Mike Beyore Survives a Rough Night on Canada's Toughest 3rd of a Mile Paved Oval
By Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media
At the start of every season, drivers will highlight certain race dates on their calendars. Some are 'must win' shows, while others are 'would like to win' events. The Touring Chase for the Colours affair - Saturday, August 2nd - at Peterborough Speedway was labelled as one Mike Beyore would like to win. Not because it paid more than any other show on the 2014 OSCAAR Outlaw Super Late Model schedule, but because it would have guaranteed the Whitby, Ontario speedster the pole position for the prestigious Autumn Colours Classic on the tight, tricky bullring on Mount Pleasant Road, west of the Liftlock City.
Like any driver who chooses to ply their craft on the weekly short tracks, Mike Beyore's campaign has been a hybrid of highs and lows; a combination of good and bad racing luck. Ever the optimist, he unloaded his #54 machine and took to the track for the afternoon's first practice session and came back to the team's hauler with a smile from ear to ear.
"The car was fast right out of the box," said a beaming Beyore as he debriefed with the crew and checked the tires for any signs of wear. "Top or bottom; it didn't seem to matter. It was comfortable running either line."
After checking some notes obtained from previous visits to Peterborough Speedway, the driver's confidence was confirmed by a check of the stopwatch, showing consistent laps just over 13 seconds. While fast is good, the car needs to turn and during the second session an issue with getting the car through the corners cropped-up and sent the team working to find a solution that would keep them in the hunt. With the car on jack stands and the night's first green flag getting ever closer, a collection of crew members and friends started pouring over the potent piece to solve the problem.
"We got a number of different ideas and suggestions about what could be changed," said the driver during a break in the thrash session. "I'd made contact with another car at an event a couple of weeks ago and even though we thought everything was okay, you can never really tell until you're under race conditions and the parts you're counting on get a chance to show their stuff."
With time ticking away, the call was made to send a crew member back to the team's shop in Whitby to retrieve a replacement steering rack and some other parts. The time spent switching things over forced Beyore to watch the first round of qualifying from the sidelines and the #54 was the last car to take the track for the 3rd of 4 heat races. A man on a mission, he charged to 3rd place in the final finishing order and even though his piece still wasn't exactly what it could or should have been, set his sights on the evening's 50 lap finale.
Taking the green flag from 13th spot in the 'A' main and had gained a position by the time the scoreboard showed 4 laps complete. An ill-handling car likely contributed to a lap 8 caution and contact with Dave Doucette and after another issue - this time with the #51 of Dave Taylor - it was time to take the car to the pits for new right rear tire. Even with the change of rubber, the best Beyore could muster was a 9th place finish. As the team packed the hauler at the end of the night, the driver reflected on another day at the speedway.
"(That was) certainly not the way I wanted things to turn out," admitted Beyore. "I tried everything I could to gain a spot, but even though we were fast, it just wouldn't turn. Changing the right-rear was a last ditch attempt to get it going, but it was too little, too late. There isn't much time to the next race (Sunday, August 10th at Kawartha Downs Speedway), so we'll head back to the shop and get right to work."
The Peterborough Speedway Touring Chase for the Colours experience wasn't a total loss for the Beyore family. Max Beyore scored the OSCAAR Modified feature win and earned the pole position for the Autumn Colours Classic.
Follow Mike Beyore throughout the season on Twitter via @54buck and at
www.beyoreracing.ca.
Mike Beyore's 2014 OSCAAR Super Late Model tour is supported by Stemac Machinery & Industrial Tools, Millenium Crane, CNC Custom Machining, Praxair, MGS Performance, Mayhew Graphics, Vista Engineering Corporation, Lesco Industrial Restoration and Metals Plus, with promotional services by Clarke Motorsports Communications.
Photo attachment: Jim Clarke - Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media
"The Whitby Warrior" Mike Beyore escaped the Touring Chase for the Colours event - Saturday, August 2nd - at Peterborough Speedway with a 9th place finish in the OSCAAR Super Late Model main event.
Prepared by: Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media
clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com
613.968.6410
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=19945.msg111942#msg111942
