From SOS
London, Ontario (Sept 9, 2011) – It must have been Labour Day weekend,
because as usual, the weather forecast didn’t look good. However, this
year proved you can never trust a weatherman because there was great
weather Saturday night and even on a cloudy Sunday, with the hustle of
the great staff at Brighton Speedway, we still got all the racing in but
a few laps of the wingless race.
Jim Munsie started a long up and down weekend with a downer in hot laps.
Jim caught the right rear of #2 Brad Lodge, Jim’s nephew, and hopped off
the track in corner 3 only to flip over right at the end. Jim was able
to replace the wings and repair the minor damage and make it back for
heat race action.
With 19 cars in the pits, 3 heat races were run with #25 Warren Mahoney,
#11 Chris Jones, and #30 Adam West each taking the checkered flags.
Next up was the Four Wide Design sponsored “Dream Come True Dash”. This
was a race for driver that had never held a checkered flag in their hand
at the end of a sprint car race. At the end of the dash a driver’s dream
of winning in a sprint car would come true. Frank Baranowski, who has
been racing sprint cars since 2002, led from the start and it looked
like it might be his night until the spinning 45x of Doug Banks forced a
restart and Frank had Jim Munsie right on his tail. Jim took the lead on
the white flag lap and the 2010 Rookie of the year got his first sprint
car win.
In the feature, #25 “Wiley” Warren Mahoney led the field to green with
#98 Paul Pekkonen beside him but it was Pekkonen that took off to an
early lead. Rick Wilson, who started 4th, had a close call with the turn
four wall on lap one and dropped back to 6th place. It would not take
him long to get back into the top five where there was a heated battle
for positions two through five between Mahoney, #5 Keith Dempster,
current points leader #51 Lee Ladouceur and Wilson. Pekkonen who seemed
to dominate most of the first half of the race had his heart broken when
a $10 hiem joint broke on the rear end of the car ending his night! With
Pekkonen out of the race, Ladouceur ended up on point but he was still
to be contested closely by Wilson, Dempster and Mahoney. Wilson worked
around the top side and got past Ladouceur and then moved back to the
bottom to take away Ladouceur’s line. Well it wasn’t long after Wilson
moved to the bottom that Dempster, now moved by Ladouceur to the top
side, started to show Wilson his nose! Wilson caught on quickly and
moved right back to the top while Dempster tried the bottom on a number
of attempts but could not make it stick. Wilson went on to take the
popular victory followed by Dempster, Ladouceur and Mahoney. The third
place finish allowed Ladouceur to keep his slim points lead over two
time champion Warren Mahoney going into Sunday’s final points event.
2011 SOS EVENT #9
Brighton Speedway – Brighton, Ontario
ENTRIES (19 cars)
(Number Name – Hometown)
01 Kyle Fraser – White Lake
0d Dave Dykstra – Port Colborne
2 Brad Lodge – Stouffville
5 Keith Dempster – Alton
5m Brad Malloy – Fort Erie
9 Jim Munsie – Newmarket
10 Bob Crawford – Sutton
11 Chris Jones – Picton
15aw April Wilson – Joyceville
25 Warren Mahoney – Lefroy
30 Adam West – Ridgetown
42w Rick Wilson – Joyceville
45x Doug Banks – Inverary
51 Lee Ladouceur – Alexandria
66 Frank Baranowski – Mount Hope
67 Chris Durand – Port Stanley
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. 25 Warren Mahoney (1)
2. 51 Lee Ladouceur (6)
3. 42w Rick Wilson (5)
4. 71 Travis Cunningham (7)
5. 01 Kyle Fraser (2)
6. 0d Dave Dykstra (4)
7. 67 Chris Durand (3)
HEAT RACE #2 (8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 11 Chris Jones (2)
2. 5 Keith Dempster (3)
3. 45x Doug Banks (1)
4. 66 Frank Baranowski (4)
5. 15aw April Wilson (5)
HEAT RACE #3 (8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 30 Adam West (2)
2. 5m Brad Malloy (1)
3. 98 Paul Pekkonen (3)
4. 79 Dick Mahoney (6)
5. 2 Brad Lodge (4)
6. 9 Jim Munsie (7)
7. 10 Bob Crawford (5)
SOS ‘A’ FEATURE (20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 42w Rick Wilson (4)
2. 5 Keith Dempster (3)
3. 51 Lee Ladouceur (6)
4. 25 Warren Mahoney (1)
5. 71 Travis Cunningham (10)
6. 11 Chris Jones (9)
7. 0d Dave Dykstra (16)
8. 67 Chris Durand (18)
9. 5m Brad Malloy (8)
10. 10 Bob Crawford (10)
11. 15aw April Wilson (14)
12. 9 Jim Munsie (17)
13. 45x Doug Banks (7)
14. 66 Frank Baranowski (11)
15. 2 Brad Lodge (15)
16. 30 Adam West (5) dnf
17. 79 Dick Mahoney (12) dnf
18. 01 Kyle Fraser (13) dq
19. 98 Paul Pekkonen (2) dnf
UNOFFICIAL TOP 5 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #9 (Rank. Number Name) 1. 51 Lee
Ladouceur 2. 25 Warren Mahoney 3. 71 Travis Cunningham 4. 10 Bob
Crawford 5. 11 Chris Jones