BOWMANVILLE, ON - Mosport Speedway's three home divisions took to the track at the next-to-last race weekend of the 2011 season at Canada's fastest half-mile paved oval on September 3.
Bob's Towing Sportsman
Continuing his late season surge, John Baker Jr. piloted his #63 Marksmen Club Monte Carlo to a pair of heat race victories, and was looking to make it a three-race sweep on the night. But Oshawa's Bob Kish had other ideas.
Launching past pole sitter Anthony DiBello at the drop of the green flag, Kish took control of the 20-lap contest, leading every lap on his way to his first Sportsman class feature race victory of the season.
Fending off repeated challenges from Baker and the #85 Five Points Mall Pontiac of Bill Northam, Kish led the three-car pack to the stripe, earning the win in a bumper-to-bumper sprint to the checkered flag.
"Man, that John Baker is hard to beat," exclaimed the driver of the #78 Professional Collision Clinic/ Rapid Racing Chevrolet from the Winner's Circle. "I had just enough to match him on the straight, but a couple of times I was right down to the pit wall to hold the low line. But that's short track racing; we did what we needed to do to win."
So frantic was the pace set by the race-leading trio, only six cars finished on the lead lap in the caution-free contest. Dale Wood (#10) crossed the stripe in a lonely fourth spot, with Shaw and Ken Huntington (#27X) rounding out the top, half-dozen finishers.
Late Model
It was a past champion's duel for Late Model class honour's on Saturday night, with Dwight Brown and Todd Delisle sharing in heat race victories, setting up the rubber match in the 25-lap feature dash.
With defending titleholder Jim 'the Professor' Rossiter holding the early race lead, the running order was scrambled following a Turn Four, lap two collision between Scott Harrison and Late Model newcomer Craig Perry resulting in the race's only caution.
Back again under green, Rossiter's #66 Roy Nichols Motors Impala immediately came under pressure from Brown's #12 Monte Carlo, Brown using the low groove through Turn One to snatch the lead away on lap six, dragging Delisle's #22 Ontario Motor Sales/ Metals Plus Impala along with him.
With an open track in front of them, Brown and Delisle set a frightening pace, the two leaders running in lockstep ad leaving the remainder of the field in their wake.
Taking the White Flag still locked in bumper-to-bumper fashion, Delisle saw his challenge fall a half-lap short as the #22 Impala coasted to a stop in Turn Three, a victim of a melted and destroyed coil, allowing Brown to coast on to his second, consecutive feature race victory.
"I kind of feel ripped off," laughed Brown from Victory Lane. "It was going to be a heck of a finish. But the only way Todd was going to get me on the inside was for him to go down pit lane."
Tyler Betts (#86 Pingles Farm Market/ TOREION Impala) scored his second podium result in two weeks, taking advantage of Delisle's misfortune to claim a career-high runner-up result. Rossiter held off a persistent Darren Kearnan (#55) for third place while Delisle was credited with a top five finish.
Pure Stock Invitational
Mosport Speedway hosted their third annual Pure Stock Invitational last Saturday, and it was an invader from the dirt track ranks who powered away with the Victor's Laurels.
Rob Flindall, a Peterborough High School Auto Shop teacher, followed in his father's footsteps and developed his race craft on Brighton Speedway's ¼-mile clay oval. But the lessons learned there have obviously transferred to the pavement wars.
Wrestling the lead away from Mosport Pure Stock points leader Kevin Hinds on lap four, Flindall opened up a healthy advantage over challengers Anthony DiBello (#16 DiBello Towing) and Hinds, holding the point until a lap 20 red flag. John Baker Jr., at the wheel of the #40 Honda CRX had climbed to fourth place from his tail end starting position, but on lap 20, the power plant screamed 'enough', expiring dramatically on the back straight, necessitating a massive cleanup.
On the restart, DiBello got the better launch to grab the lead, but Flindall would not be denied, reclaiming the point on lap 24 and running out the remaining 11 tours at the front of the back, and taking the feature race victory.
"I banged the wall on the restart and I thought I was done," admitted Flindall. "But once I knew everything was still straight, I put my head down and went for it. That was an amazing race, and gives us the first win for the Sidey NAPA/ State Farm Insurance team."
DiBello defended the home track's reputation with a well-deserved second place result, crossing the stripe just two car lengths behind Flindall, with Hinds piloting his #57 RadMan Grand Am to a top three finish. Duane Jeffery, making his Mosport return at the wheel of his recently-acquired #0 Pure Stock, took the checkered flag in fourth place, Henk Mulders (#99) rebounding from being a lap down to round out the top five.
Photo 1 - Bob Kish of Oshawa captured his first Bob's Towing Sportsman feature race win of 2011.
Photo 2 - Dwight Brown was the winner of the Late Model feature race.
Photo 3 - Pure Stock Invitational feature race winner Rob Findall (middle). In second place was Ryan DiBello (left) and rounding out the top three was Pure Stock points leader Kevin Hinds.
From Ryan Chalmers / Mosport // Photo Credits - Peter Brand
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