Event 27 - THE ROY SERYL MEMORIAL FALL CLASSIC AWESOME RACING
September 21 Report by Brian Watt

On Sunday September 21st under beautiful blue skies and hot temperatures Sunset Speedway said goodbye to the 2003 race season in spectacular fashion with a great day of racing. The pits were bursting from the seems as over 100 cars from tracks all over Southern Ontario paid a visit to the 1/3 oval sometimes to tough to tame to take on the best in 5 different classes in the Roy Seryl Memorial Fall Classic. Roy was fatally injured and succumbed to his injuries on the scene in a practice session before a regular Saturday night of racing and his long time friend and business associate Domenic Lunardo sponsored the show to keep Roy’s memory alive. Roy was a great supporter of Sunset Speedway always with a wide grin on his face and it’s fitting his name be associated with a great day of racing, a passion and a hobby he enjoyed rest in peace my friend. To the people who have been around a few years this was a throw back to the good old day’s not that far removed when this was a regular Saturday night car count and the racing was totally awesome, it’s great to see it back. On hand we had an invitational for Late Models, Thunder Cars and 4 Cylinders as well as the Pro Cup Challenge Winston Cup look-alikes, the Hurricane Midgets and the School Bus Races. The big winners on the day were #24 Brad Schmidt from Sauble Speedway won the Thunder Car 35 lap feature, #21 Rob Deasy from Sunset Speedway took home the 4 Cylinder 35 lap event, #1 Quick Vic Parsons from Sunset won the Sunset Late Model 50 lap feature event while Dennis Thompson took the Pro Cup Challenge and Frank Davey won the School Bus race. We had a special guest as country recording star Jason McCoy sang the national anthem to the delight of the crowd as he is Chairman for Grieving Children at Season Centre a non profit registered charity organization to help children with the emotional effects of death of a loved one, a great cause and it was great of Jason to take time out of his busy schedule to join us.

We had 25 awesome looking late models take to the track for the 50 lap rock and roll event on the Sunset oval some say is to tough to tame on some occasion. This was one of the best collection of late model pilots anywhere in Ontario with track champions and major feature winners from tracks all over the Province with the likes of Stompin’ Tom Walters, Vic Parsons who once finished 10th in the Daytona 500, Derrick Tiemersma ex CASCAR pilot and current ALSTAR campaigner, Paul Milligan from Barrie Speedway and Alex Hamilton who has driven any machine with 4 wheels around tracks all over Ontario and has won a number of feature events. On the drop of the green flag #22 Sunset’s Plan Group point’s champ quickly took the point and appeared on a rail but breathing down his neck was the wily veteran Parsons while in behind #12 Paul Milligan, #72 Ron Tracey and #3 Ken Bemrose were the fast 5 but there was furious action throughout the field. These amazing pilots showed there skill as there were no cautions early but the paint was being traded at all locations. Morrow still held the point but was under tremendous pressure from Parsons and finally on lap 29 Parsons rocketed by Morrow on the outside with relative ease and with him came the 72 car of Tracey while Milligan, Bemrose, #57 Ron Quesnelle and #47 Walters were in hot pursuit. We went 33 fast and furious laps before the first caution appears as a result of #10 Chris Keen and #87 Grant Lloyd making contact in turn ¾. On the restart #88 Alex Hamilton loops his mount in turn 2 for only the second yellow. The running order on the restart was Parsons, Tracey, Morrow, Quesnelle, Bemrose, Walters, #7 Derrick Tiemersma and #8 Brendan Adams. With Parsons and Tracey 1,2 Quesnelle gets under Morrow and the result Morrow gets freight trained back to 6th when he got hung up on the outside definitely not the lane of choice and then the third caution appeared on lap 41 as the 95 car of Rompin’ Ron Lethbridge loops it. On the restart Morrow and #19 Jason Witty get together in turn 4 causing the final yellow of the afternoon. On the restart Parsons was still the point man but Tracey was ready for any bobbles and in behind were Quesnelle, Walters, Bemrose, Tiemersma, Hamilton and Adams ready to move up. As they came down the front chute to take the checkered flag from Doug the top 10 were Parsons, Tracey, Quesnelle, Bemrose, Tiemersma, Hamilton, Adams, Lloyd and Witty. The heat winners were Hamilton, Adams, Quesnelle, Tiemersma, Bemrose and Quesnelle again. Congratulations to Victor and the crew on a great win as he seems to win a lot of special events could it be the experience. That was a totally awesome late model event as the drivers showed their professionalism and great driving abilities and cooler heads prevailed as they seemed to respect each others talents. Great show guys let’s do it again in 2004.

THE THUNDER CAR 35 LAP INVITATIONAL

We had 26 thunders take to the track for the 35 lap event as we had 6 cars not make the field and were loaded up on their trailers. We had cars from Sauble Speedway, Barrie, Flamboro as well as our own Sunset guys. On the drop of the green flag #24 Sauble’s Brad Schmidt grabbed the early lead with #94 Doug Harvey, #49 Frank Davey, #51 Mark Adams and #1 another Sauble regular Dan Wright were the fast 5. We then had 2 cautions on lap 2 and 8 as #68 Barrie’s Shawn Cunnington and #29 Steve Cashmore done for the day. On the restart Schmidt stormed to the front while in behind there was great action as Harvey, Davey, Wright, #30 Todd Davenport from Sauble and Barrie point champ #10 Gord Sheppard were trading paint. At the half way point Schmidt seemed unstoppable as his Ford Crown Vicy was a rocket now Davey was the runner up and a long with him came Wright, Davenport and Sheppard while #13 Brad Collison and Harvey exchanged 7th place. As the laps were winding down Davey could get close and with 2 laps to go and Flyin” Frank ready to get under Schmidt, he used the lapped car to perfection to ward off the pursuit of Davey and cruised the remainder of the race to take the checkered flag by less than a car length at the line while Davenport, Wright, Sheppard, Harvey, Collison, 3 Ernie Fummerton, #40 Ed Beattie from Mosport and #6 Chris Cunnington rounded out the top 10. The heat winners were Schmidt, Harvey, Davenport, Davey, #09 Norm Stoddard and #68 Shawn Cunnington while Chris Cunnington took home the last chance race. Congratulations to Brad and the crew on a great invitational win and a great way to end the 2003 season. There were 2 ugly situations that have no place in the sport as Norn Stoddard after being spun by #23 Paul Maltese to bring out a caution flag and as they were lining up Stoddard drove into the rear side of the 23 car and completely destroying the rear end of the 23 machine and then Stoddard is restrained by officials throws his helmet in the direction of the 23 car and the result was he has been banned for life from Sunset Speedway. That type of display of immaturity is uncalled for and must be stamped out as someone may get killed because someone can not control their temper. Another ugly incident occurred when #72 Roy Anderson on purpose made heavy contact with the 14 machine of Keith Temple causing big time damage to his car.

The 4 cylinder event would a fore gone conclusion as #21 Rob Deasy clearly the fastest car in the field was starting on the pole and would be extremely hard to catch. On the drop of the green flag Deasy jumped out to the early lead while the 80 car of Dean Jackson was in the runner up spot while Ottawa’s #53 Todd Musker, #7 Barrie’s Jason Podewils and #91 Dave Marco were the fast 5. This race went flag to flag and nobody had anything for the yellow Honda CRX of Deasy. As the laps were winding down Todd Musker managed to get by Jackson while the 35 machine of Carl Musker took up the pursuit of Podewils and managed to get alongside him. With Deasy home and cooled out the battle for remaining postions was on. As they took the checkered flag from starter Doug the top 10 were Deasy, Todd Musker, Jackson, Carl Musker, Podewils, #9 Mike Carson, Marco, #44x Dave Doucette, #26 Ted Edwards and #6 Aaron Martyn. The heat winners were Deasy with 2, Jackson, Mike Groves, Todd Musker and Podewils. Congratulations to Rob and the crew on another feature wins as he has been unstoppable from the mid point of the season. All in all that was a great show by a beginner class, take a bow guys.

Once again we would like to thank Domenic Lunardo for sponsoring the Roy Seryl Memorial Fall Classic and for keeping Roy’s name alive in our hearts and he is sorely missed by everyone who knew him and his great smile. It’s hard to believe the 2003 race season has come to an end but all good things must end and I would like to thank Glenn Lloyd and his family and friends for reviving the spirit at Sunset Speedway and I know that it’s the buzz of the stock car community. There are other changes and updates for the track before the 2004 race season hits the pavement everyone had a safe Winter and make sure you get revved up next Spring when machines hit the track again. See you at the banquet everyone.