@LOSC_Series • @FTMSpeedway • Varney, ON (July 25, 2015) – On Saturday night the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup rolled into Full Throttle Motor Speedway for event number four – the Runalung.ca 100 – of the seven race championship season.
The hottest driver on the circuit has been “Mr. Highside” Brennan Didero (#24) of Ancaster, who was coming off the first two wins of his career, back -to-back at Flamboro Speedway. They were on the heels of his season opening second-place finish, which gave him a 11-point lead over the driver who has been the only one to defeat Didero, Josh Wood (#66) of London. Three-time champion Shawn McGlynn (#18) of Kitchener, sat third, one marker behind Wood. Dave Connelly (#82) of Arnprior, and Tim ‘The Intimidator’ Tolton (#3) of Guelph, round out the top five in points, but they would have to get on a roll, and quickly, to climb back into title contention.
For the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup, it was the first visit to Full Throttle Motor Speedway (formerly known as Varney Speedway) since 2013 when the tour raced at the high-banked 1/4-mile track twice. The series was also at the track in 2012.
Early in qualifying, Chad McGlynn (#18) of Kitchener, made history, turning ‘Canada’s Fastest 1/4-mile’ in 13.326 seconds. That mark would stand for a number of drivers before Wood ripped a lap at 13.217 seconds to bump Chad to second. Tolton, Connelly, and Didero qualified third through fifth to get them locked into the ‘New Generation Wood Products’ Fast Five draw.
After the field was shuffled, Tolton and Wood were on the front row, with Didero and Chad McGlynn making up row two. Connelly would start fifth.
Tolton led the first seven laps, before his car slowed, with Wood taking the point. After Didero getting two cracks at Wood on restarts, Josh walked away after a lap 10 green flag. He was able to pull out to a lead of almost an entire straightaway before yellow number three appeared on lap 39, closing the field up, and putting Didero on Wood’s outside for the restart.
Wood would take control again on the restart, but this time is was different, as Didero was able to hang with the leader, while behind them, Connelly and McNichol were waging a war for third-place, that ended poorly for Connelly as damage to his car forced him to the pits.
With 25 laps to go Didero was starting to pressure Wood for the lead, and on lap 94, the leader spun out in the middle of turns three and four to hand the top spot to Didero. Didero was able to hold off Wood and McNichol on the final restart to claim his third straight Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup feature.
Didero spoke about the hat trick, “We had that long green-flag run, and I wasn’t catching Josh, but then we got that yellow and his car wasn’t as good after that. As the laps started winding down I could tell he was struggling, and I was just saving my tires for the end. It was a tough break for him that he spun, but that gave us the lead for the restart. We made a bit of contact at the end racing for the win, but it was all good. We extended our point lead tonight, and it’s pretty cool to win three in a row. Peterborough is next, and I’ve never won there, but we’re going to go and try to do our best to make if four in a row.”
A disappointed Wood spoke about the end of the race as he saw his second win of the year slip through his fingers, “We were just never as good again as we were on that early green flag run. Brennan was giving me all I could handle, and he raced me clean. I just made a mistake, but we were still able to finish second. It was a good day for us. We set a track record, but I really wanted to win that. I guess if we’re going to have to finish second, it might as well be to Brennan.”
For McNichol, it was the first podium finish for the freshman, and allowed him to move from two points behind Graham in the Rookie-of-the-Year chase to one point ahead.
“It was a great night for us, especially after all the late nights in the shop last week since we wrecked at Flamboro last weekend. We struggled earlier tonight, and we changed everything but the driver after qualifying. I figured this was our best chance to run well, because this is my home track and I have so many laps here.”
Chad McGlynn finished fourth, and for the second time this season set a track record, only to have it broken again just minutes later. With the finish he moved to fourth in points.
Graham had what seemed like a race long battle with Kevin Trevellin (#45) of Lasalle, that ended with Graham, the rookie, posting his first career top-five finish, winding up fifth.
The next event for the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series will be Saturday August 8th at Peterborough Speedway for the annual visit to ‘Canada’s Toughest 1/3rd-mile’.
Final Results – 1. Didero, 2. Wood, 3. McNichol, 4. Chad McGlynn, . Brandt Graham.
Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup – Championship Points Standings (after 4 of 7 events) – 1. Didero (398 points), 2. Wood (385), 3. Shawn McGlynn (374), 4. Chad McGlynn (364), 5. Connelly (362).
McColl Racing Ent. voucher winner – #82 Dave Connelly
Grisdale-American Racer Tire award winner* – #77 Alvin McNicol
London Drive Systems voucher winner – #85 Mike Nelson
Trailers By Jim Bray voucher winner – #3 Tim Tolton
Performance Fiberglass voucher winners – Chad McGlynn & Brennan Didero
For more information on the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup Series, Lucas Oil, Full Throttle Motor Speedway, Peterborough Speedway, or Race Time Radio, please visit www.lucasoilsportsmancup.com, www.lucasoil.ca, www.fullthrottlemotorspeedway.com, www.peterboroughspeedway.com, or www.racetimeradio.com, or contact Series Director Dave Alexander at dalexand@sympatico.ca.
Release by Jamie Maudsley
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