London, ONT — (July 11, 2011) — The sky sure didn’t look promising Saturday night at Brighton Speedway but that didn’t stop the crowd or Jamie Collard from having a fantastic night.
Jamie Collard, Dain Naida, and Keith Dempster all made their first 2011 appearance with the Southern Ontario Sprints on Saturday night, while the 30 of Adam West missed his first SOS race since 2007 with motor issues.
It might have been Collard’s first trip to Brighton in 2011, but he certainly didn’t forget the fast way around the speedway as he came from a 4th place starting position to win the first heat race of the evening.
SOS points leader Lee Ladouceur took the win in the second heat race, crossing the line in front of the 07x of Dain Naida. Naida certainly won the longest tow of the night award coming all the way from Belleville, Michigan, a 7 hour journey.
The redraw for feature starting positions saw Collard and Naida start off where they would eventually finish, at the front of the pack starting 1st and 2nd for the feature. While the two team mates battled over the top spot all night there was plenty of action all through the field.
The feature did not start off so well for a former Southern Ontario Sprints champion, as the 5 of Keith Dempster brought out the caution on lap 8 by spinning in corner 2. The caution also saw Jim Munsie take the 9 car to the pits with mechanical issues and retire for the night.
Things got going once again only to have the caution lights come back on at lap 11 when the 42w of local favorite Rick Wilson rolled to a stop under the starters stand. Wilson was done for the night with a broken spud gear.
The restart cone certainly got a work out on the front stretch after that as cautions would plague laps 12, 13 and 14 with the 2 of Brad Lodge going over the banking in turn 1 on lap 12, Doug Banks spinning in turn 4 on lap 13 and then stopping completely on lap 14 on the back stretch with power steering problems.
After that things settled down with Collard leading the way while Dain Naida was trying everything he could think of to get around his team mate in the 7x. Glenn Styres moved up to the third position while Travis Cunningham fended off 9th place starter Chris Jones for the fourth position. Points leader Lee Ladouceur finished 5th in the 51 while the 10 of Bob Crawford quietly moved up 5 spots to finish 7th.
Coming to the white flag the 2 of Brad Lodge again brought out a caution as he had trouble in turn 4 which set up a green, white, checkered run to the finish. Naida had a look on Collard but settled for 2nd as Jamie Collard won his 2nd career Southern Ontario Sprints feature.
NOTES
– The fastest tour in Ontario gets back in action for rounds seven and eight of the SOS schedule Friday, August 19th at Ohsweken Speedway and Saturday August 20th at South Buxton Raceway.
– Riverside Bar and Grill were announced as the sponsors for the Labour Day Weekend Wingless race at Brighton Speedway. The race will be $500 to win. All SOS rules apply, except NO wings allowed. A practice session will be run on Saturday night and the race will be run Sunday night after the SOS Finale.
2010 SOS EVENT #6
Brighton Speedway – Brighton, Ontario
ENTRIES (17cars)
(Number Name – Hometown)
01 Kyle Fraser – White Lake
07x Dain Naida – Belleville, MI
0 Glenn Styres – Ohsweken
2 Brad Lodge – Stouffville
5 Keith Dempster – Alton
7x Jamie Collard – Burford
9 Jim Munsie – Pickering
10 Bob Crawford – Sutton
11 Chris Jones – Picton
15aw April Wilson – Joyceville
25 Warren Mahoney – Lefroy
42w Rick Wilson – Joyceville
45x Doug Banks – Inverary
51 Lee Ladouceur – Alexandria
66 Frank Baranowski – Mount Hope
71 Travis Cunningham – Grimsby
79 Dick Mahoney – Newmarket
HEAT RACES
(top 3 finishers redraw for feature starting positions)
HEAT RACE #1
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 7x Jamie Collard (4)
2. 71 Travis Cunningham (2)
3. 42w Rick Wilson (6)
4. 5 Keith Dempster (8)
5. 11 Chris Jones (5)
6. 10 Bob Crawford (9)
7. 01 Kyle Fraser (3)
8. 2 Brad Lodge (1)
9. 9 Jim Munsie (7)
HEAT RACE #2
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 51 Lee Ladouceur (3)
2. 07x Dain Naida (7)
3. 0 Glenn Styres(8)
4. 25 Warren Mahoney (2)
5. 79 Dick Mahoney (1)
6. 15aw April Wilson (5)
7. 45x Doug Banks (6)
8. 66 Frank Baranowski (dns)
SOS ‘A’ FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 7x Jamie Collard (1)
2. 07x Dain Naida (2)
3. 0 Glenn Styres (6)
4. 71 Travis Cunningham (3)
5. 11 Chris Jones (9)
6. 51 Lee Ladouceur (5)
7. 10 Bob Crawford (11)
8. 01 Kyle Fraser (13)
9. 5 Keith Dempster (7)
10. 25 Warren Mahoney (8)
11. 15aw April Wilson (12)
12. 79 Dick Mahoney (10)
13. 2 Brad Lodge (15)
14. 45x Doug Banks (14)
15. 42w Rick Wilson (4)
16. 9 Jim Munsie (16)
17. 66 Frank Baranowski(dns)
UNOFFICIAL TOP 5 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #1 (Rank. Number Name Points) 1. 51 Lee Ladouceur 574 2. 10 Bob Crawford 542 3. 25 Warren Mahoney 540 4. 71 Travis Cunningham 508 5. 11 Chris Jones 482