FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LUCAS OIL CAN-AM MIDGETS
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY (ON)
August 24, 2014
by Cindy Lorenz
photo by Ralph Webbe
Top Three at Grand Bend Speedway 8.23.14, Darren McLennan 2nd, Mack DeMan Winner, Chris Bauman 3rd.
DeMan On A Roll With 6th Win In Lucas Oil Can-Am Midget Series
Mack DeMan picked up his 6th trophy of the year with a win Saturday night at Grand Bend Speedway. Known as the 'Bull Ring At The Beach', this 1/4 mile tricky tri-oval is a challenging track for these Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets and DeMan put all the pieces together to make the Mackereth owned TQ #40 the class of the field. In Victory Lane, the top three cars including 2nd place Darren McLennan and Chris Bauman in third along with winner DeMan thanked the sponsor of that night's races, Brian's Service Centre. DeMan gave a special thanks to Lucas Oil, the fans and especially good friend Peter Middleton for all his help that night.
At the drop of the green flag Bauman took the lead in what would become his best race of the season, followed by Todd Cresswell and Barry Dunn. Adam Racine attached himself to the tail of Dunn and quickly took over the third spot. DeMan moved into fourth from his 7th starting spot as Cresswell grabbed the lead from Bauman. Dunn fell back a few spots but hung in strong, driving the Hickson owned TQ #63. Racine took over second place from Bauman as DeMan also motored around him. Turning laps in the low 11 second range, Cresswell began to stretch his lead. Racine held off DeMan as he looked ahead to Cresswell. McLennan took fourth spot from the determined Bauman who stayed in the top five.
After 7 laps in the lead, Cresswell had strong runner Racine along side looking for the lead and as the two raced into turn 2, they touched and both spun. As they went to the back of the field for the restart DeMan now held the point. McLennan was second at his hometown track followed by Bauman. Lucas Smith moved into fourth place followed by Dunn. Racine broke going into turn four and went into the outer wall loosing his right rear tire, bringing out the red flag for the cleanup. Racine was uninjured but out for the night.
With nothing but clean air in front of him, DeMan opened up a sizable lead over McLennan. Still in the hunt, McLennan began to make up some ground. Bauman remained in third followed by Smith and Dunn. Nearing the halfway point Rob Neely, running sixth, got loose in turn one and spun bringing out the caution. The field tightened up for the restart with DeMan still at the front. With ten to go it looked like the battle would be between DeMan and McLennan. With five to go Smith and Cresswell made contact bringing out the caution allowing another chance for McLennan to make his move. DeMan had no part of it and again took the lead as the field went green. Bauman continued his strong run and stayed in third with Dunn now followed by Adrian Stahle. Neely brought out the final caution for a spin with four laps to go.
This time McLennan hung on to DeMan going into turn one at the restart but DeMan just put the pedal down coming out of turn two. Bauman stayed in third with Dunn and Stahle rounding the top five. The final laps went off as the top runners remained the same until DeMan took the checkered flag for the finish. Of Note..Dave Hickson spent long hours with his crew repairing his TQ #64 after a hard crash at Sauble Speedway on August 3rd and finished 10th. Also it was another strong finish for Brandon Zavarella, just out of the top five, in his first season with the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets.
Heats were won by McLennan and Racine. The Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets have two races remaining in their 2014 schedule. They will head north to Sauble Speedway on Saturday, August 30th and finish the 49th year of racing for the Can-Am Midget Racing Club at Flamboro Speedway on Saturday September 20th.
Final finish for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets at Grand Bend Speedway on August 23, 2014 is...1. MACK DEMAN, 2. Darren McLennan, 3. Chris Bauman, 4. Barry Dunn, 5. Adrian Stahle, 6. Brandon Zavarella, 7. Lucas Smith, 8. Todd Cresswell, 9. Rob Neely, 10. Dave Hickson, 11. Ryan Fraser, 12. Adam Racine.
The Top Ten In Driver Points for the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets as of August 23, 2014 are..1. MACK DEMAN...1998, 2. Rob Neely...1904, 3. Darren McLennan...1678, 4. Todd Cresswell...1607, 5. Adam Racine...1600, 6. Adrian Stahle...1556, 7. Lucas Smith...1514, 8. Ryan Fraser...1426, 9. David Balych...1321, 10. Daniel Bois...1267.
For more information on the Lucas Oil Can-Am Midgets, contact Cindy Lorenz at clorenz74@yahoo.com
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