September 2, 2012

Points were the theme of the night and with very tight battles in the 358 Modified and Rookie division anything was bound to happen and it surely did.

In the 358 Modifieds the championship battle was on between Lee Gill and Kyle Dingwall as they came into the night separated but a mere 8 points. John Mulder and Andy Lloyd led the field to the green with Lloyd grabbing the top spot heading into turn 1. Lloyd would lead the opening 4 laps until 5 time track champion Pat O’Brien soared by Lloyd to take over the top spot. Once in front O’Brien built up a full straightaway advantage just before the halfway point of the 30 lap affair. Behind him the battle was on as Kyle Dingwall charged from his 8th starting spot to grab 2nd from Brian McDonald, meanwhile Lee Gill was struggling at the back of the pack as he broke into the top 10 just past the halfway point with a long way to go to catch Dingwall. O’Brien continued his dominant run up front entering lapped traffic with 10 laps to go. Dingwall was smooth and steady throughout the entire 30 lap distance and narrowed the lead gap by 4 car lengths with 1 lap to go. In the end Pat O’Brien was hang on for his 2nd win of the season and 148th in his DIRTCar 358 Modified career. Kyle Dingwall came home 2nd good enough to secure his first ever Brockville Ontario Speedway Modified title. Matt Billings, Stephane Lafrance and Dale Planck rounded out the top 5. Lee Gill started 14th and would come home in the 6th position but lost out on what would have been his 5th track championship by 2 points.

With the Sportsman track title locked up by Chris Herbison points were no issue as it was down to business to try and grab the feature win. Jonathan Ferguson grabbed the early race lead from the pole with Brian Comeau, Jason Shipclark, Tabatha Murphy and Ryan Arbuthnot rounding out the top 5 in the early going. Several caution flags plagued the 25 lap event as early on Murphy made contact with Shipclark sending her up the speedway in turn 4 and clipping a fast closing Herbison who nearly flipped over. Herbison would rejoin at the tail of the field. On the restart Ferguson kept his foot to the floor opening up another full straightaway advantage on the rest of the field. But the man on the move was 2010 champion Dylan Evoy. Searching for his division leading 7th win of the season he motored to the top side of the speedway and began to make a charge forward getting by Jason Shipclark for 2nd with just 7 laps remaining. Evoy then ran down the leader and coming off turn 4 with the white flag waving Evoy powered by Ferguson to grab the lead and hang out for his 7th win of 2012 with Ferguson, Shipclark, Comeau and Dana Aikins rounding out the top 5.

It was time for the Rookie division to take to the track. Points were the story here as Joe McNichols and Dwight Feltham came into the night separated by 18 points. Randy Massey and Brandon Henderson led the field to the green with Massey jumping out front early on. Massey was on a mission on this night as he began to open up a big lead on the field but 5 time winner this year Quincy Roberts made his way to the lead just past the halfway point. A Scary wreck in turn 1 early in the event saw Eric Snyder jump the bank in turn 1 flipping 5 times before coming to rest on his wheels. Snyder would quickly get out of the car uninjured. Problems occurred shortly after that for the points leader McNichols as he broke in turn 4 after contact with another competitor sending him pitside. McNichols would return to the track but was many laps down. Dwight Feltham also made his way forward but under the 2nd caution flag on lap 9 he had a tire go flat. He would return to the speedway and make a charge from the back of the pack. Up in front Roberts was on cruise control gunning for another win. But with 2 to go Roberts got too high in turn 3 sliding off the speedway bringing out the yellow again. This left Corbin Miller in front on the last restart. Miller would power away and grab his 2nd win of the 2012 season with Chris Bakker, Scott McGill, Kurtis Daye and Dwight Feltham rounding out the top 5. Feltham’s 5th place run was enough to grab the 2012 track title by 6 points over McNichols.

In Street Stock action Kevin Fetterly Jr. became just the 2nd driver to 3 straight titles since Jack Code did it in 2005, 2006 and 2007. With points out of the question John Gifford took full advantage of his pole position as he motored out in front of the field with Kevin Fetterly Jr., and Derrick Eaton giving chase. Caution flew on lap 5 for Brock Cullen who made contact with Alex Gagnon and Steve Billings sending him into the front stretch wall. On the restart Gifford continued his strong drive looking for his 1st career win. Steve Billings and last weeks winner Alex Gagnon were also on the move as they charged from the back of the field to move into 3rd and 4th with just 5 laps to go. The final caution came out for Barry baker who lost a tire on the back stretch. On the final restart Gifford was able to hold a comfortable lead over Fetterly and would go on to collect his first career Street Stock victory. Fetterly, Billings, Gagnon and Travis Andrews rounded out the top 5.

The Vintage title was all but wrapped up as points leader Paul Billings had a 48 point lead over Denzil Billings Jr. Graham Drew and Brandon Gregory led the field to the green with Gregory getting the lead away in turn 1. Gregory would power away from Drew by 6 car lengths by lap 5 when the caution came out for points leader Paul Billings as he broke a front end on his machine. On the restart Gregory led the way but Jason Powers had a game plan. After Starting in 7th he made his way to 2nd and with a power move down low was able to grab the lead with 5 laps remaining. Once in front nobody was stopping Powers on this night as he drove on to his division leading 4th win of 2012. Steve Arbuthnot rebounded for an early race accident to finish 2nd with Drew, Gregory and Denzil Billings Jr. completing the top 5. Despite his early race accident Billings was able to secure his first ever Vintage Modified title.

The BOS gets back underway in 2 weeks time as Kane’s Towing presents the annual Monster Enduro on Sunday September 16. Racing begins at 2pm.