In this week’s Motion Motorsport Report, Dave Mathers offers his perspective on the weekend that was at local tracks and on the international racing scene.
Once again, the triple-header held last weekend – the East London Timing Association ‘LittleBigGo’ at St. Thomas Dragway on Friday, the ELTA street car show on Dundas St. in London on Saturday, and the Nilestown Speedway Reunion car show held Sunday on the grounds of the old speedway – were unqualified successes. The weather cooperated and the people came, in droves!!
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: We will cover the two races, taking place Monday and Tuesday at Ohsweken Speedway, next week. The series will then visit Circuit ICAR on Saturday, August 26.
UNITED RACING SERIES: Lane Zardo won the Super Stock 50 lapper at Sunset Speedway on Saturday night, over Gord Shepherd and Shawn Chenoweth.
In the APC Series Late Model 100, Jo Lawrence picked up the win with, apparently, a borrowed motor. He was at Delaware Speedway on Friday night, running some laps at the back of the V/8 Stocks heat races, where the car looked and sounded very strong. Josh Stade finished second, with Kyle Steckly third.
In the Late Models, Steckly leads the standings by just one point ahead of Jake Sheridan and four up on Lawrence. Zardo leads the Super Stock points by three over Carson Nagy and by 15 on Chenoweth. The next APC Series race is Sauble Speedway on August 26.
NASCAR CUP SERIES: Daniel Suarez (Chev) picked up the pole for the Cup race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, ahead of Tyler Reddick (Toyota) and Chase Elliott (Chev). Aussie Shane Van Gisbergen, winner of the Chicago Cup race, started a strong eighth. His fellow Supercar competitor Brodie Kostecki started 11th. Is this the Australian Invasion? William Byron was not allowed to make a qualifying attempt after his Camaro failed tech three times; he started 39th, dead last.
Two laps in and two ‘interlopers’ got together, when IMSA star Andy Lally got into the back of World Endurance Championship driver Kamui Kobayashi, leaving debris on track and bringing out the yellow. At the same time, Joey Logano overcooked a corner and forced Justin Haley off and hard into the tire wall.
On the subsequent restart, Logano ran out of either brakes or talent and nailed the back of his teammate Ryan Blaney going into Corner One. At about the same time, Van Gisbergen punted Ty Gibbs off track. It’s fair to say that the fans definitely got their money’s worth!! Much more exciting than the oval IMHO!
Michael McDowell won Stage 1, but this year there is no caution at stage end on road courses. Very smart move.
On Lap 27, Kyle Larson missed Corner 12 and just drove straight off! Three laps later, A.J. Allmendinger spun after contact with Blaney – no yellow. And apparently ‘Dinger’ made some threats about taking out Blaney over the radio, NOT smart. Denny Hamlin won Stage 2.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun Jenson Button on Lap 57. On the next lap, Kyle Busch did the same as Larson, as he overcooked Corner 12, losing some spots. Next lap, Todd Gilliland ran into trouble in the pesky Corner 12 and smacked the tire wall.
Six laps later, Button and Stenhouse continued their little spat!! On Lap 67, Stenhouse spun Kobayashi going into corner one. On Lap 77, Allmendinger got off track by the museum but saved it and got back on track safely.
At the flag, it was a win by one of the ‘nice guys,’ McDowell, ahead of Elliott, Suarez, Reddick and Alex Bowman. Van Gisbergen ended up 10th. Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the points by 60 over Hamlin and 104 over Byron. Their next race is Watkins Glen, Sunday on TSN 5 at 3 p.m. ET.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: No surprise here, but A.J. Allmendinger (Chev) won the pole for the Xfinity race on the Indy Road Course on Saturday. He was followed by Ty Gibbs (Toyota) and Josh Berry (Chev). Canadian Alex Labbe started 26th.
Bonus!! The ‘Timeline’ on Live Timing is alive and well (see Trucks recap)!! Gibbs jumped into the lead on Lap 3, getting around Dinger. There was lightning in the area so the red flag came out at Lap 7. Then there was rain, a LOT of rain!!! After about 45 minutes, the yellow came back out and the cars returned to the track.
The green returned on Lap 11, with Gibbs still in the lead. Allmendinger had put on slicks, so he was way back in the pack, but not for long. He worked his way through the field and was able to win Stage 1. He would also go on to win Stage 2.
On Lap 28, Brad Perez pulled off course and stopped, with smoke coming from under the car and bringing out the yellow. On Lap 39, John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Hemric exchanged pleasantries, with both cars continuing but with damage. No caution. The third yellow came out on Lap 44, with the car of Andre Castro stopped off track.
At the flag, it was Gibbs winning by almost eight seconds, ahead of Sam Mayer and Allmendinger. Alex Labbe finished a very strong 11th. Austin Hill leads the points by 11 over Nemechek and 34 over Justin Allgaier. Labbe, in spite of running just over half the races, sits 27th. Their next race is Watkins Glen, Saturday on TSN 2 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Christian Eckes (Chev) nabbed the pole for the Trucks race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, followed by Ty Majeski (Ford) and Corey Heim (Toyota).
The yellow came out on Lap 16, when Landen Lewis, Greg Van Alst and Hailie Deegan tangled in corner three. Majeski won Stage 1. On Lap 116, Chris Hacker spun on the backstretch for another caution. Majeski won Stage 2. On Lap 131, Spencer Boyd and Dean Thompson got together on the back straight for another yellow. On Lap 141, Lewis got together with Deegan, resulting in her hitting the wall.
At the flag, it was Majeski, Eckes, Layne Riggs, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith. Stewart Friesen finished 30th, while Shane Van Gisbergen, the winner of the Chicago Cup race and Australian Supercar champ, finished 19th in his first oval race.
It would appear that NASCAR has brought the summer interns on board, as the wonderful ‘Timeline’ feature, usually active on the Live Timing feature, was MIA during the race!! Heim leads Majeski by three and Eckes by eight in the points, though Majeski has secured his spot in the next playoff round with the win.
Friesen sits 11th. Their next race is Milwaukee Mile, August 27 on Fox Sports Racing at 4 p.m. ET.
CMHF CELEBRATION OF SPEED: The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame is hosting its Celebration of Speed fundraising event on the legendary Grand Prix Circuit at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Monday, August 28. This is your opportunity to tour the 10-turn road course at high speed in some incredible exotics and high-performance cars! For tickets and information, go to www.cmhf.ca/celebration.
FORMULA ONE: Their next race is the Netherlands on Sunday, August 27 at 8:55 a.m. ET on TSN 5.
INDYCAR: Graham Rahal broke a LONG drought in grabbing the pole for the Indy Road Course race. He was followed by Christian Lundgaard and Alexander Rossi. Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco qualified a STOUT fifth!!
There was another ‘loosey goosey’ start, which seems to be the trend this year. Speaking of DeFrancesco, he went wide on the entrance to the first corner and had the lead coming out of corner two, as several cars got together, including Josef Newgarden, Marcus Armstrong, Romain Grosjean and Scott Dixon, who actually went off onto the grass.
Believe it or not, the race went green for the remainder of the 80 laps and ‘spin (on the grass) and win’ Dixon held off a fierce challenge from Rahal. Pato O’Ward finished third, ahead of Lundgaard and Rossi.
Dixon has now won at least one race in 19 straight seasons. In the standings, Alex Palou has a 101-point lead on Dixon and 105 points on Newgarden. Their next race is Gateway, August 27 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
IMSA: Their next race is at VIR on August 27.
NHRA: The good news from Topeka, Kansas was there were 17 entries in all three Pro classes. Steve Torrence qualified Number 1 in Top Fuel with a 3.764. Robert Hight topped Funny Car with a 3.948. Dallas Glenn was Number 1 in Pro Stock running a 6.642.
Rain held things up Sunday. After about a four-hour delay Top Fuel came to the plate. Surprisingly, with all the rain, there were only three ‘smokers’ (lost traction) in the first round of Top Fuel but then Funny Car had seven out of eight pairs experiencing problems in Round One.
Justin Ashley topped Brittany Force in the Top Fuel final, and just to show how tough the competition really is, he ran a 3.702 to her 3.707. Six ‘upsets’ (lower qualified car wins) and four ‘smokers’ (one or both cars smoked the tires).
In Funny Car, Bob Tasca beat Matt Hagan in the final. Four upsets and EIGHT smokers.
Erica Enders came out of the Number 4 spot to take out Number Two Greg Anderson in the Pro Stock final. Four upsets.
In Top Fuel points Ashley has an 83-point lead on Steve Torrence and 223 on Force. Those points will reset after Indy for the ‘Countdown to the Championship.’
Hagan leads the ‘floppers’ by 61 ahead of Ron Capps and by 154 on Hight.
Dallas Glenn has a choke hold on the regular season points in Pro Stock, leading Matt Hartford by 228 and Troy Coughlin by 234.
Their next race is Brainerd, Sunday at 8 on Fox Sports Racing.
SUPERSTAR RACING EXPERIENCE (SRX): The series dropped into Eldora Speedway on Thursday night. Heat 1 had NHRA drag racer Ron Capps start on pole and he did not look out of place. A yellow (then red) flag came out on Lap 13, when Austin Dillon had a rad hose break and slid up the track.
The water on the track collected Matt Kenseth, Tony Kanaan, Hailie Deegan, Chase Briscoe and Marco Andretti. Heat 1 was won by Tony Stewart, with Capps coming home a very respectable third, behind Bobby Labonte.
Heat 2 saw Kenseth start from the pole. There was a yellow at Lap 7 to pick up parts of Capps’ car that were on the track. It looked like Capps had lifted the blower off in the lights, as most of the front of his car was gone!! Heat 2 was won by Stewart, followed by Kenseth and Ryan Newman.
The feature saw Stewart start on the pole. One would almost think that he owned the track and the series!! Oh, wait, LOL!
Only nine of the 12 cars were able to start the main, as they had used their backups and three cars couldn’t be fixed. Action was hot and heavy, with LOTS of cautions. Andretti smacked the wall on Lap 11, Brad Keselowski spun on Lap 21, Ken Schrader nailed the wall on Lap 26, Keselowski spun again on Lap 54, Capps got up into the wall on Lap 60 and, to make it a threesome, Keselowski spun on Lap 69. Stewart won the main, followed by a surprising Deegan, Newman, Labonte and Kenseth.
With one race remaining and only 25 points available for a win, Newman has clinched the 2023 title, as he is 39 points up on Stewart and 47 on Andretti. Their next and last race is Thursday at Wheatland, MO, on RevTV at 9 p.m. ET.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: Tim Tolton won the feature at Full Throttle Motor Speedway on Saturday. Their next race is Sunset on August 26.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: In the Bone Stocks, Mike Etsell won Heat 1, Tyler Weale won Heat 2, Jason Craig won Heat 3, while Justin Collver won the B Main. Jordan Willms checked out on the field to win the Feature, ahead of Craig and Colin Willems. Jay Cox continues to lead the Bone Stock points by three over Jeremiah Rabideau and by four over Willms.
In the V/8 Stocks, Kevin Wheaton won Heat 1 and Steve Book won Heat 2. I have been going to Delaware for over 60 years and Doug Stewart had the hardest crash I have ever seen in that second heat. That includes being right behind ‘Tiny Tim’ Wilkins when he climbed a wheel and cleared the turn three wall back in about 1970!! Stewart broke something going into Turn One and slid up the track, at full speed, hitting the wall HARD, right beside the pit entrance.
His car jumped at least 20 feet in the air, twisted and came back down, putting at least two cracks in the jersey barrier. The safety crew got to him quickly and he walked to the waiting ambulance under his own power, but clearly experiencing some pain. His car will make a good planter in his backyard!
In the same heat, Shawn McGlynn, who had brought out his Late Model to practice, broke out by ‘only’ 2.2 seconds, with an 18.910 on a 21.10 index!! LOL. In the feature, Book prevailed over Paul Fothergill and Jerry Broom. Fothergill leads the points by seven over Jeff Ferguson and by 22 atop Stewart.
A less than full field of Ontario Outlaw Super Late Models still put on a very fast feature, with local ‘I can drive anything on wheels WELL’ driver J.R. Fitzpatrick leading from pole to checker, beating Glenn Watson and Gary McLean.
The only yellow came on Lap 25, when Ethan Cournyea blew up, oiling the track. It sounded like he had the wrong gear, as he was into the chip way before the start/finish line. Delaware’s next race is Late Model 75 and Super Stocks 50 on Friday.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Their next race is Monster Trucks on Saturday.
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: As mentioned above, they have NASCAR Pinty’s Series races Monday and Tuesday (Aug. 14 & 15) this week and their next race is Club 54 Racing on Friday, August 25 (they’re closed this coming Friday).
SOUTHERN ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Buxton): Their next race is OTS Sprints on Saturday.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is this Thursday, followed by the GBS Memorial race on Saturday.
GRAND BEND DRAGWAY: Their next race is the 660 Sportsman Nationals this weekend.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Their next race is the Big Rig Truck Nationals this weekend.
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: Their next race is the Race Cayuga Series on August 26 & 27.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their next race is August 26 & 27.
CAN AM STOCK/SUPER STOCK SERIES: Their next race is at TMP on Labour Day weekend.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
