FRASERVILLE, ON – Whether it’s a matter of reaching your comfort level, finding a set-up that’s perfect for the track conditions, being in the right place at the right time – or a combination of all 3 – there’s no feeling that compares with the experience a racecar driver enjoys once they finally land on something that works on a consistent basis.
Taking the step from being a mid-pack runner to a top 10 competitor is an accomplishment every driver dreams of and being rewarded for that achievement can define a career.
Ryan Kimball is no stranger to Kawartha Speedway’s annual awards presentation. The second generation speedster from Norwood won the track’s Thunder Car championship in 2002 and captured the NAPA Auto Parts ACT Late Model division’s most improved driver award in 2010. With the success he enjoyed in 2012 – including a runner-up point finish, his long-overdue first main event win and a trip to the American-Canadian Tour Invitational at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Kimball was the obvious choice to have his name engraved on the trophy for the second time in 3 years.
The name ‘Crowe’ has been part of Kawartha Speedway’s driver line-up in one form or another since the track’s opening season. Although he’d managed some respectable efforts – primarily at the controls of a Thunder Car – Howie Crowe, of the Alderville First Nation had been denied his time in the spotlight. Acquiring the car campaigned by 2011 track champion Ken Donaldson Jr. pushed the roofing contractor’s career another rung up the ladder. A series of strong efforts – including his first career feature win – not only propelled the driver of the #28 machine to a runner-up point finish, he was also named the most improved driver in the track’s Thunder Car division.
With a resume that includes multiple seasons in a Street Stock, Late Model and Canadian Modified at Brighton Speedway, the world of short track motorsports is nothing new to Peterborough’s Rob Flindall. Making the transition from dirt to asphalt racing may have initially thrown the Trenton native a bit of a curve, but the driver of the #57 machine in Kawartha’s Hasiuk Trailer and Container Rental Mini Stock division – a class project for his transportation technology students at Peterborough’s Adam Scott Collegiate and Vocational Institute – managed some solid runs on the way to a 4th place point finish and was named the most improved driver in the Fraserville oval’s entry level field.
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Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
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