Event 22 - HARVEY AND TIM PHINNEMORE EACH DO THE TRICK
August 30 Report by Brian Watt

Last Saturday night August 30th under clear skies and cool temperatures, the fans were thoroughly entertained with the hot and heavy action on the 1/3 mile bull ring known as Sunset Speedway. It was the Labour Day week end that signifies the end of the Summer season and the back to school for the kid’s and is always a great way to take the race season down the stretch point’s races in all divisions. We had our regular 4 cylinders and thunder cars as well as the great traveling Canadian Vintage Modifieds Pennzoil racing tour2003 a series of vintage cars from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s always a treat for the fans. The evening’s race program was brought to us by Barrie’s Country Pine & Such and they handed out trophies to all the evening’s winners which happens to be another business owned by the Lloyd family so if you need any nice pine furniture or small gift ideas make sure to check out their store on Byrne Dr. in Barrie’s south end. We had a unique situation as we had 2 hat trick winners as Doug Harvey turned the trick in the thunder car division and Tim Phinnemore did same in the 4 cylinder class. The Sunset Late Models were away resting for their big 50 lap invitational on the Sunday evening of the Labour Day as we expect a great turn out for this event. The Plan Group points races are tightening up as the 2003 race season is nearing the conclusion as the thunder cars division is separated by 60 points from 1 through 4 as #49 Frank Davey has 1962, #16 Amanda Connelly has 1951, #94 Doug Harvey 1920 and #74 Mark Zacchigna 1902 with all 4 still in the hunt for the points title. In the 4 Cylinder’s #80 Jim Carter has 135 point lead and in the Sunset Late Models #22 Chris Morrow leads with 1570, #57 Ron Quesnelle 1556 and #8 Brendan Adams 1528 all are still in contention for the Plan Group points title with 2 point’s night’s remaining in 2003.

On the drop of the green flag #67 Rick Santigato grabs the early lead in this 35 lap event with #3 Ernie Fummerton and #94 Doug Harvey in hot pursuit while #8 John Carlisle and #00 Andrew Cole round out the top 5. Carlisle wasted little time and takes the point but with Fummerton and Harvey going 3 wide, Harvey wrestles the lead from Carlisle by grabbing the low line and forcing his way past the front 2. Harvey was on a mission having won his 2 heats and looking for the hat trick. The running order was Harvey, Fummerton, Carlisle, #16 Amanda Connelly and #51 Mark Adams and this order stayed this way through to the half way point. While there was a great battle at the front of the field back in the field there was a tremendous battle as #00 Andrew Cole, #74 Mark Zacchigna and #47 Tyler Liscombe took turns hitting each other and it a crowd favorite. The running order at the front stayed the same but on lap 26 Connelly and Zacchigna were involved as Mark went for the wild ride and the result both summoned to the rear. The Running order for the last 9 laps was Harvey, Fummerton, Carlisle, #49 Frank Davey and #47 Tyler Liscombe but Carlisle managed to get by Fummerton and made a bee line for the 94 green machine. As the laps were winding down Harvey still managed to hold the point but Carlisle seemed quicker but Harvey managed to hold his line taking away the bottom groove while Carlisle was tapping Harvey’s rear bumper lap after lap but try as he may could not loosen Harvey and as they came down the front chute to take the checkered flag from starter Doug Harvey held off Carlisle by ½ a car length. The running order at the line was Harvey, Carlisle, Fummerton, Davey, Liscombe, #45 Rob Poole and Connelly. The heat winners were Harvey with 2, Fummerton and Davey. Congratulations to Doug and the crew on a great feature victory and on his second hat trick of the 2003 race season. These drivers and crews are incredible as 2 cars had problems early in the program as Poole’s crew put in a new transmission in his mount and Liscombe and crew had to put in a new motor great work folks. A big thank you goes out to the Phinnemore as they were a great help to both teams in getting them back on the track for the feature.

THE 4 CYLINDER DIVISION

The only question to answer as the cars wheeled onto the track for their 25 lap feature was how far would the #22 machine of Tim Phinnemore be out front at the checkered flag as he won both his heats and looked very dominant on this night. On the drop of the green #54 Edward Cole grabbed the early lead with #9 Mike Carson, #6 Aaron Martyn, #88 James Rodgers and Phinnemore rounding out the top 5. In the early going current point leader #80 Jim Carter had his problems as he was involved in 2 incidents in the first 4 laps. By lap 5 Phinnemore powered to the point while Carson and #21 Rob Deasy were in a battle for the runner up position while #26 Ted Edwards, #8 Rob Snow and Cole were next in line. On lap 10 there was an incident as #00 John Cole and Edwards get together with Edwards making heavy contact with the wall down the front chute with his car done for the night. The remainder of the race went non stop as Tim Phinnemore cruised to a relatively easy victory while in behind the running order at the checkered flag was Carter, 22.2 of Bob and Jay Phinnemore, Carson, Deasy and Snow. The heat winners were Phinnemore with 2, Deasy and Carson. Congratulations to the Phinnemore wave on a great feature victory and we would like to thank you for the help you generously gave to Poole and Liscombe so they could race in their features way to go guys great sportsmanship.

On the drop of the green flag #00 Ron Easton jumped to the early lead with #74 Micheal Bennett, #37Jeremy deLeeuw, #41 Ken Huntington and #60 Scott Fletcher round out the top 5. On lap 7 Bennett comes to rest on the front chute with motor problems so the running order was Easton, #3 Brian Watson, Fletcher, #36 Gary Elliot and #6 Derrick Melhanbacher the fast 5. On lap 10 the last caution appeared as #0 Phillip Shaw and Melhanbacher get together exiting turn 2 as Shaw was on the move coming from his 16th starting position to 5th in 10 laps certainly a contender. The new running order at the half way point was Easton, Watson, Fletcher, Elliot, #19 John Karley and #71 Dan Fraser. There was great racing throughout the field as these great looking machines jostling for position from 1 through 22. As they roared down the front chute to take the checkered flag the running order was Easton, Watson, Fletcher, Elliot, Karley, Fraser and #2 TJ Woolsey. The heat winners were #37 Jeremy deLeeuw, #14Steve Lyons and Fraser while Elliot took the semi. This my favorite traveling series that makes a stop at Sunset Speedway as the machine are in immaculate condition and the sportsmanship is apparent as it’s obvious they greatly respect each other. You people are welcomed here anytime in my books I hope to see you more in 2004 race season.

Once again we would like to thank the Lloyd’s and their business Barrie Country Pine and Such for their nightly sponsorship.