McGlynn Continues to Roll with Fourth Straight Win
(Delaware, ON) – The 2014 Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series Presented by Meineke rolled into Delaware Speedway on Friday for the seventh race of the championship season. Three-time Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup champion Shawn McGlynn (#18) of Kitchener, came into the night with a five-point lead in the championship over sophomore driver Kevin Allen (#54) of Drumbo, as the series made their lone visit to the legendary half-mile as part of the 'Great Canadian Race Weekend'.
Qualifying was halfway over when Allen blistered a lap of 20.692 seconds to set the fast time, before Josh Wood (#66) of London went to the top of the chart two cars later, turning a lap of 20.582 seconds. Those times would stand up until the third to last car hit the track. Chad McGlynn (#18) of Kitchener, stopped the clock with a time of 20.322 seconds, but his seat at P1 was short lived. 'Mr. Highside' Brennan Didero (#24) of Brantford, turned a lap of 20.048 seconds next before Shawn McGlynn closed out the session by taking a stab at Sean Dupuis' track record from 2008, a time of 19.959, which McGlynn missed by less than a tenth of a second, turning the circuit in 20.038 seconds.
When the field drew their starting positions in the 'Lucas Oil Fast Five' draw, Allen was on the pole with Chad McGlynn second. Shawn McGlynn would start third, with Didero sharing the row with him.
Allen slipped up early off turn two, allowing Chad McGlynn to take the lead, but it was short lived. Championship contender Dave 'Hot Rod' Connelly (#82) of Arnprior, spun on the second lap to put the field under yellow. On the restart Shawn McGlynn took command and started to walk away from the field. Didero attempted to keep pace with the championship leader, but faded further back through a run that lasted until a lap 48 yellow, when Chad McGlynn was spun in turn three. By this point, Wood had climbed to third, with Jason Meyer (#93) of Tillsonburg, fourth, and Allen fifth.
On the restart, Didero would assert a challenge, taking the lead by the time the pair raced off turn two, but on the same lap in turn three Didero went into the turn too deep and overshot his marks. McGlynn squeezed to the inside and claimed the lead again.
A yellow on lap 65 would give Didero another crack at the lead, but this time it was Wood who was up on the wheel, taking second spot away, while McGlynn cruised out front. One restart later Didero would return the favour, taking second again, but on both of the final restarts, he had nothing for McGlynn and had to worry about fighting off Wood to keep the runner-up spot.
Shawn McGlynn led the rest of the way to claim his fourth straight victory, and fifth straight by the McGlynn racing team thanks to Chad's win in early July. Along the way he expanded his point lead to nine over Allen heading into the final race of the season. Shawn said, "
Our car was excellent tonight. We got a good start, and then I was able to get Chad on the first restart. The #24 [Didero] got us once, but he blew the next corner and I was able to get past him quickly. If he didn't make that mistake, I still think I could've got him, but it would have taken a while. After he passed me that one time, I knew it was 'game on', and we had to get going on those restarts. We have won the last two at Flamboro, so we should be pretty quick. We have had a great season, but we'll be shooting for five in a row and then the championship will just be gravy."
Didero held on to second spot, and said afterwards, "We qualified second, ran second, and finished second tonight. I'm pleased with the night, but it's still not a win. I got by Shawn once, but that was about all we had for him. It's a good points day for us, but we didn't gain any back on Shawn. I'm not sure what we have to do to beat him. He's on a pretty good roll right now, and we've been working hard to try and beat him.
A late race pass netted Allen third-place, and shuffled Wood back to a fourth-place result. It was yet another podium finish for the second year competitor. He said, "Our car got better as we burnt off our fuel load, but we still weren't as fast as the #81 [McGlynn]. We were able to come through the field after we were involved with an earlier incident, and ran up front all night. I lost a bunch of spots early, but I wasn't too worried, because I knew we had a good car, and I just had to use patience. It was another podium finish, but we still have one more race to get a win. We also still have a shot at the title, but we need some help from the #81 for that to happen. We just have to come out at Flamboro for the last race and do our best to try and win."
Chad McGlynn made a late charge after spinning twice to finish fifth.
Final Results – 1. Shawn McGlynn, 2. Didero, 3. Allen, 4. Wood, 5. Chad McGlynn.
Other Race Award Winners
Champion Brands Hard Charger - # 45 Kevin Trevellin (6 positions)
London Drive Systems voucher winner - # 48 Doug Cathcart
Performance Fiberglass winners - Jeremy Coulter & Bob Merrifield
McColl Racing Ent. voucher winner - # 24 Brennan Didero
Mid America Hard Luck award - # 8 Adam Martin
Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup presented by Meineke - Championship Points Standings (after 7 of 8 events) – 1. S. McGlynn (667 points), 2. Allen (658), 3. Didero (652), 4. Connelly (640), 5. Cathcart (637).
Qualifying points – 1. S. McGlynn (66 points), 2. Jake Ott (48), Didero (48), 4. Allen (47), 5. Connelly (39).
The Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup presented by Meineke will be back in action on October 4th for the Fuel for Kids 100 at Flamboro Speedway. The event has been the traditional wrap-up race for the series for a number of years, and will be the highlight of the Saturday night card at Octoberfest.
The race will also be broadcast live on
www.racetimeradio.com, as Joe Chisholm and the Race Time Radio crew will be on hand for all the action.
For more information on the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series, Lucas Oil, Meineke, Flamboro Speedway, or Delaware Speedway, please visit
www.lucasoilsportsmancup.com,
www.lucasoil.ca,
www.meineke.ca,
www.flamborospeedway.net,
http://www.peterboroughspeedway.com/, or contact Series Director Dave Alexander at dalexand@sympatico.ca.
Release and Photos by Jamie and Jordan Maudsley and
www.maudsleymotorsports.com.
Linkback: https://www.canadianracingonline.com/smf/index.php?topic=20307.msg112380#msg112380
