It was the Dale Glassford and Brad Authier show for the fourth straight feature race on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway. This time, it was Glassford's turn to take the checkered flag.
The Ridgetown driver made the pass for the lead coming out of turn four to take the white flag and held off Authier on the final lap to earn his third feature win of the season.
"It just seems to be a yo-yo with us," Glassford said with a smile after the win.
The two drivers have finished one-two in the last four Dover Sanitation UMP Late Model features, each winning twice.
"The car wasn't as good the first couple of laps but got better as the race went on, and that's a great feeling for a driver."
Chatham's Jim Jones led the first five laps before Authier, also from Chatham, took the lead. It took Glassford until lap 16 to get by Jones, leaving him with just four laps to go for the win.
"Jimmy was quick and was hard to pass," Glassford said of chasing Jones. "Once I got by him, I thought I could reel Brad in, but it's a lot different passing him than catching him."
Glassford set up the pass for the lead coming out of turn two as he drove in hard and got Authier loose. Glassford carried the momentum into turn four where he made the pass as the white flag was coming out. Authier said he wasn't upset finishing second.
"My car had been tightening up a couple of laps and he (Glassford) ran in a little hard between one and two and got into my left rear a little bit," Authier said, adding he didn't think the contact was intentional. "It was the same kind of deal I gave him in the (mid-season) championship, just scrub and rub," Authier said, reflecting back to his pass of Glassford for the lead at the same point on the track on July 17. "He did what he had to do and I did the same thing to him."
Saturday was the biggest field of the season for the Late Models as 10 cars were on hand, including former track champions Andrew Reaume from Blenheim and Chris Ross of Charing Cross, who made their first appearances of the season.
"It's way better winning with more cars, especially with guys like Andrew and Chris out here," Glassford said. "It has to be better for the track and the fans."
Chatham's Kirk Hooker finished third, followed by Reaume and Jones.
Hooker's daughter Taylor and son Jake presented the Country View Cup trophies to all four feature winners from the family owned Country View Golf Course.
Earlier in the night, Glassford finished second to Jones in the heat and second to Wallaceburg's Mike Lewis in the pursuit.
The defending series champion has three wins and seven second-place finishes in the 10 feature races this season. Overall, Glassford has six checkered flags and 18 second-place finishes in the 30 races he has run.
Chatham's Eric Vanderiviere won his fourth feature of the season in the Windride Transportation Services Sport Stocks, a race called after a 40-minute red-flag situation following a five-car incident that sent Windsor's John Sylvestre to the hospital for treatment.
Vanderiviere inherited the lead when his brother Eren Vanderiviere, who led the first 12 laps, broke a trailing arm going into turn three.
After the restart, Chatham's Louis Clements and Merlin's Steve Shaw made contact coming out of turn two and the three trailing cars – Essex's Doris Lajeunesse, Blenheim's Dave Jones and Sylvestre, got together going high around the original spinners.
Sylvestre's car slammed the pit wall and flipped on its roof. Track safety officials got Sylvestre out of the car and he was transported to hospital by Chatham-Kent EMS.
The race was called at that point, with Vanderiviere declared the winner.
"A win's a win," Vanderiviere said about taking the checkered under unusual circumstances. "We could have run another 10 laps and I think I'd have still won."
Vanderiviere appeared to be content running second and blocking for his brother before he broke. "Hey, I like to win … I'm not going to let anyone win," he scoffed at the notion of letting his younger brother win. "I couldn't get up to him so I sat back and protected the bottom because I knew Shaw was there. I wasn't going to push the issue. We work on these cars together all week, so if I make a mistake and we wreck, it's a long week for the two of us," he said.
Essex's Tiffany Ellis, who was running seventh before the melee, wound up with a career-best second-place finish. Shaw, Clements and Lajeunesse rounded out the top five while Sylvestre was credited with a sixth-place finish.
Leamington's Joel Dick became the fourth first-time career feature winner this season in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified class, holding off veterans Jim Dale Jr. of Shrewsbury and Brad McLeod of Merlin to lead all 20 laps.
Dick has had the fastest car in the class the last three race nights, with three heat and two pursuit wins before he was finally rewarded with his first career Modified feature win.
Dick started on the front row, took the lead coming out of turn two and never trailed. However, it wasn't a Sunday drive as the Modified rookie had McLeod, a seven-time track champion, and Dale Jr., a six-time and defending Modified champ, in tow the whole way.
But neither of the former champions could mount a challenge for the lead as they were more focused on their battle for second.
"I knew they were there," Dick said. "I heard Jimmy rumble up on me one time. I just hit my marks every time. I knew we were fast, so I wasn't too worried. The car was perfect … it was a rocket ship."
Dick is the second straight Leamington driver to win the Modified feature, following Paul DeGoey's emotional victory last Saturday.
Dick won the heat and pursuit last week but his chance to become South Buxton's first driver to win all three races in a night ended on the first lap of the feature when he was collected by the spinning car of Rutherford's Chris Van DeWiele.
"I'm glad Paul won, but I really wanted that triple crown," he said of last week's chance of a three-for-three night. "But I'm happy with the (Country View) Cup tonight. It took me a little time to get use to this car, but I'm getting more confident and in the changes we're making," Dick said. "It just keeps getting faster and faster and faster every week."
Dick joins Woodslee's Clayton Smith, Chatham's C.J. Field and Wyoming's Brian Speelman as first-time Modified feature winners this season.
Dale Jr. finished second and McLeod third, followed by Smith and LaSalle's Mike Demars to round out the top five.
Dick won his heat race and finished second to Smith in the pursuit earlier in the night.
Blenheim's Shawn Jones led all 16 laps to win his third Four Seasons Driver Education Comp 4 feature of the season.
Jones held off a group of former series champions – Denis DeSerrano and Rob Quick, both from Cottam, plus Chatham's Randy McKinlay and Charing Cross' Nate McNally – for the entire race.
The five front cars ran in a tight pack for most of the race as Jones fended off numerous challenges for the lead.
The caution came out on the white flag lap, setting the stage for a green-white-checkered and two more white-knuckle laps for Jones.
But the 18-year-old never blinked as he held off the pack for a hard-earned victory, which earned the respect of the veterans who all gave Jones a congratulatory fist-pump and thumbs up on the cool-down lap.
DeSerrano finished second, followed by McKinlay and Quick, who recovered from an early-race penalty to finish fourth. Windsor's Shawn Nelson was fifth as McNally faded to sixth with late-race issues.
Racing resumes on Saturday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., with the gates opening at 5:30 p.m.
Photos:
Dale Glassford (Car 60)
Joel Dick (09)
Eric Vanderiviere (93)
Shawn Jones (17)
Photo credits to James MacDonald, Apex One Photo
No comments:
Post a Comment