SHELBURNE, ON- After discovering a terminal engine problem in his primary car less than 48 hours before the OSCAAR Super Late Model tour opener at Sunset Speedway, sophomore Kevin Cornelius is hoping for a more uniform outing at Kawartha Speedway on June 1st.
“I don’t think I’ve uncrossed my fingers all week”, smiled Cornelius when asked his plans for the second round of the tour. “After the saga of our season opener – going to a backup car the day before the race – we’re just hoping to get to the speedway and upload without anything going wrong”
Thanks to the hard work of Gary Leitch and Leitch Performance Engines, Cornelius’ KDR Motorsports squad will make their first ever Kawartha appearance in their primary car powered by their primary engine.
“There were some tense moments where we didn’t know what car we would be in at Kawartha”, explained Cornelius. “But, Gary Leitch pulled through for us and made the necessary repairs to our engine. We’ll be all good for Kawartha”
When asked his strategy for his first career Kawartha appearance, it’s clear Cornelius is taking the event one step at a time.
“Right now, our main focus is the first round of practice”, said the former Limited Late Model champion. “I’ve never been to Kawartha. This entire day is going to be a learning process for our team”
“Every lap will be valuable to us”, continued Cornelius. “Our practice will be spent finding where the car is most comfortable, and following guys like Hanley, Gresel, Baker and Watson to see what line works and what we can do to be most effective”
Despite the adversity his team faced in the season opener, Cornelius left Sunset with an 8th place finish. Now, Cornelius sees only one way to repay their dedication.
“There’s no better way to thank this team for their hard work than to give them a performance to be proud of at Kawartha”
“I’ll put this KDR Motorsports group up against anyone in the business. I don’t know of any team more dedicated than mine. The fact that Leitch Performance Engines and McColl Racing Enterprises went out of their way to make all this happen is just additional motivation for us”
“Everyone affiliated with this program has a desire to succeed”, said the sophomore standout. “And we’re going to need all of that. With the level of competition on this tour, we’ll need to be virtually perfect to recover from our misstep at Sunset and have a chance at this championship”
Kevin Cornelius’ 2014 season would not be made possible without support from Halton Crushed Stone, Lee Sand & Gravel, Sandbox Tech Child Care, TripleCrete Ltd., Hanson Pipe & Precast, Alliston Transmission, Ed’s Automotive and MacMaster Pontiac Buick GMC.
Fans can follow the team on Twitter @KDR_Motorsports as they prepare for their Kawartha debut on Sunday.
By Spencer Lewis (@itsspencerlewis)
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