September 13, 2013- Whether drivers are superstitious or not: Friday the Thirteenth racing provided stunning successes for some and spectacular disaster for others as the drivers of Delaware Speedway set the stage for the championship finale next Friday night.
The Late Model and Super Stock divisions experienced unprecedented deja vu as the winners in each class were identical to the winners at this same event last season. Darrell Lake (#77) of London redeemed himself when he won the Coca-Cola Super Stocks feature, Matt Pritiko (#21) of London won the FT Garage Late Model feature. Joe Windis (#65) of Cathcart took home the checkers in the Demar Aggregates Trucks 25-lap event.
Matt Pritiko (#21) of London won 40-lap FT Garage Late Models feature. Pritiko took the lead on lap seventeen from Justin Demelo (#82) of London and then went on to stretch his advantage as Demelo battled with Stephen Richmond (#24) of Appin. Demelo finished second, Richmond third. The event also featured a battle that could only occur on a night like Friday the Thirteenth when Jay Christie (#5) of Beachville and Philip Nyssen (#51) of Brantford brought out a caution while fighting for near-last position on lap thirteen. The pair went on to fight tooth and nail for the honour of the near-last spot with Nyssen ultimately earning the honour of finishing as the last car on the lead lap when Christie retired from the race.
Darrell Lake (#77) of London won the Coca-Cola Super Stock feature. The event was seen by Lake and his team as redemption from last event following his dispute with defending champion and top-contender Jeff Showler (#44) of Mt. Elgin. Showler, although still leading the championship points, pulled to the infield on lap seven with major engine issues. Kenny McNichol (#17) of Exeter led the first twenty-five laps of the feature until he was passed by rookie driver Shae Gemmell (#3) of Dorchester. Gemmell competed with Matt Robblee (#51) of Dorchester until lap 34 when both cars were taken out of the competition after a hard crash on the back stretch just past the scoreboard.
“I had a tire going down,” explained a guilt-stricken Robblee immediately after the crash. “I wrecked my good buddy Shae and I feel like hell for it.”
With the two Dorchester drivers out of contention the lead fell to Lake who went on to the victory.
“It’s redemption from last week after [expletive] took us out,” explained Lake in victory Lane, referencing his incidents with Jeff Showler in the previous event. “Everything worked out in our favour, we were the third best car and it worked out for us.”
Lake had praise for the rookie driver Branden Verhoeven who finished second and battled hard with him in the final laps:
“He’s a good wheelman, he’s impressed the crap out of me. [He has] lots of respect for everyone he races. I give that kid credit, he’s a good racer.”
Darrell Lake’s father, Matt, took a moment in victory lane to express heartfelt condolences to the Robblee family on the passing of Vic Robblee, father of Steve Robblee and grandfather to Matt (#51 Super Stock). He expressed that he was pulling for Robblee to take the victory on the night in memory of Vic.
Joe Windis (#65) of Cathcart won the Demar Aggregates Trucks feature: his first win of the season. Gary Adriaensen (#55) of Belmont, the current points leader for the division, was forced to switch trucks with a teammate as result of a mechanical failure in the heat race qualifier. He raced in the feature in the truck normally driven by Jeff Denboer (#22) of London. He was not, however, up to his usual speed. Rob Windis, running a part-time season proved to be the most dominant on the evening leading the event flag-to-flag. Brady Smith (#39) of Coldstream finished second, not able to find the speed to catch Windis. Tom Zagarodny (#77) of London finished third.
Racing continues tomorrow with another make-up event featuring the GAW Recycling Enduro and Bone Stock Chaos Cars. Gates will open at 1:00 PM and racing will start at 2:00 PM. Next Friday is Championship Night sponsored by FT Garage. The night will feature FT Garage Late Models, Coca-Cola Super Stocks, Demar Aggregates Trucks and V8 Stock Muscle Cars all in their final championship events of the season. Full event details and ticket sales are available online at www.delawarespeedway.com
From: MEDIA CONTACT: John Houghton/ Delaware Speedway PR
(john@delawarespeedway.com) 519-652-5068 ext 201
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