*Rick Young Photo Attachment // Brockville, ONT – September 12, 2009 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director
Move over younger brother, make room for the most experienced driver in the all so familiar O’Brien racing clan from Kingston, Ontario.
In a reversal of fortune on Saturday night, Pat O’Brien added just his second win of the season at Brockville Ontario Speedway while recently crowned BOS 358-Modified points champion Danny O’Brien fell two spots shy of collecting his ninth victory in the headline ‘Jack May Pontiac-Buick 100’ Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship Series event held on Canadian soil.
“It’s just unbelievable, funny thing is you get on these (rolls) and we’re not doing anything different than we ever did,” remarked Pat, 44, a four-time overall Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Champion, now with two straight tour triumphs in ’09 to elevate his career total to nine. ‘Sometimes things just go your way.”
Sandwiched between the O’Brien siblings under the checkers was reigning Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Champion Billy Decker, with ‘Mr. Small-Block’ Pete Bicknell and current series points leader Dale Planck filling out the top-five.
Decker swept high around front row partner Bobby Herrington on the opening circuit and the defending overall Hoosier-VP Mr. DIRTcar Big-Block Modified champion appeared destined to chalk up another convincing victory in the sister Small-Block tour since copping the Super DIRT Week special last October.
Gypsum Express teammate Pat O’Brien had plans of his own, starting fourth in the 30-car field and methodically working his way toward the front as just three yellow flags slowed the action on the racy 3/8-miler.
DIRTcar 358-Modified rookie contender Mark D’Ilario looped high out of turn two to incur the first caution period on lap 14, erasing Decker’s comfortable advantage over Bicknell, race-long chaser Danny Johnson in the Dave Thompson-owned no. FX1 Troyer entry, Pat O’Brien and Herrington. Johnson bolted past Bicknell on the ensuing restart with Danny O’Brien cracking the front-five through the opening 20 circuits.
When St. Catharines, Ont. tour traveler Tommy Flannigan hesitated between turns one and two with mechanical issues to force the second slowdown, the front-five running order remained intact while Planck, Jeremy Wilder, Kyle Dingwall, Mario Clair and Eric Gauvreau comprised the top-10.
Pat O’Brien darted past third-place Bicknell on the lap 30 restart and a half-dozen laps later overtook Johnson for the runner-up spot in his methodical march toward the front while most positions behind him remained frozen as the halfway mark quickly approached. Decker continued to pace the field with 50 laps in the books, while third family member Tim O’Brien (8th) and Lance Willix II (10th) made their presence known as racers set course for the final stretch run.
While Pat continued to close in on Decker, Danny disposed of Johnson on lap 56 to make his Global Warranty-1000 Islands RV-Stover Bus Lines entry the third Bicknell copy up front. A dangling rear bumper on the car of veteran Laurent Ladouceur brought out the third and final caution on lap 58 and put Pat on the bumper of Decker for his final push of the night.
The eldest O’Brien shadowed Decker when the green lights returned on lap 63, pulling along side in two more circuits, finally snatching the point for good as the leaders ducked low across the line to end the 71st circuit. The remainder of the century grind ran non-stop with O’Brien flawlessly weaving his way through lapped cars before opening up a convincing 10 car-length margin at the wire.
“We got a new car thanks to the guys at Bicknell and that was a big difference,” noted O’Brien, who leaped from 10th to seventh in the Mr. DIRTcar standings after five events. “The one we had here last time, just couldn’t get it going. Gotta thank everybody that helped out and turned things around for us.”
“Don’t know if its me or the cars, my set-ups always seem to hit the last half of the race, the same as last night (win at Mohawk). Thought early on we were gonna fade back to 10th or so, but again a lot of work was done and it really showed. It was definitely a lot of fun racing tonight, its nice when you’re going good and Billy’s so good to race with,” added O’Brien, after chalking up his 145th (4th all-time) career win in DIRTcar 358-Modified competition.
Fresh off his trip to Lernerville (Pa.) Speedway for a Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block event halted by rain the night before, runner-up Decker was content with his best Small-Block finish of the season which locked up a guaranteed starting berth in the Super DIRT Week 358-Modified Championship during in October.
“The car was pretty good, but not quite as good as Pat with about 30 laps to go when he snuck by us,” said Decker, also 44, after making a rare appearance at Brockville on his way to Autodrome Granby for a $10,000-to-win 358-Mod show outside of Montreal. “We’ve always been pretty good here, usually come out of this place with a good finish and tonight was no different.”
“I’m pretty happy with the our program, can’t say enough about the guys on the team that make this all happen. Just very fortunate to be the loose nut behind the wheel.”
“I wasn’t quite as versatile as the #6 car tonight, he seemed to be able to keep a little more speed on the bottom. I needed that little bit of banking there to keep some momentum up because I wasn’t getting off the turns quite as nice as I’d like to,” figured Decker, himself a winner of seven Mr. DIRTcar 358 race events.
Virtually unstoppable at the BOS in ’09, Danny O’Brien returned to the podium on Saturday night at the Kirkland facility still in the quest for his first Mr. DIRTcar title after settling for second-place finishes each of the past two years.
“We weren’t quite good enough, that’s all we had tonight,” stated O’Brien, who currently ranks third in the Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified standings, 76 points behind Planck while just six markers in back of runner-up Bicknell. “Didn’t quite guess good enough but it was still a good solid run for us.”
“The middle (groove) was the place to be at the end, might’ve taken a little bit of rubber, I don’t really know. Pat and Billy were just a little bit better than us tonight. We’ll just keep battling though, see what we can get,” O’Brien said.
Its right back to work for contenders in the 2009 Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Series as top teams chasing points towards the overall Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar 358-Modified Championship Series return to action in round #6 on Sunday, Sept. 13 at Autodrome Granby with $10,000 the first-place prize.
Pot Holes: Solid field of 38 Small-Blocks entered at the BOS, including the Top-13 in points going in plus Big-Block stars Billy Decker and Danny Johnson….Gage Morin, grandson of Cornwall Motor Speedway owner Ron Morin, was the first casualty of the night, losing a motor during the first set of hot laps….Teammates Billy Decker and Larry Wight, along with Danny Johnson and Rich Scagliotta made the lengthy haul from Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania to Brockville following a rain-delay in Friday night’s Super DIRTcar Series event for Big-Blocks….Billy Decker is the new track record-holder on tour as BOS was lengthened to a 3/8-miler prior to the start of last season and this was the first 358-Mod Series show staged since. Laurent Ladouceur held the old standard (13.946 sec./64.535 mph) on the former quarter-miler set Sept. 17, 2004….With his lone track championship taken at Cornwall Motor Speedway, Mark Hitchcock, now retired with 39 DIRTcar 358-Modified wins ---8 at Brockille--- registered during his career, served as a color commentator throughout the event, joining veteran P.A. Announcer Steve Young behind the mic….The latest series event for Small-Blocks served as a preview of the “The inaugural Brockville DIRTcar Fall Nationals’ that will get underway Saturday, Oct. 17 with DIRTcar 358-Modifieds and Sportsman joined by an open 360 Sprint Car special on the revamped 3/8-miler. A full card is on tap for Sportsman title contenders, including a 50-lap main event, with Small-Block Modifieds running time trials and heat race qualifiers plus a Dash-for-Cash. 100-lap 358-Modified and 50-lap Pro Stock title races highlight the show on Sunday Oct. 18, with overall Hoosier Tire-VP Racing Fuels Mr. DIRTcar Champions crowned in both classes. Street Stocks complete the titanic tripleheader with area full-fender racers competing in a 40-lap finale.
