Two Saturday's in April

Practice notes from Delaware Speedway April 17 & April 24

NASCAR Late Models

A large number of Late Models hit the track over the past two weeks, including Jamie Ramsay, and Scott Lindsay, who were both able to post times that were among the quickest of the sessions.

Lloyd Rawlings brought his sharp new paint scheme to the track. Call me a sucker for blue, silver, and florescent orange on a race car. It brought back memories of Pete Vanderwyst's Exide #99, one of my all- time favourite paint schemes anywhere. Rawlings just needed a little more silver to accent the blue, and it would have been a 10, but the new look is worth a 9.9 for sure.

Shawn Thompson was also sporting a few new graphics on his #72, as the Ailsa Craig pilot looks to improve on his 2009 season with stronger runs in 2010.

Jonathan Urlin was out for practice, and had a second driver in his #4 machine. Matt Pritko, a road course racer was given his first taste of short track racing last year in one of Jamie Ramsay's cars for the APC 300, was also turning some laps in Urlin's Chevy.

Jamie Grover had his brand new ride, a black and yellow #33 out for both sessions and made progress as he makes the jump to the Late Models, complete with Cadillac branding to boot. Grover makes the move from the Super Stock division, but was on the sidelines in 2009, preparing the Late Model. Mark Watson also turned a few laps in his newly numbered #78 machine. The number was Watson's original digits when he raced a Micro Sprint, but he later drove the #20 car.

David Elliott made it out on Saturday as car #1, in a car that was new to him. The car was raced by his father Gary Elliott at Delaware last year, with the #9 on the doors. Gary should be on hand for a few specials at Delaware this summer, and not every week.

Andrew Gresel made the long haul from Hepworth on the first day of practice, and should improve as he continues to gain experience at Delaware.

Ron Sheridan and Jesse Kennedy were both in attendance, but without cars. Sheridan had an hour to kill on his way home from London and said the vehicle had a mind of its' own and found the way into the pit parking lot on his way home. Kennedy was helping out a number of teams, but won't be running a full sked, as he claims his first race will be the Canada Day special.

Open Wheel Modifieds

There were a decent count of Modifieds, but none were in the same league as championship contender Paul Shipway during both sessions.

The #88 was a rocket and Paul Shipway made tremendous gains in 2009, and should join Barry Newman and Jamie Cox as a pre-season championship contender.

Tyler Hendricks got a lot of laps in during practice day number one, but cut day number two a bit short. The sophomore had a tremendous looking car in 2009 (again, I'm a sucker for blue, silver, and orange), and the 2010 version, while different, was equally as good looking.

Steven Richmond opted to practice just the Modified on day number two, while David McCullough only had his Modified out on day one, while he worked on his Enduro car during day two.

Justin Demelo was getting up to speed in a former Jamie Cox Modified that he purchased over the winter. The 2009 Truck champion in the owners points had his first taste of slicks during the 2009 APC 300 and raced to a tremendous seventh-place finish in his first Late Model start, and seemed quick in a car with a pretty solid pedigree.

Dean Scott struggled with motor issues for most of the practice in his #19. Gary Kallies was out with his rookie stripe on, as he trades in his camera on Modified race nights for a steering wheel.

Super Stocks

Darrell Lake has a brand new paint scheme, as he's gone back to silver and red. They were Lake's previous colours when he started racing as a youngster in JCARs and Jr. Micro Sprints.

Both Steve Smith and Jake Ott were out to get as many laps as they could during the pair of practices. Both were also really working on setting the car up to run all over the track.

D.J. Dejesus was also on hand for both practice sessions as well, as was Jared Sheilds had his # 7 machine. Kris Lawrence was sporting a different look on his #28 and seemed to be working hard with Lake's guidance all session.

The Perkins Racing Team had their primary car out again today, as it hasn't raced since mid-season last year when Andrew Perkins crashed hard. Perkins was able to finish the season with his backup car. The team struggled at practice but was working on getting it back to pre-crash state.

Demar Aggregates Trucks

Championship hopefuls Jeff Showler, Tommy Zagorodny, and Devon Bloemendal were all on hand to shake their trucks down and try to gain on perennial title contender Paul Fothergil.

Fothergil was at the second practice session, and confirmed that the championship will still go through him in 2009.

There were a few freshmen out, a fact that should bode well for a tremendous rookie-of-the-year battle.

Former Grand Bend Speedway racers Matt Korcina, and Shae Gemmell will compete against Chaos Car graduate Gary 'Blue Thunder' Triska who will be in an old Showler truck.

Michelle Korcina will be racing against her brother Matt, and fellow female competitor Kathleen Hosang, who was also out making laps.

Derek Clark was also out in his number seven and looking like he'll be a feature contender throughout the 2010 season.

Gary Adriaensen made as many laps as anyone else during the two days of testing, and while still struggling upon entry was made some strides since last season.

Special Guest

Ryan Litt had his asphalt Sprint Car out, and the former Delaware Speedway Super Stock driver was trying to shake down the brand new Beast Chassis.

The team struggled in the early goings, fighting a push, and throwing a number of changes at the car before getting it too loose.

The team then figured out the issues, and were able to get his Open Wheeled racer into the low 16-second range in a show of pure speed.

By  Jamie Maudsley