WEEKEND RECAP

August 7,9, 2009

John Houghton

Delaware Speedway PR

Above: Kirk Hooker (#38) of Chatham celebrates his first-ever Delaware Speedway Win

Photo: Maudsley Motorsports

It was an exciting weekend of racing at Delaware Speedway featuring racing from all the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions, as well as the highlight of the weekend, the ISMA Super Modifieds. Racing kicked off on Friday evening in front of a packed house for Sloan Insulations night.  Recap information and results for the ISMA Super Modifieds can be found on their website: here.

The APC Late Models were busy on Friday evening running a pair of 25-lap races. “Rocket” Ron Sheridan (#52) of Mt. Brydges won the first race of the evening. The race ran caution free with Sheridan starting from the first position following his win in time trials. Near the end of the race Sheridan was chased closely by “Mr. Excitement” Kirk Hooker (#38) of Chatham who was unable to complete the pass. Hooker would finish second, third was Steven Matthews (#15) of New Liskeard.

“We were a bit tighter after the super modifieds were out putting rubber down,” said Sheridan in victory lane. “I had Kirk behind me and he’s a good clean runner. It’s a good way to start the night running flag to flag.”

Sheridan receiving the winner's trophy

With the full inversion of lead lap cars, both Sheridan and Hooker would start close to the back of the second feature race. On the opening lap Shawn Thompson (#72) of Ailsa Craig hit the outside wall coming off turn four, crossed traffic and collected a number of cars including Jon Urlin (#4) of London, David Elliott (#37) of Acton, Mark Watson (#02) of St. Thomas), Rick Emery (#14) of Ruscom as well as Scott Lindsay (#20) of St. Marys, Steven Matthews (#15) of New Liskeard and Mat Box (#27) of Mississauga in a secondary crash. The incident paved the way for a number of the top runners to restart in the middle of the pack. Andrew Grisel (#81) of Hepworth would lead much of the race before being passed by Kirk Hooker (#38) of Blenheim. Hooker brought Steve Robblee (#28) of Dorchester in tow and the pair were eventually joined by Ron Sheridan (#52) of Mt. Brydges. As the white flag flew on the race Kyle Delisle (#5) of Lasalle spun in turn two bringing out the caution. The result would be a nail-biting one-lap green-checker shootout. There would be a crash on the final lap involving Mat Box (#27) of Mississauga, Matt Robblee (#32) of Dorchester and Gary Elliot (#9) of Waterdown. The caution would bring out the checkered flag with Kirk Hooker taking his first-ever Delaware Speedway win, Robblee in second and Sheridan in third.

“I thought I would never win one [at Delaware]!” said Hooker in victory lane. “I love these fans at Delaware, it’s awesome to be here tonight. You have to take life as it goes sometimes, my brother had a heart attack and survived it, and this is really a win for Randy and his wife.”

Bloemendal's Winning Pass

Devon Bloemendal (#01) "The Flying Dutchman" of Delaware won the Demar Aggregates Trucks feature race on Friday evening. Bloemendal started from fifth position in his winning run. Lonny Thompson (#4) of Dorchester led much of the race before being passed briefly by Kathleen Hosang (#16) of Zurich. Hosang was in turn passed by Bloemendal who went on for the win. Derek Clark (#7) of Strathroy finished second, third was Sid McDonald (#33) of London.

“Truck was awesome again tonight,” said Bloemendal. “I just had to be patient [with Kathleen Hosang]. She was a little loose coming off turn two, and I was able to sneak underneath.”

The King of the Hill Spectator’s race was won by “Air Pressure” Justin Demelo in his red Camaro. Ken Farquar finished second in his black mustang. Demelo won the first two rounds of the best two out of three final to take the win.

With rain falling at the track on Saturday for Patco Transportation night, events were moved to the raindate of Sunday.

In the Delaware Speedway Super Stocks Jason Lidster (#11) of St. Thomas broke his championship points tie with Darrel Lake (#77) of London with a win in the feature race. Brad Clark (#52) of Thedford led much of the race before being passed by Lidster and Lake. Lake was able to try for an outside pass on Lidster down the backstretch on the final lap, able to alongside him in turn one but came up short at the line. Lidster’s win jumped him to the top of the championship points standings. Second in the race was Darrell Lake, third was Brad Clark (#52) of Thedford.

“He was running me up a little bit with talk before race and told me let’s be a man and race for this championship, and that’s what we did so hats off to Darrell,” said Lidster. “I’m just thrilled, thanks a lot. I’m trying to put the heat on all these guys to let them know we’re coming.”

The POWERADE Open-Wheel Modified race was won by Barry Newman (#1) of Springfield. John Saunders (#70) of London led much of the race but was involved in a spin and crash with Paul Shipway (#88) of Ailsa Craig and Jamie Cox (#3) of Dorchester. Newman had been running fourth at the time battling with David McCullough (#39) of Glencoe. In the end Newman came out on top, McCullough was second. Rallying back from the accident was Jamie Cox (#3) of Dorchester who finished third.

“Sometimes you have to be lucky, and I got through without trouble so that’s why we’re first today,” said Newman in victory lane. “It’s pretty hard to pass unless you get a slow car in front of you.”

The next race event at Delaware Speedway is a two-day race weekend featuring the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series on Friday night and the Transmission Direct Enduro and Ultimate Sandblasting & Coating Chaos cars on Saturday. Friday’s event is the finale of the APC Late Model JBM Auto Leasing Triple Crown with the $11,000 points fund on the line as well as $3,000 in additional prizing from JBM Auto Leasing. Time trials are at 7:30 pm, racing starts at 8:00 pm. On Saturday, gates open at 6:00 pm with racing starting at 7:00 pm.