs was the first to leave the track on lap 15 when his car fell off the pace. Three laps late, Isaacs pushed his car behind the wall to the main pit to end his night.

“She blew up. There’s nothing you can do. First I lost the power steering after the first couple of laps. It was still running okay and a couple of laps later she went south,” said Isaacs.

Jeff Hanley, who made his first start of the season, brought his Toyota Camry down pit lane under caution on lap 18. The caution was a result of Brandon Vanderwel spinning in turn two. Hanley never re-entered the track, stating that a broken fuel pump ended his night early. Following the spin, Vanderwel entered pit lane and had his crew tighten his loose racecar. Following the changes his car was very fast, moving up to the sixth position.

Unfortunately, on lap 25 the rear-end on the #97 of Vanderwel broke as he exited turn four, sending the car in to the outside retaining wall on the front straightaway. It was an unfortunate event for the #97 team who was still excited about their third place finish at Sauble Speedway.

“I came in there when I spun out and the guys tightened the car up. It made it a heck of a lot better those last few laps. We were a rocket, it was dialed in,” explained Vanderwel. “I think we passed four cars in three laps and then we broke the rear end.”

Frank Tulipano returned to OSCAAR action for the first time since Autumn Colours in 2010. Tulipano switched car numbers to #81 from his previous #82. Tulipano was forced to retire to the main pit after thirteen laps. Tulipano was late to arrive and unable to prepare the car to his liking.

Mosport Late Model regular Paul Law ran with OSCAAR for the evening. Law added to the purse for the evening, posting an additional $500 to the race winner’s cheque courtesy of Midas of Orangeville.

The final laps of the race were perhaps the most exciting. After restarting in eighth following his lap 39 spin, Brandon Watson quickly made his way to the fourth position, dicing his way through the field. Watson, however, ran out of laps to make his way back to the front and challenge Glenn, settling for fourth behind Watson, Ritchie, and Dunford.

OSCAAR returns to actions next Saturday night with the first of three visits to Peterborough Speedway to begin the second half of the schedule. Glenn Watson will look to increase his winning streak to seven in his quest for a fourth straight championship. The rest of the field of Outlaws continues to attempt to oust him from Knightworks Design Victory Lane. Be sure to catch all the action with the first green flag set to fly at 6:00pm.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Click here for Video’s

Results will be posted by Mike Charest

OSCAAR – Feature

“Wayne had a good run. He was keeping up and I was a little nervous (because) my car wasn’t quite right. It was a little tight and I understand the brakes were glowing a bit. I was worried about him, especially if we had a restart. I knew I was working my brakes pretty hard. He was fast tonight. He gave me a good run,” explained Watson in victory lane.

The top two cars battled hard, but certainly were not the only battle of the night on the tight paperclip shaped oval. On just the second lap of the race Tyler Hawn and Shane Gowan spun in turn two after a tight battle from the green flag to start the race. On the ensuing restart Jeff Dunford and newcomer Jesse Kennedy, who started third and fourth respectively, made contact when Dunford’s car bounced over the small infield curb, causing both cars to fall further back in the field.

“I think he just went in a little too low and hit the curb there. It jumped his car up in to me,” said an understanding Kennedy. “He already said at the start of the race he’s going to give me a lot of room and I trust that it’s going to be. Sometimes you just make mistakes and it’s unfortunate it just happens. “

Kennedy was able to bounce back to a fifth place finish, but Dunford would finish the night in tenth after the steering on his car broke with five laps remaining. Kennedy had no easy time achieving a top-five finish in his first OSCAAR start. Kennedy battled with Inside Track Rookie of the Year Contender Todd Campbell for nearly twenty laps. Kennedy searched high and low to find away around the #07 Campbell’s Sanitation Chevrolet and resorted to tapping Campbell with his front bumper at every corner entry. Kennedy finally made the pass when the two were racing side-by-side and Campbell was forced to check up to move around the lapped car of Chris Burrows.

In the meantime, the Watson and Isaacs pairing gained significant time on the grouping of three cars that included Campbell, Kennedy, and Dunford. On lap 43, Watson lapped the fifth place Kennedy, leaving just four cars on the lead lap at the end of the fifty lap event. The ‘Orange Blossom Special’ of Lloyd Ritchie was the final car on the lead lap in fourth place. Ritchie started twelfth after spinning in his heat race and cutting the left-rear Hoosier tire. Ritchie held the fourth fastest time following time trials with a lap of 14.675 seconds, just seven hundredths slower than second place Wayne Isaacs. Coming from the back is difficult for any driver and so Ritchie was happy with his fourth place finish.

“That’s pretty good considering what happened last week and the work that I did this week” said Ritchie referring to the blown engine troubles he suffered at Sunset. “I’m pretty happy with that. I wish I had one more chance at it so I could tighten the car up a little. I loosened it up too much. It was a good run.”

The night’s underlying story, however, was Rookie of the Year contender Brandon Vanderwel finishing in the third, his first podium finish in a young OSCAAR career. Vanderwel benefitted from the mishap between Dunford and Kennedy, and was never challenged for the remainder of the race. Vanderwel remained consistent for the duration of the race and was ecstatic to achieve his best finish at his home track.

“It’s truly an honour to be able to do it here, of all tracks. My best finish here at Sauble Speedway where I grew up. For me to do it in front of all my family and friends, I couldn’t ask for any better. We finally got the car tuned in. We’ve had a lot of things go wrong, some pretty bad luck, but we’ll take (third).”

Vanderwel was absent from the racing scene in Ontario altogether for almost a full decade, but decided to try his hand again after spending time around a respected member in the OSCAAR family.

“Well, I hung around Chester Ritchie a little too long,” joked Vanderwel. “I decided that it was going to be in my blood again so here we are.”

Brakes were also a big issue for multiple drivers as the race ran green flag for 43 straight laps after two early cautions. Following a lap seven caution for Bruce Gowland who stopped in the infield, the race ran caution free, causing the brake discs on many cars to glow bright orange. Even leader Glenn Watson feared his brakes might run out.

“I was concerned about them. I was getting a fair bit of movement in the pedal. I was hoping there wasn’t going to be a restart because usually the brakes go away once you stop. We were fortunate we were able to keep going (under green),” said Watson following the race.

Conversely, Wayne Isaacs experienced no such problems, largely due to a different driving style than most other drivers.

“Actually I don’t use much of the brakes. That’s one of the things with me. I tend to drive the car and float it in (to the corner) and I don’t use the brakes as hard. I don’t think mine were glowing,” said Isaacs.

Isaacs came up just short of a win for the second straight week after finishing third at Sunset on July 2. The #00 has finished every feature race this season inside the top-five and, like the rest of OSCAAR drivers, is seeking to dethrone Watson from Knightworks Design Victory Lane. Isaacs does have a plan for defeating the three-time champion.

“Well if he was sick and stayed home, I think that would work,” joked Isaacs in front of a full grandstand following the race. “I had him going in to the corners, but he had me coming off. There was nothing I could do, but stay behind him and watch.”

The two twelve lap heat races were divided based on the earlier time trials with the odd qualifiers in the first heat and the even qualifiers in the second heat. Glenn Watson started on the pole for the first heat race, but a quick move off the start on the outside by Jeff Dunford, who qualified third quickest, forced Watson back in to second. Dunford would go on to win the heat.

The second heat was an eventful one. On lap 7, Bruce Gowland drew a caution after he came to a stop on the grass just off the back straightaway. On the following restart, Lloyd Ritchie was loose out of turn two and was spun by the #00 of Isaacs. Ritchie cut a tire and had to sit out the rest of the heat. Isaacs was sent to the back of the field. Jesse Kennedy assumed the lead and battled Brandon Vanderwel before eventually capturing his first checkered flag in an Outlaw Super Late Model.

OSCAAR returns to action in two weeks at Mosport Speedway on Saturday July 23 and will join the Ontario Legends Series and Mosport’s own four cylinder division. Racing is set to begin at six o’clock and OSCAAR will follow its usual format of two sets of heat races followed by the fifty lap feature race.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda

Click here for Video’s

OSCAAR – Feature

By lap 10 the #22 Chevrolet of Watson had moved to second place and began chasing the #48 of Dwayne Baker who had taken the lead after starting on the outside the front row. Before lap 11 could be complete, the#18 of Bruce Gowland spun on his own in turn 4. The caution tightened the field which was ordered significantly different than the original starting positions. The #9 of Brandon Watson, in a brand new vehicle wrap courtesy of Knightworks Design, had advanced to the fifth position after starting eleventh, while the #7T of Jeff Dunford followed his pre-race philosophy and sat in the sixth position after starting 13th.

“I gotta go fast and I ain’t got time to play around” stated Dunford before strapping in to his Castrol Canada Chevrolet.

The second caution of the night flew on lap 15 when Ed Bowlby, who made his first appearance of the 2011 season, spun exiting the tricky corner two at Sunset. Multiple cars entered the infield pits to make adjustments, but Craig Stevenson’s night was over when his #77 was leaking fluid from the rear end. The ensuing restart allowed Brandon Watson to move in to third.

Just two laps later on lap 17 Ed Bowlby spun again in turn three, but the field was quickly reset. The following restart caused another caution when Dave Taylor’s #51 was turned around off the bumper of Roy Passer’s #27 Chevrolet. The #97 of Brandon Vanderwel stopped to avoid the incident and all three cars were sent to the back of the field, but Taylor remained in the pits to fix a radiator problem. Passer’s night was also ended due to undisclosed mechanical difficulties, as was Ed Bowlby’s.

Glenn Watson remained the leader following the restart and survived a challenge from Dwayne Baker on the high side. Baker however could not hold off Brandon Watson any longer and on lap 21 ‘The Bully’ surrendered the second position to Brandon. Another caution flag was displayed on lap 21 and gave Brandon Watson his best chance of the night to take the lead from his uncle Glenn. Brandon led lap 22, beating Glenn to the line by a nose, but the elder Watson regained the lead on the low side on lap 23 and would lead for the remainder of the race. Brandon has been able to catch his uncle in all three of the events he has participated in this season, but hasn’t been able to take the lead.

“(The car) was alright on the outside. I just found Glenn got a bit better as the run went on. I tried to stick on the outside as long as I could. The car was pushing a bit in the center so I couldn’t hold him down” explained Brandon about the tight battle. “It sucks that we keep getting second here. I think one of these days we’ll be able to get by him and score a win.”

The first of two final cautions occurred on lap 28 when Brandon Vanderwel spun the #42 of Tyler Hawn in turn two. The caution saved Shane Gowan who lost just one lap after turning down pit lane to make adjustments under green flag conditions. Gowan, who destroyed the front end of his car in the season opener at Sunset, finished thirteenth and on the lead lap. Dave Taylor was also able to return to the track following the caution, but eleven laps off the pace. The final caution took place on lap 34 when Dave Taylor spun the #13 of Gary Passer.

Glenn Watson was able to survive a challenge on the night’s final restart by nephew Brandon and third place competitor Wayne Isaacs who had a very solid final sixteen laps. Isaacs, like many drivers, became very frustrated with the number of cautions.

“It was very frustrating. My car needed about seven or eight laps before it…stopped the pushing, and started working. Each time we had a caution, I needed that seven laps again” explained Isaacs. “The last run we had was a pretty good run because it was longer. I wish it happened earlier.”

The always humble Glenn Watson was excited about how well prepared his car was and the results it produced, eventually leading him to victory lane for the fourth consecutive OSCAAR event.

“It was an awesome car tonight. Just a small adjustment in practice and it really helped the car…get off the corner. It was a bullet tonight” explained Glenn in victory lane.

Watson also explained the difficulty in maintaining the lead over several double-file restarts.

“Those double-file restarts are nice when you’re trying to make up positions, when you’re on the front (of the line), it’s tough.”

Charlie Gallant and Lloyd Ritchie suffered the worst luck of the night. Gallant was leading the first heat of the night when on lap 8 the car lost power exiting turn 4. Gallant was unable to return for his second heat race or for the feature due to engine failure. Lloyd Ritchie started the feature race in fourth after third and fifth place finishes in his heat races. During the lap 10 caution, Ritchie’s car became enveloped in a cloud of smoke when the power plant on his Chevrolet malfunctioned.

“Just bad luck. That’s two races in a row (at Sunset)” said a disappointed Ritchie referring to the season opener in which his car blew an engine in practice. “I think we got one more here. Third time’s the charm.”

Jeff Dunford turned his season around with a fifth place finish, his first top-five of the season. The 2010 points runner-up is not used to finishing at the back and was desperately in need of the good finish he earned.

“We’ve had a tough season. The first three races were junk…and we’re getting back to where were supposed to be. The car worked great from start to finish” explained Dunford following the event. “The monkey’s gone so now we can start building on what we have now. We’ve got a good foundation and now we’ll get faster.”

Chris Burrows shook his bad luck with an eighth place finish, the team’s first finish of the season. Burrows were unable to race in either the Kawartha or Mosport features due to engine troubles.

“It feels real good. It’s about time” said Burrows excitedly from his pit following the race. “I had carburetor trouble. Once I got going I was alright, but then I screwed up, hit the wall.”

Todd Campbell expanded his lead in the Inside Track Rookie-of-the-Year standings over Tyler Hawn with his seventh place finish.

Ian Bourque made his first appearance of the 2011 season and finished sixth after starting on the pole. Ian’s son drew the pole as part of the invert of OSCAAR’s top eleven qualifiers (half of the field).

OSCAAR had its highest car count of the season to this point with twenty-two cars arriving, meaning two sets of three heat races were the order of the evening. Three drivers swept their set of heat races. Dwayne Baker won both races starting from the fifth and second positions respectively. Brandon Watson won both races from the fifth and third positions, and Glenn Watson won both races from the fourth starting position.

OSCAAR returns to action in just one week at Sauble Speedway on July 9th. Stay tuned to www.oscaar.ca throughout the week for details on the event as it will include a unique format, as well as the schedule of events.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Amanda Downey & Dan Little

Click here to view video’s

Results posted by Mike Charest

OSCAAR – Feature

“I knew I had to try and get out front quick if I could and take what I could as early as I could. We were able to take advantage of Drew there when he messed up off of (turn) four. The car was really, really good tonight. It was a pleasure to drive.”

The race ran under green flag conditions for eighteen laps until the #14 of Kyle Passer spun exiting turn four, allowing the field to be tightened up again for a double-file restart. The restart saw a tough battle for sixth place between #7T Jeff Dunford and #51 Dave Taylor. Dunford would eventually gain the spot when Taylor slipped up the track in the apex of turn four on lap twenty. Dunford ran the majority of the race in the top ten after starting thirteenth. After having radiator problems in practice, Dunford was unable to compete in either heat race which eventually affected the car’s performance.

“We didn’t know what we had for a car because we fought with it through the practice, no heat races,” said Dunford following the fifty lap event. “Once we got the car settled down it was pretty good except for I was really loose off and tight going in to the corner.”

Caution came out again on lap 22 when Kyle Passer spun in turn one and Brandon Vanderwel’s #97 suffered a cut right-rear tire. Tires certainly were an issue throughout the evening, but by no means were they an unexpected issue. Lloyd Ritchie explained prior to the race that tires certainly had the potential to be the deciding factor.

” The tracks a little older too I believe, a little rougher. The traction is not going to be there because it’s old. A lot of it’s going to be in the tires,” explained Ritchie.

The caution on lap 22 began a string of cautions and a red flag on lap 26 brought out by Charlie Gallant’s #40P when multiple parts in the car’s rear-end broke, leaving a line of oil around the entire race track and through pit road.

When the race resumed, Lloyd Ritchie moved his ‘Orange Blossom Special’ in to third passing Brandon Watson on the outside, but would later fall back to fifth on lap thirty where he would eventually finish the night. Ritchie, however, did not finish the race quietly as he battled consistently with Wayne Isaacs #00. The two drivers raced one another clean and the drivers echoed one another in response to the battle.

“It was a good clean battle. I knew the tire situation was going to be coming to a head. It was nice and tight, but nice and clean racing,” explained Lloyd Ritchie.

“The #62 car was okay. We ran with each other well. We’re good with each other. We don’t wreck each other or anything like that,’ said Isaacs about the nearly twenty lap battle.

Lap 34 saw the race’s fifth caution when Todd Campbell was at the mercy of flat right-front tire. On the subsequent restart, Brandon Watson was finally able to pass Drew Spicer after four unsuccessful attempts.

“It was definitely hard getting by the 89 especially with all the restarts and cautions we had,” explained Watson. “I found our car was good in the long run. I guess on one restart (Drew Spicer) kind of messed up and we got underneath him and we were able to make the pass.”

By lap 40, the Watson pair had pulled away, leading Spicer by a full straightaway with the elder Glenn leading Brandon by about five car lengths. With three laps to go, Brandon was able to close within three car lengths of Glenn when they encountered lapped traffic, but was never able to close the gap in order to make a pass. While, Brandon’s car was strong, he felt Glenn’s was faster in the end and that a few extra laps would not have been sufficient to catch the #22 car.

“Maybe not a few more laps, maybe fifty more. I could see he was getting really loose. I was trying to keep it smooth, keep my tires. If we had more laps, but I don’t think with ten. He had a pretty strong car,” explained Brandon.

From a distance, Glenn Watson’s lead looked dominant, leading by as many as fifteen car-lengths over Drew Spicer, Watson explained that the cautions made the run significantly more challenging and frustrating as he consistently had to rebuild his lead.

“It was pretty frustrating. You get in a rhythm and then another caution comes out. So it was really frustrating, but that’s part of it,” explained Watson.

The heat races were dominated by Drew Spicer and Lloyd Ritchie who won both of their respective heat races. Spicer won the first starting at the rear of the field and never relinquished the lead in his second heat, the third of the night, after starting on the pole. Lloyd Ritchie won from the second and fifth starting positions in his heat races.

OSCAAR will return to action in two weeks on Canada Day weekend at Sunset International Speedway for another fifty lap event at the Stroud, Ontario oval. OSCAAR will join the Canadian Vintage Modifieds touring series and the Ontario Pro Challenge touring series for the duration of the evening. The first green flag is set to drop at 6:00pm with the spectator gate opening at 4:30pm. Be sure to visit the OSCAAR souvenir trailer for all your official OSCAAR race apparel and souvenirs, and fill out a ballot to ask your favorite driver a question and his reply could be posted at OSCAAR.ca.

OSCAAR would like to pay a special thanks to Derek Smith of Race Pulse.com for his photography at Mosport as well as the Sunset and Kawartha races of the 2011 season. View Derek’s photos at www.racepulse.com

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Click here to watch Video’s

Results Posted by Mike Charest

OSCAAR – Feature

“It was a really good car tonight. I think that’s one of the best cars we’ve had here and it was a real pleasure to drive” said Watson in victory lane.

The race started off a bit rough with three consecutive cautions caused by the #14 of Kyle Passer spinning, forcing him to end his night early. The cautions were followed by thirty straight green flag laps. The top three cars of Glenn Watson, Dwayne Baker and the #00 of Wayne Isaacs broke away from the rest of the pack, much the way the same three cars did at Sunset Speedway. The pack moved quickly, putting the #77 of Craig Stevenson, #42 Tyler Hawn, #07 Todd Campbell and the #13 of Gary Passer one lap off the pace by lap 31.

The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 34 as the #40P of Charlie Gallant became loose as he tried to complete a pass around the lapped #13 car of Passer. The 7T of Jeff Dunford moved to the outside, causing Gallant to become loose behind Passer and spin in turn three. No damage was sustained to any cars. It was the ensuing restart that would cause much of the problems.

The lap 34 restart caused the biggest issue of the night. Dave Taylor restarted his #51 in fourth, but upon taking the green flag, Taylor realized his left-rear tire had gone flat. He was forced to swerve towards the inside, forcing Wayne Isaacs to break quickly. The resultant chain reaction caused the 40P of Charlie Gallant to rear-end Jeff Dunford, forcing both in to the inside-wall. Dunford suffered mostly cosmetic damage to the front end of the car, while Gallant’s car was a few inches shorter at the rear when all was finished. Taylor spoke of the accident following the race.

“I cut down a tire on the restart. I almost wrecked a whole bunch of cars. I feel bad about that. The tire went down, I stepped on the gas and it was all over the place” described Taylor.

Both Gallant and Dunford attempted to finish the event as they were able to drive away from the crash, but neither car was able to complete the final sixteen laps. Todd Campbell was the beneficiary of the lucky dog award on the caution. Campbell finished sixth for the second consecutive race and leads the 2011 Inside Track Rookie of the Year standings. Prior to the race, Campbell commented on the competitive rookie class in the OSCAAR division for 2011.

““It means a lot that we run solid. That’s why we wanted to come here and see if we could be competitive. That’s what our goal is.”

Caution flew again on lap 36 when Dwayne Baker cut a tire and Jeff Dunford lost power on the backstretch when the radiator overheated on the Northland Automotive/Castrol Canada sponsored Outlaw.

The final caution of the night flew when Wayne Isaacs came to a stop in turn four after a flat tire, which allowed Lloyd Ritchie to move in to the second position. Tyler Hawn was the beneficiary of the caution as he received the lucky dog award to move back on the lead lap.

From that point on, Watson never looked back. While Ritchie’s car was strong, he was never able to mount a true come back against Watson.

“I tried everything I had there. If he had gotten a little loose on the restart I might have been okay, but he was hooked up pretty good” told Ritchie following the race.

Ritchie finished the night in second after starting in third, an impressive return after suffering engine problems at Sunset Speedway that kept him out of the field for the balance of the evening. Ritchie was happy to finish second, acknowledging there were some difficulties for him throughout the evening.

“It feels great. We still limped home here. I was just lucky to survive there. I’m happy with a second place finish.”

Dave Taylor managed to battle back to third place in his #51 following his cut tire. The finish put Taylor on the podium for the first time in only his second race back following an eleven year absence from OSCAAR and the sport altogether.

Taylor’s finish is even more impressive considering he had never run at Kawartha Speedway prior to this event. Taylor however explained that the car wasn’t as strong as it may have appeared.

“I still had a push in the car, third’s where I was and I wasn’t going anywhere else. Glenn (Watson) was quick, so I’m happy with third” said Taylor.

Watson led every circuit in the fifty lap event, but also acknowledged there were consistent threats in his rearview mirror that never allowed him to rest easy.

“Any of the guys back there. Baker was running pretty decent. Lloyd (Ritchie)’s usually pretty quick too, so I was watching out for him. I was just trying to get a jump and get going.”

Lloyd Ritchie’s ‘Orange Blossom Special’ won the first of the night’s two heat races after taking the lead off a restart on lap nine of twelve. Dave Taylor won his first heat of the season in dominant fashion, leading all twelve laps.

OSCAAR is back in action in two weeks at Mosport Speedway for another fifty lap feature event that will accompany Mosport’s pure stock division and the Ontario Legends touring series. The field of cars is anticipated to be large with several drivers intending to compete following final off-season repairs and alterations. The first green flag is scheduled for 6:00pm.

By Clayton Johns

Photo’s by Dan Little & Amanda Downey

Click here to watch Video’s

Results will be posted by Mike Charest

OSCAAR – Feature