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By
Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway – It took nine years
for the Ontario Dirt Late Models to race at South Buxton
Raceway, and if you asked the near capacity crowd, they’d
love to see them back again this weekend!
Greg
Oakes of Franklinville, N.Y., led all 30 laps to win the
ODLM’s inaugural South Buxton event Saturday on the
track’s 40th anniversary night.
A
total of 28 late models from across Ontario and western New
York state joined South Buxton’s own Windride
Transportation UMP Late Models – and they gave the fans
their money’s worth with five exciting preliminary races
leading up to the thrilling ‘A’ main.
And
even though he led from the drop of the green to the wave of
the checkered, it was no Sunday drive for Oakes.
“It
definitely was hair raising,” Oakes said, as the race went
caution-free for the first 18 laps as the leaders had to
deal with lapped cars for more than a dozen circuits.
“We
got into some heavy lap traffic but fortunately we were able
to roll on the bottom, keep the car straight and stay out of
trouble.”
If
dealing with the traffic wasn’t difficult enough, Oakes
was getting heavy pressure from Blenheim’s Andrew Reaume
and Lee Gill, from Lafargeville, N.Y.
Oakes
said he knew he had company, but had no idea who was on the
tail of his No. 22 machine.
“I
had a guy keeping an eye on things for me but I didn’t
dare look at him with so much going on the race track,” he
said of his spotter.
“He
was trying to tell me that they were closing in … so I was
kind of happy to see that first caution so we could get out
of that mess,” Oakes said.
On the restart, the front runners finally had open track but
no one had anything for Oakes.
Reaume
was able to close the gap a couple of times but couldn’t
mount a challenge as he settled for second.
Ridgetown’s
Adam, West moved up one spot when Gill exited with
mechanical issues and equalled his best ODLM finish with a
third. West finished third at Cornwall in 2009.
Chris
Ross, of Charing Cross, finished in fourth following a
second-place finish to Gill a week earlier at Brighton
Speedway. Greg Belyea, of Sterling, rounded out the top
five.
Although
it was Oakes’ first trip to South Buxton, it didn’t take
him long to adapt to South Buxton’s unique ‘D’-shaped
oval.
“Mercer
(Raceway Park) is somewhat like this, it’s the same shape
but it’s quite a bit bigger,” Oakes said of a similar
track in Pennsylvania.
“This
place is definitely racy,” he said of South Buxton.
“You
can run all over the track. That’s all you can ask for …
give me a race track that you can race side-by-side.”
Despite
heavy rain in the area Thursday and Friday, the track began
drying out during the ODLM heats. The surface remained
dry-slick after getting watered down during the
intermission.
“I
like the dry-slick. We’ve been really working on our slick
set up and it seems we really shine,” said Oakes, the
2008-09 series champion.
“I
heard some guys complaining about how slippery it was, but
the bottom line, we only had about three cautions and the
racing was pretty good. I had no problems,” Oakes said.
While
Oakes succeeded in his South Buxton debut, the third-place
finish was as rewarding as win to West in his first ride at
his familiar track in a late model.
“It
was great,” said West, a two-time winner at South Buxton
in the Southern Ontario Sprints.
“I
drove the track kind of like I do the sprint car … just
kept it straight on the bottom and it worked out well.
“The
car might have worked better if I would have went up high
but I kind of chickened out and just kept it in line … and
if guys wanted to pass me, they’re were going to earn it
around the top.”
West
said he has not had a good season in his sprint car, which
included suffering a broken nose when a large piece of clay
crushed the window screen into his visor. He also crashed
and finished 16th in last week’s ODLM race at Brighton.
“The
way the year has gone between the stock car and sprint car,
I was happy to the checkered flag at the end of the
night,” he said about his rash of DNFs.
“It’s
just been a brutal year. We’re fast every where we’ve
been. We’re still encouraged or else we would have pulled
the plug a long time ago.
“But
this is our potential, running third and hopefully we can
keep it the rest of the year.”
The
four-event ODLM series concludes with back-to-back dates at
Brockville on Saturday, Aug. 20 and Cornwall on Sunday, Aug.
21.
South Buxton Raceway
Saturday, July 30 Results
Includes driver’s car number in brackets and hometown.
Ontario Dirt Late Models
‘A’ Main (30 laps)
1. Greg Oakes (22) Franklinville, N.Y.
2. Andrew Reaume (88) Blenheim
3. Adam West (92) Ridgetown
4. Chris Ross (18R) Charing Cross
5. Greg Belyea (25) Sterling
6. Jeff Dayman (7D) Welland
7. Chuck Meyers (28) Casterland, N.Y.
8. Phil Potts (29) Frankford
9. Mike Lewis (05) Wallaceburg
10. Kirk Hooker (38) Chatham
11. Mark Glassford (90) Goderich
12. Jim Jones (34) Chatham
13. Jason Haskell (RH94) Chatham
14. Brett Reaume (77) Blenheim
15. Kyle Sopaz (12) Carrying Place
16. Keith Cameron (92C) Tilbury
17. Don Gordon (33) Chatham
18. Richard Raison (2XR) Delta
19. Joe Banks (75J) Kingston
20. Lee Gill (7) Lafargeville, N.Y.
21. Beau Brown (75) Brighton
22. Brad Authier (1A) Chatham
23. Gregg Haskell (RH21) Chatham
24. Dale Glassford (60) Ridgetown
‘B’ Main (15 laps; top eight transfer to ‘A’
Main)
1. Brown
2. Hooker
3. M. Glassford
4. D. Glassford
5. Banks
6. Jones
7. Sopaz
8. Sandercock (57) Belleville*
9. McLeod (11) Merlin*
10. Raison
11. Bechard (18B) Chatham
12. Douglas (19D) Wyoming
(* - scratched from ‘A’ main; Raison gets final transfer position)
First Heat
1. Gill
2. Potts
3. J. Haskell
4. Cameron
5. Brown
6. Douglas
7. McLeod
Second Heat
1. G. Haskell
2. West
3. Meyers
4. B. Reaume
5. M. Glassford
6. Banks
7. Bechard
Third Heat
1. A. Reaume
2. Ross
3. Dayman
4. Authier
5. D. Glassford
6. Jones
7. Raison
Fourth Heat
1. Oakes
2. Belyea
3. Gordon
4. Lewis
5. Hooker
6. Sopaz
7. Sandercock
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