BOWMANVILLE, ON - It was rather ironic that on a night when the THORSONS Enclosed Vehicle Transport company was the presenting sponsor at Mosport Speedway, that the race winner’s were really Haulin’ while some of the less fortunate teams were sent home truckin’
the trash.
The R.P.Oil Ltd. Late Models
The busiest people in the evening’s opening Late Model heat dash were undoubtedly the Bob’s Towing drivers.
Coming to the green flag, Scott Harrison’s #68 Monte Carlo suddenly slowed and swerved to the left, the car reacting to a master brake cylinder failure which locked up the front calipers.
Under full acceleration, many of the trailing drivers were unable to avoid Harrison’s stricken car, among them Dwight Brown’s #12 Bourque Transmission Chevy, whose car needed only bodywork repairs, and Terry Betts and Shannon Kimmerly, who sustained much more damage to their race cars.
The latter two cars locked together and slammed heavily into the front straight wall. According to car chief Tyler Betts, his father’s #86 Pingles Farm Monte Carlo had the front clip and frame “shoved sideways a foot-and-a-half”. Shannon’s #01S Dom’s Auto Wreckers Impala required a complete rebuild of the left front suspension, a new clutch cylinder and brake lines. The 01 Racing Team, with the assistance of OSCAAR driver Michel Beyore, made makeshift repairs in order to get Shannon into the feature race, although in the impact, the 20 year old sheared off the clutch pedal, forcing her to simply jam the transmission into gear and match shift in order to drive.
When the racing activities finally resumed, Jim Rossiter in his #66 Impala SS held off the #23 Freeman Motorsports Ford of John Baker Jr. by inches to claim the first heat race, while Todd Delisle and the repaired #12 Monte Carlo of Dwight Brown finished one-two in the second of the 10-lap heats.
To a hearty round of applause, Shannon Kimmerly’s half dressed #01S Late Model rolled onto the half mile Mosport oval, joining nine other cars preparing for the 20-lap feature.
At the drop of the green flag, pole sitter John Baker Jr. sprinted off into the lead, his #23 Fotheringham Bookkeeping Fusion nosing ahead of the
#16 Love’s Tire Sales Monte Carlo of Amanda Connolly. Stuck on the outside line, Connolly found herself freight trained, as Dan Kimmerly in his #01 Pontiac, Todd Delisle (#22), Jim Rossiter (#66) and Dwight Brown all moved by, relegating the Aurora-based driver to sixth place.
Taking the low line through Turn Three on lap seven, Dan Kimmerly passed Baker to take the lead, his #01 Graphic Lettering Grand Prix opening a hole that would allow the #66 Roy Nichols Motors Impala of Jim Rossiter to follow through into second place.
Running Clean and Green to the checkered flag, Kimmerly secured the victory by three car lengths over Rossiter.
“This win is a good thing,” said Kimmerly. “The winner’s cheque will help pay for the damage on Shannon’s car.”
An intense three-way battle wore on for third place with Baker’s #23 Ford ultimately holding off Dwight Brown and the ever present #22 Control Panels Cadillac of Todd Delisle for the position.
The Bob’s Towing Sportsman
It was a virtual three-way tie at the top of the Bob’s Towing Sportsman points leader board among John Baker Jr., Brad Stevenson and defending series champion Bill Northam
Following Saturday’s racing action in which Baker and Stevenson swapped heat race wins, the gap narrowed between the two by a single point, due to Stevenson’s three-car length margin of victory over his points rival in the 20-lap feature sprint.
Starting from the outside of the front row, Stevenson in his #77 Sanford’s Racing Engines Chevrolet got the better launch, powering past pole sitter Steve Mayhew (#14 Peterborough Transmission Nova) for the lead. Opening up an impressive advantage, Stevenson saw his gap disappear twice on caution periods. The final yellow, brought out by a last lap spin by Donevan Price (#09), set up a Green/ White/ Checkered dash to the line.
Able to keep Baker’s #63 Marksmen Club Monte Carlo at bay, Stevenson earned the flag to flag victory.
“We blew a motor a couple of weeks ago, and the one we borrowed didn’t work out so well,” said Stevenson. “The Sanford’s guys got us this new motor really quickly, and it’s working really well now that we’ve ironed out a few bugs in practice.”
Ken Downer in his #73 Chevy crossed the stripe in a solid third spot, with Steve Mayhew and the #78 Multi Financial Services Monte Carlo of Bob Kish rounding out the top five.
The THORSONS EVT Six Or Less
There has been a head-to-head-to-head battle brewing for top honours in the THORSONS EVT Six Or Less class, and again this week, the three top drivers found themselves dicing at the front of the pack.
Kevin Hinds in his #57 Rad Man Grand Am added to his totals with a pair of heat race victories, while points leader Kevin Pickford (#19) reclaimed one point with a heat dash win of his own. With Fedele DiBello capturing the checkers in the remaining heat contest, it was left to points challenger Duane Jeffery in the #26 Car-Du Camaro to make his mark in the 20-lap feature.
The 20-year-old driver did just that, working the outside line around race leader Kyle Hope (#03 Sensational Signs Cavalier) on lap four to take the point. With Pickford’s #19 Priestly Demolition Skyhawk filling his mirrors, Jeffery had little time to relax, working traffic and piloting his #26 Camaro to the checkered flag for his second feature win of the season.
“I split a couple of slower cars with about two-to-go,” laughed Jeffery. “I wasn’t exactly comfortable doing that, but I was watching Kevin and I knew I had to go flat out.”
The other Kevin, the #57 Hinds kind, started in the middle of the 15 car field, and worked towards the front, claiming a respectable, and closing, third place result, with Kyle Hope crossing the stripe in fourth.
Last lap contact between Nick Mulders and Anthony DiBello relegated Mulders to an eighth place finish and DiBello out of contention, handing a fifth place result to father Fedele DiBello (#12).
From Ryan Chalmers / ryan@mosport.com
