Event 20 - QUESNELLE FINE’S A WAY IN THE LATE MODEL FEATURE
August 16 Report by Brian Watt

After a couple of day’s being in various stages of darkness the fans rolled out to watch the action under ideal weather conditions as we had blue skies and warm temperatures to welcome the crowd. Last Saturday night August 16th the lights were on at Sunset Speedway and the action was fast and furious as we had our regular racing as well as the ever popular school bus races and the hurricane midgets. The night’s sponsor was Fine’s Home Hardware-Shelburne and Alf Ellis was on hand to hand out trophies and hats to all the evening’s winners. Fine’s has been a corporate sponsor for over 10 years and have been on the side of Ron Tracey’s #72 late model and they are suppliers of lumber and building materials so if you need any products for your next project make sure you call Fine’s as they deliver anywhere in Central Ontario. Murray Fine the owner usually attends but had a family function to attend up north but he was well represented by Alf we hope to see Murray in attendance next year. The big winners on the night were #57 Ron Quesnelle in the Limited Late Model division, #74 Mark Zacchigna in the Thunder Car division, #21 Rob Deasy, 5 in a row, in the 4 Cylinder Division, Flyin’ Frank Davey in the school bus races, 3 in a row and #27 Jack Swanson in the Hurricane Midgets.

We had 21 late models in attendance but 2 broke so 19 great looking machines took to the asphalt for their 25 lap voyage with the race up for grabs as any number of cars could prevail on this evening. On the drop of the green from starter Doug they went side by side for three laps until #67 Rick Santigato got sideways in turn 3 collecting #3 Ken Bemrose, #71 Brent Travis and #93 Mike Wietzes with all 4 summoned to the rear on the restart. On the restart #95 Rompin’ Ron Lethbridge jumps to the lead while #72 Ron Tracey was a rocket moving into the runner up position with #8 Brendan Adams, #65 Dan Robb and #7 Siebe Tiemersma rounding out the top 5. The race could not get any flow as we had a number of cautions early that slowed all momentum. Finally we went green and the racing was excellent Lethbridge held the point with Tracey looking for an opening to get by with Adams, Robb, Quesnelle, #22 Chris Morrow and #97 Simon Lloyd in hot pursuit. With Lethbridge holding onto the bottom line” the red rocket “ of Quesnelle went to the outside and grabbed the point from a startled Lethbridge and Quesnelle was a rocket on this night determined to take the feature while in behind Tracey, Adams, Robb, Morrow and Lloyd battled for position. On lap 9 disaster hit the Fine’s #72 Machine of Tracey as he came to rest on the back chute with no power, tough luck especially on Fine’s Home Hardware night. On the restart the new order was Quesnelle, Lethbridge, Adams, Morrow, Robb and Lloyd. On the restart Morrow jumped to the runner up spot while Adams followed under Lethbridge and he was left to fend off the Bemrose and Robb while Lloyd lurked in behind looking for any opening. On lap 17 the last yellow appeared as #92 Mike Hoskings came to rest down the front chute so this set the stage for an 8 lap shoot out could anyone catch the red rocket. On the restart Quesnelle sped away but the black Dale Earnhardt look a like of Ken Bemrose was on the move as he had come from the rear of the field early to third spot with 3 laps remaining while Morrow was under heavy pressure from the 3 car and appeared to have a tire going down as he was fighting the car the last 3 laps and because of that Bemrose managed to dispose of Morrow and take the runner up spot as no one was going to catch the red rocket 57 machine of Ron Quesnelle. As they roared down the front chute to take the checkered flag from starter Doug the running order was Quesnelle, Bemrose, Robb, Morrow, Adams, Lloyd, Lethbridge and #104 John Mombourquette. The heat winners were Bemrose, Adams, Quesnelle and Robb. Congratulations to Ron and the crew on a great feature win I believe his first for 2003, always a great runner each and every week. Tough luck to the 72 team especially on their sponsor’s night but Mr. Tracey will be back another night. A great race for Ken Bemrose who was summoned to the rear in the early going but patiently weaved his way to a respectable second place finish.

THE THUNDER CAR DIVISION

With the point’s race coming down to the wire as the season is nearing the end every position earned in the feature is valuable. On lap 2 we had an incident that could have been disastrous as #60 Mike Norris got turned and collected #3 Ernie Fummerton, #45 Rob Poole, #47 Tyler Liscombe as well as Norris luckily more cars were not involved. On the green #67 Rick Santigato leads the field while in behind #19 Greg Long, #74 Mark Zacchigna, #94 Doug Harvey and Liscombe were battling for position. On lap 4 #26 John Haines went straight into the wall in turn 1/2 and just destroyed the car but thankfully John was ok. On the restart once again Santigato leads the field but is under heavy pressure from Zacchigna while #51 Mark Adams, Liscombe, Long and #49 Flyin’ Frank Davey was on the move ready for any opening. Zacchigna finally powers by Santigato and along comes Liscombe, Davey, #16 Amanda Connelly and Adams followed by Santigato. Once Mark gets that Mustang to the front he is tough to catch and he held the lead the remainder of the feature while Davey was the runner up, Liscombe third, Connelly fourth then came Adams, Poole and Harvey. The heat winners were Santigato, Poole, Harvey and Adams. Congratulations to Mark the crew and the family on yet another great feature win and I missed Mark and his 2 sons the blonde tornadoes to pick up their trophy for the win. In tech lane Liscombe was DQed so everyone moves up one position that should tighten up the Plan Group point’s race even more.

The only question remained could Deasy win his 5th feature in a row as the Yellow Honda CRX has been on fire week after week including the specials. On the drop of the green flag #90 Darren Lloyd grabbed the early lead in the silver Rabbit but screaming up in his mirror was the Yellow machine of Deasy who had moved to the runner up position by going to the outside sometimes 3 wide while in behind the running order was Lloyd, #88 James Rodgers, #80 Jim Carter, #9 Mike Carson 3 wide, 6x Rob Walt and #6 Albert ONeil. While Deasy appeared home and cooled out there was great battle going on in behind as Carter slipped by Lloyd while Carson, Rodgers and #8 Rob Snow were battling for position. As they roared down the front chute to take the checkered flag Deasy was the easy winner while Carter, Lloyd, Snow, O’Neil, Carson and Phinnemore followed. The heat winners were Lloyd, Snow, Deasy and Phinnemore. Congratulations to Rob and the crew on #5 in a row an incredible feat in the Yellow Blurr. Darren Lloyd had a nice finish considering he destroyed his Fan attic Neon the week before and brought the rabbit out of moth balls and had a strong 3rd place finish.

Once again we would like to thank the fine folks at Fine’s Home Hardware for their night’s sponsorship as they have been a great supporter of Sunset Speedway for over 10 years. It was nice to see Marshall Cohen in attendance as his company the Plan Group sponsor’s the point’s funds for all classes at the track as well as a great corporate sponsor in general. Remember in two weeks is the long week end that celebrates the end of the Summer with a great 2 days of racing to say thanks to all the fans. On Saturday night August 30th we have 4 cylinders, Vintage modifieds, 35 laps for Thunder cars, spectator races and Kid’s bicycle races and great night for the whole family and on Sunday evening we have 4 cylinders, vintage modifieds, 50 lap late models invitational, spectator races and a giant fireworks display all in all a great way to say good bye to the Summer of 2003 with a great week-end of racing see you there.