CAISTOR CENTRE, Ont. (August 13, 2018) – Team Turner Racing returned to Ohsweken Speedway for the first Feature in nearly a month with all three cars in action on Friday, August 10. Ryan Turner led the way for TTR in his Burger Barn/King Pin Farms No.91 with a top-five finish while Cory Turner drove to a seventh-place result in the KT Tobacco/Silo Wireless No.97. Jamie Turner was 12th behind the wheel of the Charlie Bee Honey No.11 against a tough field of 22 cars.
Ryan Turner
Ryan Turner started the night with a sixth-place finish in his heat behind the wheel of his Aitken Motors/Ace 1 Construction sponsored car, narrowly missing a spot in the top-eight redraw.
“We had a solid car all night,” Ryan said. “We were decent in Hot Laps and in the Heat we started back in the pack. We kind of got held up early on and then it was a slicker track than what we are used to in the Heat Race. We were going ahead in a heavy-hitter heat. We just got sixth at the line on lap eight. We were alright, but we just missed the redraw by one spot.”
That put the No.91 ninth on the starting grid for the 20-lap main event. The initial start wasn’t exactly as Ryan envisioned, but the car got progressively better until he stole the fifth spot from Jim Huppunen over the final two laps.
“In the Feature, early on we started going backwards, but I found the high side in turns three and four,” Ryan recalled. “We really started to carry the momentum and started picking off cars. It took a bit to get going, but once I got going after about lap 10, we definitely wanted more laps at the end.”
The smooth, slick racetrack provided plenty of action for fans and was a favourite for the drivers as well.
“I definitely had a lot of fun tonight,” Ryan said. “I had to battle my way all the way to fifth. There were a lot of slide jobs back and forth on a great racetrack with a lot of clean racing. I had a blast. We definitely wanted a couple more laps at the end to see what we had, but we’re happy and we can build off that.”
The surface was also a preview of things to come at the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals when the track is always especially smooth and slick after two nights of Sprint Car racing.
“That’s a Nationals track,” Ryan said. “We’re going to go home and go over the car and see what we had and write it down and go from there. It was definitely a good night to learn. We’ve had heavy tracks all year, so a slick track was a good change and the fact that we were fast with a couple of guesses, let’s say, was good.”
Cory Turner
Cory Turner started the night with a heat race win in his King’s Wood Products/Mobil 1 No.97.
“The car was really good,” Cory said. “That’s definitely the slickest track we’ve seen in a heat race this year. I could put it anywhere and it would settle in and we would drive off. It was really good in the heat race.”
Cory earned a spot in the redraw where he pulled the pole starting spot. While Dylan Westbrook took the lead on the opening lap, Cory stayed close and made several slide job attempts to retake the lead.
“In the first five laps, we had a lot of drive. I almost got back underneath Westbrook when he slid me for the lead in turns three and four for the lead. Then he came down to the bottom and we were in his tire tracks until the caution.”
A lap five caution seemed to change the car on Cory as he lacked the same speed afterwards, but still came home with a seventh-place result, his 11th top-10 finish of the season.
“I just never really got going after that caution,” Cory said. “Scott Kreutter and Mikey Kruchka got by me and then we just battled the rest of the race. I don’t know if my tires sealed up or it just went away, but we were not good for the last three-quarters of the race.”
While Cory certainly would have preferred to be in the top-five with Ryan, he was happy to have gained valuable notes heading into the Nationals.
“We won’t be using that setup for the Nationals,” laughed Cory. “The track was good. It was smooth and slick like we want. We just need to be a little bit better.”
Jamie Turner
Jamie Turner had another strong night as well as he wheeled the Mudcat Entertainment Centre/Pyett Spring and Alignment No.11 to a fifth-place finish in his heat.
“The track was the best we’ve seen all year,” Jamie said. “It was super smooth. Hats off to the track crew, it was great. I started eighth and I got to fifth in the heat, so I made the redraw. I haven’t done that too many times this year, so that was good.”
The redraw placed Jamie fifth for the start of the Feature. He drove to a 12th-place finish at the end of 20 laps.
“In the Feature, I backed up a little bit, but overall it was a pretty good night,” Jamie said. “We brought it home in one piece. When you get the track nice and wide and smooth like it was, everybody is going to go everywhere and that’s why we’re here. It makes it that much more fun.”
It was also the second race where Jamie has run the chassis that Ryan started the year with. The car has been considerably more confortable for Jamie to drive, he said.
“I really like it. Ryan’s car kind of feels like home and I told him I’m not going to give it back yet,” laughed Jamie. “We’re just going to keep working on it. We have something to work off of, so we’re just going to keep going.”
Up Next
Team Turner Racing will return to action on Friday, August 17 at Ohsweken Speedway for Autograph Night and the Kids Race for the Canadian National Autism Foundation. It is also the second challenge race of the season at the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars take on the Southern Ontario Sprints. All three drivers look forward to meeting fans on the front stretch at intermission. Race time is 7:30pm. For additional event information, visit www.ohswekenspeedway.com.
The entire team then plans to travel west to South Buxton Raceway on Saturday, August 18 to compete in the Southern Ontario Sprints’ only appearance at the Merlin, Ont. track. Race time at South Buxton is 6:30pm. For additional event information, visit www.southbuxtonraceway.ca.
SEASON STATS
11 Jamie Turner – 13 Starts: 0 Wins, 0 Top-5s, 4 Top-10s
91 Ryan Turner – 13 Starts: 1 Win, 7 Top-5s, 10 Top-10s
97 Cory Turner – 16 Starts: 2 Wins, 8 Top-5s, 11 Top-10s
TEAM TURNER MEDIA
Website: teamturnerracing.ca
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Join the Team Turner Racing mailing list by emailing claytonjohnsmedia@gmail.com with the subject “Turner” to be added to the list.
TEAM TURNER PARTNERS
Team Turner Racing is proud to partner with several dedicated marketing partners for the 2018 race season, including KT Tobacco, Charlie-Bee Honey, Mudcat Entertainment Centre, Braemar Building Systems, Pyett Spring & Alignment, DSE Performance, Gale’s Auto Aftermarket, Plazek Auto Recyclers, Malabar Super Spice, V&R Recycling, Country Event Services, JNE Recovery, Skyway Lawn Equipment, Total Coatings, KT Gas & Convenience, Six Nations Bingo, Silo Wireless, CJ Mulholland Mattress Factory, Truck Toppers, iC Super Computers, Silverdale Gun Club, Bryan’s Farm Supply, Beamer Farms, The Powerhouse, Hitchman Trailers, Barlow Farms, Mac Tools, V&R Hose & Hydraulics, RCM Racing Equipment, JLB Mobile Mechanical, Tetra-Chem Industries, Wix Filters, Mayhew Graphics, ImageFactor.ca, and Clayton Johns Media.
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