OSCAAR Super Late Models
Year-in-Review: Tied-2nd #7 Derrick Tiemersma
By Clayton Johns (@cjohnsmedia)
On the heels of a season away from the OSCAAR racing scene, Derrick Tiemersma (#7 Wayfreight/Spira Fire Protection) burst back in to the series with little transition back to a full-time presence on the circuit.
His return started in the season opener at Sunset Speedway where he finished with a third-place podium result. A good start for a driver that had been out of the cockpit for 12 months. Tiemersma followed up his opening night performance with a top-five finish at Barrie Speedway in the series’ first return since 2007.
Another solid top-ten finish at Sunset on Canada Day weekend took the Holland Landing, ON based team in to a busy month of July. The month did not start off in ideal fashion at Sauble Speedway. Running near the middle of the pack early on, Tiemersma was sent spinning off the backstretch in to a muddy infield. Tiemersma was able to finish the event, but with the extra weight of the mud the team had to settle for an 11th-place finish.
Tiemersma and his team rebounded with third-place finishes at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) and a rain-shortened event at Peterborough Speedway.
“You need a good run once and a while. (CTMP) has always been good to me even if it’s not my favourite track,” said Tiemersma following the July 21st event. “We started tenth, deep in the field, finish up third and with a straight race car. I’m happy with that tonight.”
In a caution-filled race at Delaware Speedway that was dominated by Rob Clarke, Tiemersma wound up sixth. The team suffered a setback a week later at Peterborough Speedway after an accident involving Paul Law had the front-end of Tiemersma’s car suffering heavy damage.
“We had a good car, we weren’t going to win the race, but we had a good car,” said a frustrated Tiemersma following the race.
Things didn’t look promising for Tiemersma’s appearance at the rescheduled Don Biederman Memorial on September 7, but a rainout allowed the team to be prepared for Sunset Speedway’s Velocity weekend.
A seventh-place finish in the final visit of the year to Sunset got Tiemersma back in to the top-ten, but on the outside looking in at the 2012 championship. But with two races remaining, Tiemersma had yet to achieve his goal of winning a feature race.
He would fall short with a fifth place finish in the Biederman Memorial at Kawartha Speedway on September 28, leaving only the Autumn Colours Classic.
The Thanksgiving weekend event drew over 20 Super Late Models and one of the most competitive fields of the year. Tiemersma hung with the front runners despite a very tumultuous, caution filled race and held on for his third third-place finish of the season. While he would like to have won the race, Tiemersma said his car was not up to snuff.
“It was going to take sheer luck for me to win that race, but we have a straight race car. A lot of work to do to keep up with these guys (next year), but we’ll take it for what it is right now,” said the 2007 champion as the year came to a close. “It’s nice to finish off the year with a third.”
While Tiemersma did not earn the win he was looking for in 2012, he racked up nine top-ten finishes, including six top-fives, good enough for 683 points and a share of second place in the overall championship standings with George Wilson.
The OSCAAR Super Late Model tour and its officials would like to congratulate Derrick Tiemersma on a second-place finish in the 2012 championship standings. Tiemersma will be recognized for his achievements at the 2012 OSCAAR awards banquet on Saturday November 24 at the Holiday Inn in Markham, ON.
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