The “Joyceville Jet” Scores At Brighton Speedway Southern Ontario Sprint
Opener
For Immediate Release: (Ken Pelkie for SOS)
A capacity crowd greeted the return of the Southern Ontario Sprints to
Brighton Speedway Saturday night as the tour opened it’s 2007 season.
Hometown favourite Rick Wilson had them on their feet as he collected
his first victory of 2007. “At the start of the race my motor was
skipping real bad” stated Wilson in post the post race interview. “When
we finally got some heat in the motor, the car was really going good. It
is good to see so many people in the stands for the sprint races here
and tonight the track was just awesome” concluded Wilson.
Pole sitter Craig Downie grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag
from Brad Malloy as the duo set a torrid pace. Downie continued to show
the way to the rest of the field while Malloy gave chase through the
early stages of the twenty lap event.
The first of two cautions waved on lap seven to clear the disabled
machine of Bob Crawford who was sitting in a dangerous spot in the
infield grass after dropping out of the race at the end of lap three
with front end damage. Warren Mahoney also retired during the caution
period with mechanical woes.
On the restart, Downie continued to dominate as Kevin Job slipped by
Malloy into second. Glenn Styres, Rick Wilson, and Kyle Wilson were
engaged in a battle as they closed in on Malloy. By the half way point,
Downie appeared to be in control as Job had settled into second. Rick
Wilson, Styres and Kyle Wilson had all cleared the Malloy machine with
the 5M running in sixth. Kyle Patrick, Adam West, Keith Dempster, and
Jamie Collard rounded out the top ten.
Rick Wilson slipped by Job into the runner up spot by lap fourteen as
Styres faded to fifth behind Kyle Wilson. The second and final caution
waved on lap sixteen when Brad Malloy collected a spinning Mike Ferrell
in turn four. Ferrell continued as the Malloy mount came to rest with
front end damage. Rob Middlemiss and Daryl Turford also stopped on the
speedway during this caution but were able to restart.
When the green flag waved for the final time, Downie got a good jump
with Rick Wilson in pursuit. Downie held on to lead lap seventeen but
Wilson caught Downie on the exit of turn two and blasted into the lead
as the pair entered turn three. At the checkers it was Rick Wilson
followed by Downie, Kyle Wilson, Styres, Job, Kyle Patrick, West,
Collard, Dempster, and John Watson making up the top ten.
John Burbridge, Dick Mahoney, Rob Middlemiss, Daryl Turford, and April
Wilson finished eleventh through fifteenth while Derek Jonathan, Mark
Swain, James Whittaker, and Mike Ferrell completed the running order.
Rookie Bill Baldwin failed to get the car started for the feature while
Joe Middlemiss did not answer the call with engine problems.
Heat races were won by Craig Downie, Brad Malloy, and Kevin Job.
Next up on May 18th the series will make the first of four appearances
to Ohsweken Speedway Friday night. Racing activities are set to go at
7:45 PM with Pit gates opening at 5:30 PM.
Be sure to come out to a speedway near you as the series continues on
it’s 2007 tour and for all of the latest news and information on the
Southern Ontario Sprints be sure to log on to the official website at
www.southernontariosprints.com.
Results: 24 cars in Pit
Heat #1
1/ 71 - Craig Downie (Burlington, ON) 2/ 0 - Glenn STYRES (Ohsweken, ON)
3/ 42w - Rick WILSON (Joyceville, ON) 4/ 5 - Keith DEMSTER (Alton, ON)
5/ 15aw - April WILSON (Joyceville, ON) 6/ 83 - James WHITTAKER (Lynden,
ON) *R* 7/ 81 - Derek JONATHAN (Lockport, NY) 8/ 14 - Bill BALDWIN
(Courtice, ON) *R*
Heat #2
1/ 5M - Brad MALLOY (Niagara Falls) 2/ 30 - Adam WEST (Ridgetown, ON) 3/
25 - Warren MAHONEY (Lefroy, ON) 4/ 21j - John BURBRIDGE (Simcoe, ON) 5/
26 - John WATSON (St. Thomas, ON) 6/ 05 - Mark SWAIN (Port Perry, ON)
*R* 7/ 10M - Rob MIDDLEMISS (Niagara Falls, ON) 8/ 11M - Joe MIDDLEMISS
(Chippawa, ON)
Heat #3
1/21x - Kevin JOB (Campbellville, ON)2/79 - Dick MAHONEY (Newmarket, ON)
3/ 01 - Kyle WILSON (Joyceville, ON) 4/ 10 - Bob CRAWFORD (Sutton, ON)
5/ 33k - Kyle PATRICK (Tilbury, ON) 6/ 37F - Jamie COLLARD (Princeton,
ON) 7/ 29 - Daryl TURFORD (Mitchell, ON) 8/ 15 - Mike FERRELL (London,
ON) *R*
“A” MAIN
1/ 42W - Rick WILSON (10) 2/ 71 - Craig DOWNIE (1) 3/ 01 - Kyle WILSON
(12) 4/ 0 - Glenn STYRES (6) 5/ 21X - Kevin JOB (3) 6/ 33k - Kyle
PATRICK (15) 7/ 30 - Adam WEST (11) 8/ 37F - Jamie COLLARD (18) 9/ 5 -
Keith DEMPSTER (9) 10/ 26 - John WATSON (14) 11/ 21j - John BURBRIDGE
(4) 12/ 79 - Dick MAHONEY (5) 13/ 10m - Rob MIDDLEMISS (20) 14/ 29 -
Daryl TURFORD (21) 15/ 15aw - April WILSON (13) 16/ 81 - Derek JONATHAN
(19) 17/ 05 - Mark SWAIN (17) 18/ 83 - James WHITTAKER (16) 19/ 15 -
Mike FERRELL (22) 20/ 5m - Brad MALLOY (2) 21/ 25 - Warren MAHONEY (7)
22/ 10 - Bob CRAWFORD (
23/ 14 - Bill BALDWIN (DNS) 24/ 11m - Joe
MIDDLEMISS (DNS)
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=6025.msg24796#msg24796
