Three of Saturday night’s feature winners on Advantage Warehouse Night are certainly no strangers to Victory Lane.
They were just wondering how much longer before they’d get back there again.
Chatham’s Brad Authier, in the Ultimate Sandblasting & Coatings UMP Late Models, and Leamington’s Curtis Coulter, in the Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds, both won their first feature races since the 2007 season.
Wallaceburg’s Gary Vyse led 19 of the 20 laps to win the Sun Parlour Trailers Sport Stocks feature, his first win since last year’s Mid-Season Championship on July 5. He also dominated the first two features this season, leading 19 of the 40 laps, but finished sixth and eighth.
For Essex’s Patrick Lajeunesse, it was a short drive to Victory Lane as he led all 15 laps to win the Four Seasons Driver Education Comp 4s feature in just his third night in a race car.
Authier started in the fourth row in the Ultimate UMP Late Models feature but caught the front pair of Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis and Chatham’s Gregg Haskell on lap six.
Haskell passed Lewis for the lead on lap 16, with Authier in tow for second.
Two laps later, Authier made the pass for the lead but Haskell stayed on his tail for the final seven laps.
The crowd was on its feet as the pair battled door-to-door on the final lap as Authier got a good run on the high side out of turn four to hold off Haskell at the line.
“It feels great. I’ve never had to wait this long for a feature, it was good to win one again,” Authier said.
“We’ve been working hard, all the guys on the crew have been pounding away at it. Nobody really got frustrated, it was just a matter of everyone hanging in there.”
For Haskell, second place felt like a victory.
“Definitely, I’m happy with the outcome,” said Haskell, who is still looking for the first checkered flag of his three-year career.
“We came down the backstretch, I got inside and thought it was going to be close but his momentum on the outside carried him.”
Haskell considered moving up high when slower traffic was running his line on the bottom.
“I really didn’t want to go high because the bottom was working so good, and the last thing I wanted to do was spin out by trying too hard,” he said.
“I’ll take the second over a spinout any day.”
Blenheim’s Brett Reaume also had a strong car in the latter laps as he moved up to third with three laps to go, dropping Lewis to fourth. Thamesville’s Dale Glassford finished fifth.
Coulter’s feature win capped a perfect three-for-three night as he also won the heat and pursuit.
“It means a lot to finally win one after not winning last year … we were second a lot,” said Coulter, who had four second-place finishes in 11 features.
The 52-year-old veteran started in the fifth row of the 20-lap feature and moved into second place on lap seven when Chatham’s C.J. Field and Leamington’s Abe Unger crashed into the backstretch wall while battling for second.
Coulter chased the leader Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. for the next three laps before taking the point on lap 11.
“Don’t make any mistakes,” was all Coulter was thinking as the final laps clicked off.
“I figured once I passed him, it was mine, as long as I didn’t make any mistakes, because I think I was a little faster on this particular track.”
Dale Jr. finished second for the third straight week while Chris Van De Wiele of Rutherford was third, after winning the previous two features.
Justin Coulter, Curtis’ son, came from the back of the pack to finish fourth, followed by Mike Demars of LaSalle.
“I’ve led the most laps … and nothing!” Gary Vyse laughed after the May 30 race night, as he led almost half of the laps in the first two feature races (19 of 40) but only had sixth- and eighth-place finishes to show for his dominance.
The number 19 came into play again this Saturday as Vyse led 19 laps, but this time was reward with the checkered flag in Victory Lane.
The Wallaceburg driver took the lead from Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere on the second lap and was never seriously challenged.
“It’s awesome,” Vyse said. “I was holding on to that steering wheel so hard those last few laps … there were so many cautions, I felt like I was in that car for about10 hours.”
A rash of cautions gave Chatham’s Louis Clements several opportunities to start on the leader’s back bumper, but the defending series champion had nothing for Vyse on the restarts. A pair of accidents earlier in the night obviously affected Clements’ handling.
Clements turned in his third top-three finish with his second runnerup spot. He maintains his lead atop the standings by 19 points over Vyse, who vaulted from sixth to second.
Doris Lajeunesse of Essex had a third straight outstanding run with a third-place finish. He was second last week and fourth on Opening Night. Scott MacKenzie of Maidstone was fourth, followed by Leamington’s Tiffany Ellis and Windsor’s Rob Parent as only six cars finished on the lead lap.
Patrick Lajeunesse is no stranger to South Buxton Raceway, as he has grown up here watching and working on cars for his father Gerald Martin and brother Doris Lajeunesse in the Sport Stocks for many seasons.
The 25-year-old decided to try his hand behind the wheel this year and in just his third week wound up in Victory Lane.
“It’s amazing, I never, ever expected this so soon,” the jubilant Lajeunesse said.
He started on the pole and led all 15 laps, fending off a strong challenge from defending points champion Nate McNally of Charing Cross for the first six laps and Blenheim’s Murray Van Hooste over the next eight.
Sophomore Shawn Jones of Blenheim got by Van Hooste on the final lap but couldn’t get by Lajeunesse despite a good run out of turn four.
“They were all there, they were letting me know,” Lajeunesse smiled about a number of friendly taps on his back bumper. “When they did (hit me), it just told me it was time to go.”
Despite his inexperience, Lajeunesse said he wasn’t nervous as the laps wound down.
“No, not really, I just tried to drive normal and do my best. I was thinking, ‘don’t be nervous, just hold your line and don’t spin out,’ ” he said.
Van Hooste finished third, followed by Leamington’s Brandon Windsor and Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano. McNally, who lost about eight positions because of a spin midway through the race while battling Lajeunesse, rebounded to finish sixth.
This Saturday is the second Country 92.9 FM Night At The Races, featuring the ASCS Sprints On Dirt and all four regular classes. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.
Photos can be viewed at
http://www.canadiandirtnews.com Regards,
Mike Bennett
South Buxton Raceway
Publicity Director
tel: 519-676-6922 ext#1
fax: 519-676-9116
email: mikeb@southbuxtonraceway.com
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