Rick Wilson gets lucky with the SOS at Brighton

sos Southern Onatario Sprints
sos Southern Onatario Sprints

From SOS

London, Ontario (July 11, 2011) – On a beautiful, warm summer’s night, a capacity crowd poured into the stands at Brighton Speedway to see the Southern Ontario Sprints as they returned from their trip to the west end of the province.

Rick “The Joyceville Jet” Wilson #42w must have been carrying a lucky rabbit’s foot in the pocket of his race suit as things seemed to fall his way all night. Rick pulled the #1 chip for the heat race line up draw and led the first heat race from wire to wire. In fact, it was a Wilson family affair up front as his son, Kyle, started outside of him on the front row and followed his dad across the finish line in second. Its always nice to see brothers and sisters sharing and on this occasion it was April Wilson sharing her ride and letting her brother, Kyle, drive for the night.

Chris Jones #11 was back with the SOS and moved right to the front of heat race #2 taking the checkered flag in front of the #0 of Glenn Styres. Glenn, the 2010 SOS Champion, made the trip to Brighton for his first SOS race of the season. Brad Lodge #2 would hold on to the third spot for a while only to have Kyle Fraser #01 snatch the final redraw spot from him after a late restart.

It was a case of adding disappointment to injury for the #30 of Adam West as they suffered motor problems during hot laps that would prevent them from competing for the rest of the evening. This comes as Adam is still recovering from a broken nose suffered at Ohsweken Speedway the previous week after a bowling ball size clump of dirt crashed through the rock screen and smashed into Adam’s helmet.

Rick Wilson’s luck continued as he again pulled the #1 chip for the redraw for the feature line up for the top 6 heat race finishers. Rick would line up with Glenn Styres, his long time rival, in 2nd on his outside. Wilson would get the edge at the start and then it was his skill and knowledge of the track that would keep him out front for the rest of the night. Travis Cunningham would pull off early with motor problems, a frustration for any driver made extra emotional by the fact that the motor was built for Travis by his late father Gary.

Rick Wilson and Glenn Styres had the crowd on the edge of their seat as these two have been battling it out at Brighton Speedway for over 10 years. This night, however, would be all Wilson. Glenn would make a few attempts at Wilson but eventually slipped back to third as Chris Jones found the top groove and moved around Styres to come home second. Kyle Wilson would bring his borrowed ride to an impressive 4th place finish with current SOS points leader Lee Ladouceur #51 rounding out the top five.

NOTES

– Ron and Judy Ferrell, the SOS merchandise team, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. Congratulations from the Southern Ontario Sprints.

– The fastest tour in Ontario gets back in action for round six of the SOS schedule on Saturday, August 6th at Brighton Speedway.

2010 SOS EVENT #5
Brighton Speedway – Brighton, Ontario

ENTRIES (16cars)
(Number Name – Hometown)

01 Kyle Fraser – White Lake
0 Glenn Styres – Ohsweken
2 Brad Lodge – Stouffville
9 Jim Munsie – Newmarket
10 Bob Crawford – Sutton
11 Chris Jones – Demorestville
15kw Kyle Wilson – Joyceville
25 Warren Mahoney – Lefroy
30 Adam West – Ridgetown
42w Rick Wilson – Joyceville
45x Doug Banks – Kingston
51 Lee Ladouceur – Alexandria
66 Frank Baranowski – Mount Hope
71 Travis Cunningham – Grimsby
79 Dick Mahoney – Newmarket
98 Paul Pekkonen – Brockville

HEAT RACES
(top 3 finishers redraw for feature starting positions)

HEAT RACE #1
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 42w Rick Wilson (1)
2. 15kw Kyle Wilson (2)
3. 51 Lee Ladouceur (6)
4. 71 Travis Cunningham (5)
5. 25 Warren Mahoney (7)
6. 10 Bob Crawford (4)
7. 9 Jim Munsie (3)
8. 30 Adam West (dns)

HEAT RACE #2
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 11 Chris Jones (2)
2. 0 Glenn Styres (8)
3. 01 Kyle Fraser (4)
4. 2 Brad Lodge (1)
5. 66 Frank Baranowski (3)
6. 98 Paul Pekkonen (7)
7. 79 Dick Mahoney (6)
8. 45x Doug Banks (5)

SOS ‘A’ FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 42w Rick Wilson (1)
2. 11 Chris Jones (5)
3. 0 Glenn Styres (2)
4. 15kw Kyle Wilson (4)
5. 51 Lee Ladouceur (6)
6. 25 Warren Mahoney (9)
7. 9 Jim Munsie (13)
8. 10 Bob Crawford (11)
9. 98 Paul Pekkonen (12)
10. 79 Dick Mahoney (14)
11. 2 Brad Lodge (8)
12. 66 Frank Baranowski (10)
13. 01 Kyle Fraser (3)
14. 45x Doug Banks (15)
15. 71 Travis Cunningham (7)
16. 30 Adam West (dns)

UNOFFICIAL TOP 5 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #1 (Rank. Number Name Points) 1. 51 Lee Ladouceur 2. 25 Warren Mahoney 3. 10 Bob Crawford 4. (tied) 9 Jim Munsie, 79 Dick Mahoney