Sunday night’s Thunder Car invitational was scheduled for 50 laps, and when the dust settled at the end of it all, it seemed as though it was just the right length for veteran Barrie Speedway pilot Darryl St. Onge (No. 00 Georgian Waste Services/St. Onge Recreation Pontiac).

      The Barrie, ON driver found himself starting from the pole position in front of 24 of the province’s top Thunder Cars, after top-qualifier ‘The Deuce’ Dave Doucette (No. 44 ATV Landscaping/Xtreme Auto Machine Chevrolet) drew a re-draw of 2.

      St. Onge asserted himself from lap 1, maintaining a lead of at least a car length, working tirelessly to keep Doucette in his rear view mirror throughout the race’s first half. Doucette would finally find away into the lead after light contact between the two, though St. Onge stuck with the new leader, not allowing him the car length that Doucette had earlier been relegated to.

      Persistence paid off, and after laps of hounding his Barrie Speedway counterpart, St. Onge reclaimed the lead heading down the front stretch. Doucette would be granted one final chance, as a caution on lap 49 set up for a Green-White-Checkered finish.

     With ‘The Deuce’ firmly welded to the back bumper, St. Onge managed a flawless restart that set the stage for him to return to Sunset Speedway victory lane for the second time in 2009. He was followed to the stripe by Doucette, Jason Elliott (No. 22 Simcoe Auto Recyclers/Ultimate Custom Cycles Chevrolet), Todd Davenport (No. 30 Elmer’s Flighting Supply/Candue Homes Chevrolet) and Thayne Hallyburton (No. 14x Elmvale Carquest/Securequip Systems Dodge).

      “Wow that was a lot of fun!” an excited St. Onge exclaimed, moments after exiting his winning ride. “I’m not sure that we had the best car tonight. Dave was the one that put us at the front [by drawing 2^nd in the re-draw] and then he wanted to be back in front. But I think I finally found the right line towards the end, this place is really tough to figure out but we absolutely love coming down here. [Promoter] Mark Dilley just treats us like gods when we’re here, and obviously that’s not easy to do at a race track, and we’re absolutely grateful for it”

  Only one night removed from a highlight reel battle that saw ‘Stompin’ Tom Walters and ‘Mr. Excitement’ Chris Morrow trade both the lead and a couple of paint chips, the two veterans were ready to take center stage once more for the Limited Late Model 75 lap invitational.

      The drop of the green saw Angus, ON driver Darin Malcolm (No. 43 Allen Roofing/OwenSoundLawyers.com Chevrolet) display the same skill set that made him a fan favourite in the now defunct ALSTAR Late Model tour. The second-generation star pulled off a number of impressive manoeuvres to nab and defend the lead in the race’s early goings.

      As Malcolm put on a show at the front of the pack, Walters (No. 47 G & D Wholesale Tires Chevrolet) and Morrow (No. 11 Morrow Electric/Plumbtech Plumbing Chevrolet) guided their way to his back bumper like dual heat-seeking missiles. After a brief battle for the lead, Walters made his way past Malcolm and attempted to check out on the field the same way he had done only 24 hours earlier.

      However, the second verse would prove not to be the same as the first, as Morrow was able to pull to Walters’ bumper before the Bradford, ON set sail into a separate postal code. A thrilling game of cat and mouse ensued, culminating in a flash of contact that saw Morrow tag the rear end of Walters’ bumper causing Walters to hurdle back down the track, slamming into the side of Morrow’s #11.

      Morrow’s car would appear to suffer front-suspension damage, but somehow ‘Mr. Excitement’ persevered, snatching the lead from Walters heading into turns 1 & 2. As Morrow worked harder to fend off the advancing Walters, it became clear his car had been affected by the earlier contact. Unfortunately for Morrow, 5 laps after he had taken the lead, he was forced to relinquish it back to Walters as his car began to loosen up.

      As Morrow continued to fight his ill-handling car, Walters powered on to his second win in as many days. The top-5 at the finish were Walters, Morrow, Jason ‘Bam Bam’ Witty, Brandon Watson and Malcolm.

      “I gotta tell you, the track was real loose tonight. I know [Sean] Cronan’s been fighting a bit of an oil leak, and everytime I was behind him I kept getting looser and looser. At first I was worrying that those guys were going to catch me because of it towards the end, but I guess they were having the same problem as me” explained the 25-time champion.

      Walters shrugged off any animosity between himself and Morrow after their mid-race contact, “That was just good racing with Chris [Morrow]. He got me a little loose coming out of 4, and I guess I got into him a little”.

     The veteran went on to explain that his car wasn’t quite what he was looking for, but it got the job done, regardless. “We changed the brakes on it this afternoon, and it made it a lot worse. The car worked much better for me last night. I’m happy we were able to put on a show, and I just want to thank all the fans for coming out to support us. I don’t know how I’m going to top this weekend, but you can bet we’ll be back every weekend trying to”.

      There’s no doubt that New Lowell, ON teenager Doug Butler (No. 10 Jeff’s Towing/Homeworks Certified Home Inspections Nissan) is one of the Sunset Mini Stock division’s most talented prospects. However, the third year driver has had trouble finding victory lane since early in the season. On Sunday night, Butler made it look easy by leading every circuit of the 35 lap affair.

      Starting from the second row, Butler wasted little time powering into the lead, securing the top spot before even leaving the backstretch on lap one. From that point on, Butler used each groove of the speedway as his own personal playground; Showcasing exactly why insiders have him pegged for a breakout year in 2009.

      Butler would not once find himself in any danger of forfeiting the lead, cruising to his third feature victory of the 2009 campaign. In victory lane, the soft-spoken hotshoe remained humble. “We’ve just been experimenting with some different tire combinations and setups. Some nights I’m better, some nights I’m worse. It really is all luck. Earlier in the night I felt as though I was stronger in the second groove, but into the feature when the track cooled down some, I was able to put the car wherever I needed to go. I’m hoping to pick up some more feature wins heading down the stretch, and just keep having good runs out here”.