Brandon Watson Finishes Fifth at Sunset
Brandon Watson battled back from a late race spin to finish fifth at Sunset Speedway on Sunday night with the OSCAAR Super Late Model tour. Watson was collected in a spin involving Andrew Gresel (No.81) in turn two on a lap 44 restart while running in the fifth spot.
After starting the 50-lap A-Main third, Watson ran inside the top-five all race long until the spin with six laps to go. The incident occurred after the drivers at the front of the field ‘checked-up’ at the exit of turn two on the restart. As Watson attempted to follow suit, other drivers were not able to avoid contact, causing both the No. 9 and No. 81 to spin.
Forced to restart at the tail of the field as a result of the spin, Watson elected to come to pit road under caution to make adjustments to the car.
“On the restart there, I kind of got slowed up in front. I think somebody lost a power steering line,” said Watson. “They checked up a bit, so did I and somebody got in to me, I got in to him. He and I went around.”
Despite the spin, Watson was able to battle back in to the top-five after another set of cautions in the closing laps. The fifth-place finishes extends Watson’s streak of top-five finishes to seven, dating back to October of 2012 at the Autumn Colours Classic.
“We had a good run going, top-three, top-four the whole race,” said Watson. “It’s unfortunate that had to happen with five to go, but we stuck with it. We came in and were able to make some changes to the car. We made it back up to fifth.”
The finish at the front of the field was strong for Watson, who initially felt the car wouldn’t maintain its early pace in the closing laps of the event.
“At the start, it was looking like the car was going to fade off a bit,” explained Watson. “If the last five had gone green flag, it would have been a lot tougher to get back up there. The front two (Shane Maginnis and Dwayne Baker) ran a good race. They were really quick. We were all good at the start, but it kind of fell off a bit. I think it was still a pretty decent top-five car.”
Watson earned a heat win earlier in the night, as well as a third place finish in his second heat.
The series shifts to Peterborough Speedway on Saturday, August 3 for the Super Late Model tour’s first of three trips to Canada’s Toughest 1/3-mile oval. With the success Watson has experienced so far, the Stayner, Ont. pilot knows the team only needs to make subtle changes to their winning formula heading to Peterborough.
“I think we just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” he explained. “We’ve got to try and stay out of trouble. So far, we’ve stayed up at the front most of the time. Just a couple of bad, unlucky breaks here and there. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. It’s bound to come, we worked out way back up (on Sunday).”
Watson won the series’ last trip to Peterborough in 2012 and the 20-year-old always enjoys returning to the tight oval.
“I always look forward to Peterborough, I think it’s a fun track,” said Watson. ”We’re looking to come out with another top-five. We’re doing pretty well so far this year, all of our finishes are top-fives. It’s always fun racing there so we’ll try to have some fun most of all and get another win.”
After the event’s originally scheduled Saturday date was washed out, the event was moved to Sunday night. Watson thanked his crew members for their dedication over a long weekend.
“I have to thank my crew especially for coming out every week,” said Watson. “We had quite a few things to do after the heats to the feature. We had a few adjustments, but we got it going.”
Racing gets underway at Peterborough Speedway on Saturday, August 3 at 6:00pm. Spectator gates open at 4:00pm and will feature a pre-race corn roast.
Brandon Waston’s 2013 OSCAAR Super Late Model tour is supported by Shear Metal Products, Ken Mackinnon Construction, Klotz Synthetics Canada, Knightworks Design, and Barrie Frame and Alignment.
By Clayton Johns (@cjohnsmedia)
Photo Credit: Dan Little Jr.
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