There are three guarantees that can be made at Tillsonburg Indoor Speedway. One is that you'll see a good night of action from a lot of talented kids, teenagers, and adults. Two is that the admission price won't break anyone to come see the action. And three the track has a unique no rainout guaranteed.
The second season of action at the Tillsonburg Indoor Speedway is set to wrap up with their Spring championship season on Tuesday night, June 30th, and two of the four titles are very much up in the air entering the final night.
The speedway is in a building behind Chesterman Power Products in Tillsonburg, and serves a variety of purposes throughout the year. During the winter month, it’s one of the only places in the province for Motocross riders to practice their trade, and during the summer it’s transformed into a 1/10th-mile dirt oval for Micro Sprints / Outlaw Karts. In between this year, the owners also hosted an event – which they believe to be – the largest remote control car race in Canada, with over 300 participants in April of this year.
Brothers Lawrence and Dave own the dealership, which along with the track can only be considered a family affair. Both brothers race, as do Dave’s sons Scott and Mark, and Lawrence’s children, Dylan and Nicole.
The facility has been adding more cars to the program almost every night out and the total on any given night is on the plus side of 30, spread throughout four divisions.
The top division is the Expert class with the cars running 250 cc. motors in a shifter kart configuration, but that is the class with the least amount of equipment, a class with adults. Because car counts have been four or five on most nights, they experts have been finishing the night so the younger kids aren’t kept at the track all night as well.
The other three classes range in age from five to teenagers with a few adults running in the 11 hp Senior division.
I’ve been at a few tracks where kids race over the years, and the biggest problem with kids racing is parents deciding the outcome, whether it be with more technical knowledge (this I can accept some part of this without question), or worst, with their wallets. At Chesterman prizes are limited to ribbons, handed out to each winner in a ceremony at the drivers meeting the following week.
Instead of having rules that govern every part of the motor and modifications, the Speedway's tech philosophy is really quite simple. In each class (other than Expert), you can only make so much horsepower. If you make any more than that, you’re illegal.
June 23rd, before the Senior feature, all drivers were informed that the top-five runners in points would surrender their motors for dyno testing.
Before getting into the results of the testing, it would only be appropriate to speak about promotor Dave Chesterman, the front man for the track. He is 100% all about the facility being able to allow the kids that race get some experience learning how to race, but above all, encouraging them to have fun. He writes his own race results, and called out another parent as a ‘Hockey Mom’ earlier this year (one of his relatives in fact).
Throughout the pits earlier in the night, there were some finger pointing, claiming a tight battle for the championship looked like it might be decided by some questionable horsepower. The motors were shipped off to Marshman’s Engines, and when the results came back, there was a disqualified powerplant, costing that driver all of his points from the season. The driver was Dave’s son Mark, and the promoter had no problems pulling the trigger on the disqualification. Mark was fifth in points at the time.
This Tuesday is the final event of the Spring Season, before the facility gets ramped up for the summer season.
The Beginner Series sees D.J. Christie (son of Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup driver Jay Christie) with a 3 point lead over Jayven March.
In the Junior class D.J. McRae (son of former Delaware Street Stock driver Don McRae) only has to show up to collect the title.
The Senior class sees Devin Jarvis lead Cassidy March by a single point, with Dylan Chesterman 10 points out of title contention. The Seniors will be going 70 laps on Tuesday for double points, and already rumours are rampant on whether the karts will have enough fuel on board.
In the Expert division, former Wonderland Speedway champ Holly Porter, ‘The Dorchester Dart’ only has to hope her kart starts to lock up the title over Scott Chesterman.
If you’re looking to fill your racing fix, or have a little one that wants to get those ‘elbows up’ and wants to get a taste of dirt, take a drive down highway 3, just West of Tillsonburg and check out the Tillsonburg Indoor Speedway. They do have one leg up over every other track in Ontario this year... there is a 100% chance that there won’t be a rainout, no matter how wet things get.
And look for the sign at the track soon that reads ‘No Hockey Moms’ allowed.
For more information visit
www.chesterman.ca
More photos here
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