THE DROUGHT IS OVER: MAHONEY WINS AT SOUTH BUXTON
by Tommy Goudge August 2, 2008) -
Warren Mahoney finally got the monkey off his back by taking his 10th career Southern Ontario Sprints feature win in convincing fashion on Saturday night. Mahoney's last SOS feature win came nearly 5 years ago at the Merrittville Speedway on August 16, 2003, and he had recorded 8 runner-up finishes since that win, before climbing back up to the top step of the podium at South Buxton.
Derek Jonathan and Dick Mahoney led the field to the green flag to start the 7th feature of the 2008 SOS season, with Jonathan taking the lead coming out of the 2nd turn. Jonathan's lead would be short-lived however, as the driver from Lewiston, NY slipped high off the track in turns 1 and 2 after completing the first lap and flipped. Fortunately the #81 suffered only minor damage in the incident, which brought an end to what had been a good week for the Jonathan team as they had taken a heat race win earlier in the evening, and won their first ever sprint car feature last Sunday in weekly action at the Humberstone Speedway.
With one lap in the books, Dick Mahoney assumed the lead for the restart and took off when the green flag dropped, looking for his 2nd feature win at South Buxton. Behind Mahoney's #79, the action was heating up as Ryan Hunsinger was holding onto the 2nd position with a pack of hungry drivers on his tail. 2nd place points man Warren Mahoney and points leader Glenn Styres had started side-by-side in row #4, with 3rd place Keith Dempster directly in front of them. While Styres and Dempster were unable to make much headway, Mahoney darted through the field, making his way into 2nd and chasing down his father Dick before another red flag stopped the race with 7 laps completed, as Kyle Patrick was upside down in turn 3. Patrick was working on Craig Downie for the 8th position as he entered turn 3 on the low side, but slid up into Downie's #71, caught a wheel, and barrell-rolled. Patrick emerged from his damaged car uninjured, but the crew has more work to do once again in what has turned into a season of terrible luck for the #33k team.
The race went back green with Warren right on his father's tail, and it was only a matter of time until Warren got by the #79. "The Wiley One" made his move around his father to take the lead during the 9th lap, and set sail out front. While the action was going on out front, Glenn Styres found his groove and started to move forward, making his way into 2nd around Dick in turn 1, but Warren was ahead by 2.5 seconds by that point and slicing through lapped traffic with relative ease. Styres was fast, but could not put a dent in Warren's lead, and the race went green the rest of the way, with Warren crossing the finish line out front, followed by Styres, Dick Mahoney holding off a determined Adam West for 3rd while West settled for 4th, and Bob Crawford in 5th.
NOTES:
- Heat race victories went to Ryan Hunsinger and Derek Jonathan, while Keith Dempster won the Dash for Cash in spectacular fashion after he spun out in turn 4 on the final lap, but managed to keep going and take the win. A huge crowd was on hand for the event - now the only sprint car event on the South Buxton schedule after 3 others were rained out this season - and they roared their approval for Dempster's "spin and win".
- Other than Adam West of Ridgetown who came home 4th in the feature, local favourites from the South Buxton area did not fare well on Saturday night. Chatham driver John Riegling struggled in the feature, coming home 10th after starting 9th, while Tilbury's Kyle Patrick flipped in the feature, and Jeff Daniels went for a hard ride at the end of the frontstretch in his heat race, destroying a brand new car in the process. Daniels had just gotten a new car together last week after a flip at Humberstone on June 29. While running at the back of his heat getting a feel for the new car, Daniels made contact with the outside retaining wall and catchfence entering turn 1. Afterwards, the Chatham native was unsure of what had caused the crash, saying the car just seemed to turn to the right all on it's own. Fortunately Daniels emerged relatively unscathed other than some bumps and bruises on his wrist and leg.
- 1998 SOS champ Garry Evans made his first start of the season on Saturday night at South Buxton. Evans had been out of the driver's seat of his #69 this season while Kris Root took over the driving chores, but Garry decided to take his turn behind the wheel on Saturday, saying Kris can't have all the fun! Evans came home with a 13th place finish in the feature.
- The already tight points battle got even closer on Saturday night as Warren Mahoney entered the evening just 14 markers behind leader Glenn Styres. Mahoney finished 1 spot ahead of Styres in heat race #1, and came home with the feature win with Styres in 2nd, unofficially moving Mahoney to just 8 points behind as the tour heads back to Brighton next Saturday, where the rained out feature from July 12 will be made up before a full night of heats, dash, and 20-lap feature are contested.
RACE REPORT - Saturday, August 2, 2008
SOUTHERN ONTARIO SPRINTS 2008 SEASON Event #7
South Buxton Raceway - South Buxton, Ontario
ENTRIES
0 Glenn Styres - Ohsweken
1a John Riegling - Chatham
5 Keith Dempster - Alton
5d Dave Dykstra - Port Colborne
10 Bob Crawford - Sutton
15 Mike Ferrell - London
20 Jeff Daniels - Chatham
25 Warren Mahoney - Lefroy
30 Adam West - Ridgetown
31 John Burbridge, Jr. - Simcoe
33k Kyle Patrick - Tilbury
66 Frank Baranowski - Hamilton
69 Garry Evans - London
71 Craig Downie - Burlington
77x Ryan Hunsinger - Brantford
79 Dick Mahoney - Newmarket
81 Derek Jonathon - Lewiston, NY
HEAT RACE #1
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (2)
2. 5 Keith Dempster (5)
3. 25 Warren Mahoney (7)
4. 0 Glenn Styres (
5. 1a John Riegling (6)
6. 31 John Burbridge, Jr. (3)
7. 69 Garry Evans (9)
8. 66 Frank Baranowski (4)
9. 15 Mike Ferrell (1) DNS
HEAT RACE #2
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 81 Derek Jonathan (1)
2. 79 Dick Mahoney (2)
3. 30 Adam West (4)
4. 10 Bob Crawford (3)
5. 71 Craig Downie (6)
6. 33k Kyle Patrick (7)
7. 5d Dave Dykstra (
8. 20 Jeff Daniels (5) DNF
South Buxton Raceway Dash For Cash
(4 laps)
1. 5 Keith Dempster (1)
2. 79 Dick Mahoney (3)
3. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (2)
4. 81 Derek Jonathan (4)
'A' FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 25 Warren Mahoney (7)
2. 0 Glenn Styres (
3. 79 Dick Mahoney (2)
4. 30 Adam West (5)
5. 10 Bob Crawford (4)
6. 5 Keith Dempster (6)
7. 71 Craig Downie (10)
8. 77x Ryan Hunsinger (3)
9. 5d Dave Dykstra (14)
10. 1a John Riegling (9)
11. 31 John Burbridge, Jr. (11)
12. 66 Frank Baranowski (15)
13. 69 Garry Evans (13) DNF
14. 33k Kyle Patrick (12) DNF
15. 81 Derek Jonathan (1) DNF
16. 15 Mike Ferrell (16) DNS
17. 20 Jeff Daniels (17) DNS
Lap Leaders: Jonathan (1), D. Mahoney (2-9), W. Mahoney (10-20)
Hard Charger: W. Mahoney/Styres (Gained 6 positions each)
Caution Flags: 0
Red Flags: 2 (lap 1, lap 7)
UNOFFICIAL TOP 10 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #7
Rank. Number Name Total (positions gained/lost)
1. 0 Glenn Styres 982 (--)
2. 25 Warren Mahoney 974 (--)
3. 5 Keith Dempster 949 (--)
4. 30 Adam West 905 (--)
5. 10 Bob Crawford 867 (--)
6. 79 Dick Mahoney 834 (--)
7. 81 Derek Jonathon 705 (+1)
8. 15 Mike Ferrell 692 (+1)
9. 11j Chris Jones 670 (-2)
10. 77x Ryan Hunsinger 654 (+1)
NEXT SOS RACE:
Saturday, August 9 @ Brighton Speedway - Brighton, Ontario
** Rained Out Feature From July 12 Will Be Run August 9 **
www.BrightonSpeedway.comwww.SouthernOntarioSprints.com*****************************
*****************************
Tommy Goudge
media officer
www.SouthernOntarioSprints.comLinkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=8049.msg49569#msg49569
