There’s a BIG long weekend of racing upcoming, both locally and internationally!! Something for everybody!! Support your local racetracks!
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Saturday the 100-lap LRR100 for the APC United Late Models, Super Stocks and CVMs (Hobby cars).
SOUTHERN ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Saturday Late Models, Modifieds, Thunder Stocks, Mini Rods and Mini Stocks.
FULL THROTTLE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Saturday to Monday, Labour Day Last Chance Tripleheader.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: Friday, Pro Late Models, Super Stocks and V8 Stocks.
SAUBLE SPEEDWAY: Sunday ‘Boss of the Beach’ BIG buck races.
SUNSET SPEEDWAY: Saturday, drifting.
GRAND BEND MOTORPLEX: Thunder by the Beach this weekend (Friday to Sunday with Monday for lying on the beach!!) with Pro Mods, Jets, Nitro and lots of bracket action.
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: Labour Day Weekend NHRA National Open this weekend (Friday to Sunday with Monday for test and tune). Stock/Super Stocks, all ‘Super’ categories plus brackets.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Protech NO PREP event Saturday.
NASCAR CUP SERIES: The spectators definitely got their money’s worth with the Saturday night race at Daytona International Speedway. Kurt Busch started on the pole but finished 12th.
Ryan Blaney started sixth and won the race under caution, his third this year. The top ten finishers were not the ‘usual suspects’ as accidents took out several top runners such as Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and William Byron.
Chris Buescher actually finished second, but his car failed post race inspection for a ‘track bar mount infraction’ (how did that get through pre-race inspection?).
Bubba Wallace thus moved up to second with Ryan Newman third.
The battle for the 16th and final playoff spot between RCR teammates Tyler Reddick (finished fifth) and Austin Dillon (17th) was won by Reddick after both drivers got involved in wrecks.
As this was the last race in the ‘regular season’, won by Kyle Larson, the points have been reset. Larson already has a 28-point lead over Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex, Jr. in a tie for second. Next race, Sunday evening at the legendary Darlington track, where our family watched Bill Elliott win the Winston Million way back in 1985. I still have one ‘Million Dollar Bill.’
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Justin Haley won the rain delayed Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway Saturday after it had been rained out after only 19 laps on Friday night.
The final laps were very exciting as Haley was able to get past new points leader AJ Almendinger by 0.023 seconds at the flag.
A very emotional Haley actually shed tears both in his car and in the post race interview. The new guard appears to be forces to reckon with going forward, a really good thing for the sport.
Justin Allgaier finished third in the race and also sits third in the points. Austin Cindric, the points leader coming in, got drop kicked into the wall early in the race by an ill-fated ‘bump draft’ attempt from another driver and finished 39th.
There are only three races left in the ‘regular season’ before their playoffs kick off at Las Vegas. Next race, Saturday afternoon at Darlington.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS: They’ll race Sunday afternoon at Darlington, a replacement venue for the originally scheduled Canadian Tire Motorsport Park race sadly cancelled due to the border restrictions and COVID.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: They ran on the ICAR Circuit at the old Mirabel Airport north of Montreal. Kevin Lacroix won the race after starting second.
Polesitter Andrew Ranger ended up second with L.P. Dumoulin third. Alex Tagliani now leads the points by 4 over L.P. Dumoulin and 7 over Lacroix.
Unfortunately, the doubleheader Canadian Tire 150 and General Tire 150 races scheduled for Sunday at Autodrome Chaudière had to be postponed due to inclement weather. Watch for those to be rescheduled, likely to September 18. The next NPS races are the doubleheaders, this Saturday and Sunday, at Mosport (oops, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park).
NHRA: their next race will be the Indy Nationals this weekend. I wish I could BE THERE!!
FORMULA ONE. Wow, what to say about THAT ‘race,’ the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamp!!
It would appear that the Spa ‘sprung a leak’!! Steady rain all weekend caused lots of grief for the teams, the track and the spectators (who ALL seemed to have ponchos!).
After several attempts to get the race started over more than three hours the decision was made that the race would be cancelled and points given based on the qualifying after only one lap (or two or three – accounts ‘vary’!) had been run under yellow.
Sergio Perez qualified seventh in his Red Bull but stuffed it into the barriers prior to the green on the wet track so he was relegated to DFL.
Max Verstappen thus won in his Red Bull with George Russell second for the best finish for Williams in a long time while Lewis Hamilton was third in his Mercedes.
Only half points were awarded as the race was deemed ‘incomplete.’ Hamilton leads Max by only 3 points while Lando Norris is third in his McLaren 89 ½ points back of the lead.
Red Bull has now cut the Mercedes lead in the Constructor’s Championship to only seven points. I expect that battle to go all the way to Abu Dhabi, the last race of the season on December 12. Their next race is this weekend at Circuit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. Hopefully no rain.
IMSA: They’re off until September 12 at Laguna Seca, California.
INDYCAR: Their next race is September 12 at Portland.
DID YOU KNOW?
– Cadillac with Chip Ganassi Racing will be running in the new IMSA LMDh Hybrid class coming in 2023.
– Kurt Busch has joined the Denny Hamlin, Michael Jordan Team 23XI for next year. He will drive the number 45 (another Jordan number) Toyota and he brings Monster Energy with him as sponsor. He will be teammates with Bubba Wallace. Kurt is NASCAR’s longest active driver.
– The late Wendell Scott’s family finally got his trophy for winning the 1963 NASCAR race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville Florida during the pre-race ceremonies Saturday night at Daytona. I recall seeing Scott race many times ‘back in the day’!!
Until next week!!
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