Consistency at Kawartha and Flamboro Pays off for Gary as he Moves to 6th in WWS and Flamboro Points: Currently Top Rookie for 2005

Courtesy Gary/Nora Elliott

Series Race #17
Kawartha Speedway
Sept 2nd 2005

As the season heads into the final stretch, consistency is very important to maintain the goals accomplished to this point. In the WWS Ontario race series, Gary and his team had set sights on a top 20 finish. As the season progressed, those goals were changed to a top 10 finish. A driver can gain WWS points by racing at any race that is a sanctioned event.

On Friday night the team headed to Kawartha Speedway in hopes of making some ground in the effort to brake into the top 10. After the warm ups it was clear the car ran much better than the first appearance on June 10th. Starting pole in the 2nd tough competition by the regular runners moved the Quaker State Dodge to 3rd, but Gary quickly got in behind the top 2 and ran with them for the next 8 laps. On lap 9 the 4th and 5th place cars got by putting Gary 5th at the finish line.

Some chassis changes were made for the feature including one new tire on the right front. Starting 10th the field of 16 cars ran tight for the first 6 laps. Gary had moved to 7th and passed 2 more cars on the back chute. However a caution came out allowing those cars to get their spots back.

The race ran green for the next 20 laps and though running much stronger it looked like 8th would be the best for this night. Another caution with 4 to go brought the cars close together and on the final 3 laps another spot was gained. Gary crossed the finish line in 7th and gained some precious WWS points.

Series Race #18
Flamboro Speedway
Sept 3rd 2005
Heat Win #7 for 2005

There was little work to do after Kawartha allowing the team to be ready in good time for Flamboro. In the heats Gary finished 4th and 1st. The 2nd heat win came with David on the bumper of his dad for the entire race. After qualifying, where David earned top spot, the inversion put Gary 12th on the starting grid.

It was a very competitive charge throughout the race. Many drivers trying to improve their points as the season comes to a close. Gary moved to 5th with 6 laps remaining. On the restart he tried going outside David but could not get the grip to make the pass. While he tried Paul Howse moved to the inside and tried squeezing into 5th place. Another caution came out and this time Gary tried to get down quickly behind David but the aggressive move was costly as the nose of #8 Howse caught the black #36 sending Gary flying through the infield.

The final 6 laps proved positive with Gary closing the feature in 8th place. After the race Paul Howse apologized, however Gary let him know it wasn’t necessary because he tried for an opening that wasn’t there. Gary himself had to let #45 Dave Bennett know that he too was sorry for hitting Dave during the last 6 lap charge when the 2 cars made contact.

By the end of the night all was well and the boys would be back at it next Saturday. There are 2 Flamboro points races remaining. September 10th and September 24th, these races also count for WWS to which there are 7 races remaining including the two Flamboro events.

The season will close with some big races including a Triple 50 at Kawartha on September 16th, a 100 lapper at Flamboro on October 2nd and a 105 lap race at Peterborough on October 9th. By then everyone should be tired.