Fothergill Wins Third Feature of Season – Eight Points Out of Championship
On lap three of the Dynamic Fluid Super Stock feature, a multi-car pile-up involved the top-four drivers in the championship standings, bringing all of them to the pits for attention. All would return, but it was Paul Fothergill (#33) of London, that was able to slice through the field first on Whelen Emergency Services night presented by BX-93. He took the lead from Ken McNichol (#17) of Exeter, on lap 17, and holding on to win his third feature of the season.
Fothergill talked about the early race incident that involved Scott Nagy (#99) of Strathroy, as well as point leader ‘Cowboy’ Kris Lawrence (#28) of London, Jason Lidster (#11) of St. Thomas, who entered the night tied for second in points with Fothergill, and Steve ‘Pee Wee’ Smith (#84) of Arkona, who trailed them by a single marker. He said, “I don’t really know how it started, but the #99 [Nagy] was sideways on the track. I checked up, but I was already in the fluid and everyone went along for the ride. I got stopped and then was hit from behind. It almost put the bars into the fuel cell, but the main thing is that it didn’t contact the wheels.”
On the next restart a car in the middle of the pack lost a bumper, and because of being at the back, Lidster and Fothergill both hit the debris. Lister’s left front went flat, and Fothergill changed a tire as he developed a vibration. They would again restart at the back.
After that, the bright red Camero blitzed through the field, with his other title foes in hot pursuit, but he was the quickest of the bunch, passed Lawrence in traffic and led the duo into the top-five. Jake ‘Juicebox’ Ott had worked his way from eighth to the lead, passing Tim McGregor (#48) of St. Thomas, for the top spot, with Ken McNichol (#17) of Exeter, coming through to second.
McNichol was the first of the ‘glass’ cars to pounce and took the lead on lap 11, before Fothergill captured the point. He would pace the field the rest of the way to his third-feature win of the season, and pulling him to within eight points of Lawrence, who finished sixth. He spoke about the feature, the championship, and the team’s success, he said, “I saw the #11 [Lidster], on fire after we hit whatever it was on the track, and then I was able to get past the other two, so I knew where they were. I was on a mission tonight.”
As for the keys to the team’s success this year, he said, “We’ve got a lot of experience, we’ve got great sponsors, and we work hard.”
McNichol had his best outing of the season with a second-place result, with Ott in his ‘Electric Banana’ rounding out the podium, moving McNichol into the top-five in points.
Smith rallied back to finish fourth, and moves to third in points, 16 back of the leader, while McGregor finished fifth.
Lidster’s damage resulted in a ninth-place finish, and a drop to fourth in points for the 2009 champ.
Heat races were won by Andrew ‘Sparky’ Perkins (#3) of London, and Smith.
Newman Remains Undefeated
“It was Merry Christmas!” Exclaimed Barry Newman (#3) of Aylmer, talking about his fourth Powerade Modified victory of the season. He continued, “I was running behind front two and they wrecked, and that gave us the lead. That’s the second time this season.”
The winters in the heat race portion of the night were (#38) of Pain Court, and Newman.
Newman’s win came after a thrilling battle with Gary McLean (#8) of Conn, in what was the battle of the night throughout all divisions.
Hendricks starting on the pole for the main with Justin Demelo (#82) of London, beside him. Tyler would go around after a poke in the rear bumper from Justin on lap three, sending both to the back.
Newman was never challenged after that, gaining control on the restart and hitting his marks over the final 22 laps for his fourth straight feature win of the season, “I didn’t think at the start of the season that we would have four – two maybe, but not four. Our car is fast! I was able to get past the #39 [McCullough] on the restart and once I was clear I just kept checking the distance back to second in my mirror.”
With the win, Newman expands his lead in the points to 25 over Hendricks, who fought back to a fourth-place finish.
Gary McLean (#8) of Conn, a regular at Varney Speedway was able to get past David McCullough (#39) of Glencoe, after a spirited battle to finish second while David held on to finish third.
Demelo rounded out the top-five.
Adriaensen Aces Showler in Truck Feature
‘The Flying Dutchman’ Devon Bloemendal (#01) of Mt. Brydges, took an early lead in the Demar Aggregate Truck division, but a broken mount for his transmission ended up wrecking the driveshaft to his truck, knocking him out of contention for his third feature win of the season, and turning the lead over to Jeff Showler (#56) of Mt. Elgin.
Showler would soon be joined at the front by Gary Adriaensen (#55) of Belmont, who moved from his ninth-place starting position to second by lap 18 of the 35-lap special, and started to pursue Showler.
The pair would dodge and weave with each other for the next 12 laps before Adriaensen jumped on the leader while working lapped traffic. He fit his white Chevy through a hole just barely wide enough for his ride, and took the lead from Showler.
With two laps to go, Showler had a run to try and get the lead back coming down the front stretch, but Adriaensen ran him down to the inside wall to keep command before heading to the checkered flag.
Gary talked about his second consecutive win, “I caught lapped traffic at the right time, coming out of turn four. Jeff is not a guy that you can usually pass here, and I split him and the lapped truck to take the lead. It was unfortunate that Devon broke, but it helps us in the points, and I had a look at the scoreboard, and saw that Chad [Rijnen] was up to fifth, but that was it. It was also a great night because all of our sponsors were here at the track tonight, and winning in front of all of them is pretty special.”
Adriaensen also spoke about the block that assisted him in holding on to the lead, “I threw a block, and owe Jeff for not turning me. We had a little chat about it, and we’re all friendly.”
Showler finished second and moved into a tie for third in points with ‘The Lawnman’ Tom Zagorodny (#77) of Dorchester, while Zagorodny had a battle of his own for the second half of the race with sophomore Shea Gemmell (#3) of Dorchester for third. Zagorodny would claim the bronze medal, while Gemmell finished fourth, and point leader Chad Rijnen (#16) of Thamesford, rounded out the top-five.
Rijnen was involved in an earlier incident and after a brief visit to the infield returned to action. He drove through the pack to fifth, only to see his progress stall in the second half of the event. His lead over Adriaensen shrunk to 12-points in the championship race.
Junior Racing League ‘All-Stars’ Debut in ‘The Show’
In the Krown Body Maintenance Junior Racing League All-Star Exhibition event, Lucas ‘Mad Dog’ Mannington (#66) of Komoka, was able to lead early and often in the 20-lap event, capturing the checkered flag in what was easily the highlight of the youngster’s career so far. For the field of 10 cars, it was their first appearance outside of their regular Wednesday night time slot and as part of a normal racing show at Delaware.
