South Buxton Raceway- Third place was the safe place to be for the three eventual championship race winners at South Buxton Raceway. It took different circumstances but Grande Pointe’s Tyler Lozon, Merlin’s Steve Shaw Jr. and Blenheim’s Jeff Schives all rallied to win their division’s season championship races on Saturday night.
For Lozon, it was a case of déjà vu as he went from third to the lead when Chatham’s Eren Vanderiviere and Merlin’s Steve Shaw tangled in turn three with eight laps to go in the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks championship race.
“I was just hoping they were going to mess up eventually,” said Lozon, admitting he didn’t see what caused the leaders to get together.
“I wasn’t paying too much attention to them, I was just holding my own ground,” said Lozon, who led the final laps to win his second straight championship race under similar circumstances.
Lozon was also running third in last year’s championship race and took the lead with two laps to go when Shaw and Vanderiviere tangled.
Vanderiviere, who recovered from Saturday’s incident to finish second, was livid after the race, claiming Shaw blatantly took him out.
“I thought about taking him out when we restarted at the back, but I was brought up better than that, I guess,” said Vanderiviere, who clinched a third straight points championship a week earlier.
“We don’t try to race like that, we try to race everyone the way we want to be raced … this was out of my hands,” he said.
Shaw and Lozon had their best runs on Vanderiviere in the three laps leading up to the incident.
“He (Vanderiviere) was fast on the bottom I was fast on the top,” Shaw said.
“He washed up in front of me and I was already back on the throttle. He was going around whether I bumped him or not.
“The last thing I wanted to do was restart at the back,” said Shaw, who finished eighth.
Essex’s Doris Lajeunesse finished third, with LaSalle’s Bob Visnjic and Chatham’s Jason Fox rounding out the top five.
Shaw Jr., meanwhile, was able to bring home the family’s seventh championship race trophy in an even stranger scenario in the Tirecraft Mini-Mod championship.
Blenheim’s Elliot Wilton went from third to the lead when Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano made contact with the leader Shaw Jr. in turn four with four laps to go as the trio crossed the line in that order.
However, Wilton was stripped of the victory when post-race tech inspection found an illegal intake manifold and DeSerrano was penalized one spot for the incident with Shaw Jr.
“And the trophy’s sitting on top of my car,” Shaw said after being declared the winner.
“That was pretty crazy, I don’t think I’ve seen that out here before … but I’m really happy with it,” he said.
DeSerrano, who clinched his third career points title, was credited with a second-place finish while Merlin’s Jody Mason moved up to third. Tilbury’s Ryan Beaulieu and Gerry Rivait Jr. finished fourth and fifth respectively, the best finish of the season for both drivers.
Schives started the night’s trend as he rallied from third place with eight laps remaining to win the Bomber championship race.
Blenheim’s Dylan Bonner led the first five laps before a flat tire ended the point champion’s bid to sweep the class’s trophies.
Bonner’s younger brother Evan led three laps but his car wouldn’t fire under caution, handing the lead over to Schives.
“I hated to see that happen to Dylan, I wanted to race him,” Schives said of his friend.
“We work on our cars together, I would have rather raced him for the win.”
Blenheim’s Cory Russelo and Shrewsbury’s Bobby Leveille finished second and third.
Chatham’s Kirk Hooker won the Lube Tech/Great Canadian Oil Change UMP Late Model feature in his first appearance at South Buxton this season.
It was the second time Hooker’s car has been at South Buxton this season, as Andrew Reaume drove the No. 38 to the win in the Gord DeWael memorial feature on Aug. 10.
“What an awesome race car to drive,” said Hooker, adding he will have the car back at South Buxton for the Sept. 21 championship night.
“It’s up to Andrew, I just filled in for him tonight,” Hooker answered, when asked who’ll be behind the wheel.
Chatham’s Gregg Haskell, who led the first seven laps and finished second, clinched his second straight points title when Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford did not start the feature.
Haskell leads Glassford by 121 points with one race night remaining, where the most points a driver can accumulate is 97 by winning both the feature and heat.
Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis, Chatham’s Jim Jones and Merlin’s Clinton Emery rounded out the top five.
Leamington’s Justin Coulter led all 25 laps for his second Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified feature win in three appearances.
Chatham’s Brian Speelman, Leamington’s Joel Dick, Merlin’s Brad McLeod and Belle River’s Mario Toniolo rounded out the top five.
Coulter, who won the Aug. 10 feature in his first night in a modified car in two years, say he isn’t sure if he’ll be back for championship night.
He said he plans on racing the modified car at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, the night before South Buxton’s championships.
“We want to go to Eldora to get some track time before we go to the Nationals,” said Coulter, looking ahead to the UMP Nationals on Oct. 3-5.
“It depends on what Mark (Goggins) wants to do,” he said of the car owner from Amherstburg.
“I have to thank Mark for the opportunity of driving this car … he makes the decisions so I’ll have wait to see what he says.”
Coulter went three-for-three on the night, winning the heat and dash.
Chatham’s Darryl Hoekstra, who finished 12th in the feature, will take a commanding 80-point lead over Dick into championship night.
There is no racing this coming Saturday as several track staff members will be working at the Canadian Sprint Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway.
From: Mike Bennett/ South Buxton Raceway
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