VARNEY, ON – Back in May, when the 2012 season began at Varney Speedway Motorplex, Aaron Martin found himself in victory lane after the Chalmers Fuels Street Stock Feature race. He said he would be running a limited schedule this season at Varney. Well, after a month of action on Ontario fastest short track, Martin hasn’t missed a night; nor skipped a beat.
The Brussels, ON, driver held off early challenges from #18 Billy Alderson Jr. and then kept his #29 Monte Carlo at the head of the pack while defending against challenges from #47 Lawrence Vaughan en route to what would become a ‘statement win’ for the young driver. Martin picked up his third feature win of the year and looks to be showing no signs of slowing down. Martin also picked up a heat race win earlier in the evening while Alderson claimed the checkers in the other.
Two Feature Race win streaks were also on the line entering competition Saturday night. Domtel Networks Stock 4 driver #51 Clark Hartman and, 94.5 THE BULL Late Model driver #89 Tommy Robb were both looking for their fourth straight feature race win to start the season.
Hartman won both of his qualifying heat races and seemed poised to continue the win streak. After starting the feature race near the back of the field, Hartman steadily made his way towards the front. However, a rare miscue by Hartman led to a ‘missed shift’ down the backstretch after a restart and, Hartman would slip to the back of the pack before reaching turn three. Last year’s Stock 4 Champion, #14 Brian Wilson, would take over the top spot and jump out infront of the field. He would be challenged late by #34 Lance Hotchkiss; who would take a last lap stab at the win pulling alongside Wilson at the line and, Hartman would recover to finish third but, it was the defending champion Wilson who would snap the ‘Hartman win streak’ for his first victory of the year.
In preparation for Varney Speedway Motorplex ‘s July 1st “Canadian Showdown” Late Model Invitational, Mark Dixon showed up Saturday night with the #34 car usually driven by Jason Tremble at Sauble Speedway. Dixon, doing a favor by ‘shakin down’ the #34, sped away to two heat race wins. Looking for four straight Feature Race wins, #89 Tommy Robb knew he had his work cut out for him. Dixon, no stranger to victory at Varney in many different cars and divisions over the years, driving a car that has been arguably one of the fastest Late Models in the province over recent years, had no problems on this night cruising to the win and sweeping the checkers on the night en route to unseating Robb from his 2012 win streak.
The Canadian Showdown will be run on Sunday, July 1, at Varney Speedway Motorplex. The Late Model invitational race will feature some of the top stock car drivers in the country. Already registered to participate are Ontario’s Stock Car “Iron Man” Gary Elliot, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series competitors Mark Dilley and Jason White and, defending NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Champion, Scott Steckly just to name a few.
This past Saturday night was also highlighted by a popular win in the ‘4 For Fun’ division as #88 Jacob Robb picked up his first ever feature race win at Varney after several years as a competitor mostly in the Stock 4 division.
Also on this night, the Trains saw competitive action for the first time in 2012 as the Markdale Salvage Crushers won a nail-biter at the line in claiming the first feature race for the year.
For complete race results and a comprehensive schedule detailing the 2012 season at Varney Speedway Motorplex, visit the website, www.varneyspeedwaymotorplex.com.
From Jody Buschlen/Track Announcer
Discussion about this post