Bowmanville, ON- May 18 marked the season opener for the Ontario Modified Racing Series Powered by Techtonix Construction division, with the victory in Round One of the eight-date OMRS schedule claimed by 2012 series runner-up Darren Kearnan.
Wrestling the lead away from polesitter Rick Warnes (#90) on Lap 4, Kearnan quickly found his mirrors filled with the red #2 Modified of perennial rival Dwight Brown. Gapping the rest of the open-wheeled field, the Kearnan/ Brown tandem raced nose-to-tail towards the checkered flag, never separated by more than a car length.
In the ‘Clean and Green’ 25 lap feature, Kearnan, aboard his new #46 TTR Transport Ford was able to fend off repeated challenges from Brown to earn the victory, crossing the stripe .2 seconds in front of runner-up Brown.
“That was hard work, I’m exhausted,” proclaimed Kearnan from the Winner’s Circle. “This is a brand new car and still doesn’t feel quite right. But the big difference in this car is that it doesn’t have power steering, I had to work ten times as hard to keep Dwight behind me!”
Noted Brown, the defending series champion and winner of the evening’s two heat dashes, “He had a good car and so did I. Our cars are so equal, I knew that if Darren didn’t make a mistake, I was going to be stuck with second place.”
Series newcomer Nick Lees (#09) crossed the stripe in a well-deserved third spot, with Chad Strawn (#77) and Bill Pickford (#61) rounding out the top five finishers.
Round Two of the 2013 OMRS schedule goes May 25 on the half-mile Speedway of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
From: J. Wally Nesbitt/ Corner 5 Communications
{fcomment}
Discussion about this post