Clint Eastwood was no where in sight - but Saturday night's (May 12th) show at Brighton Speedway was stock car racing's version of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
The Good: The track was in excellent shape. Smooth, tacky and with very little dust. As the night wore-on, the moisture that had been packed into the clay began to work its way back to the surface, providing even better bite and excellent grip. Joyceville, Ontario's Rick Wilson, who won the Southern Ontario Sprint car feature was seen pulling 'wheelies' down the frontstretch as he launched out of turn 4. Wilson ran almost the entire feature around the extreme outside line. The night's heat races (or qualifiers as Brighton calls them) were run mostly caution-free. On a chilly spring night, this was a welcomed sign. The Comp 4 (mini stock) feature had a top 3 finish of Leslie Turcotte, Caley Weese and Ashley Fowler - all female drivers! Brighton has a number of female drivers who regularly show the boys a thing or 2.
The Bad: The night was over an hour late getting on-track. An advertised starting of 7:00 was delayed until at least 8:10 while drivers worked the track into racing shape. As a result, the nightly driver's meeting and the sprint car 'dash' were both cancelled to help make-up for lost time. In the feature events, the field took as many as 3 laps under the yellow before they took the green flag, even after the track was cleared. With one-way radios in use, there's no reason it should take so long to re-align the pack for the re-start. Get the drivers into single-file once the yellow comes out, then show them the white as soon as the track is ready.
The Ugly: Hands-down, it had to be Gary Sheffield's Canadian (IMCA/UMP)
Modified. The car was running so hot during the feature race, the headers on the right-hand-side of the car were glowing orange. Someone in the control tower had to have noticed this and the car should have been set to the pits.
Brighton notes: The Canadian Modified feature was won by Dan Ferguson, while Brandon Gregory took the Pro Stock Main. The Pure Stocks were given the night off. Former Brighton drivers Tim Kerr and Chris Jones were both spectators at the track Saturday night. Kerr, who has attempted but failed to qualify for a pair of USAR Hooters Pro Cup Northern Division events raced his DIRT big block Friday night at Brewerton. Jones ran his small block the night before at Autodrome Edelweiss. 2007 is Brighton Speedway's 40th Anniversary season. See all the details at http://www.brightonspeedway.com/
This weekend: Friday, May 18th - Thunder Alley Speed Park. Saturday, May 19th - Brockville Ontario Speedway. Sunday, May 20th - Cornwall Motor Speedway. Tuesday, May 22nd - my daughter Allisen's soccer game.
In the distance: Friday, May 25th - open practice at Kawartha Speedway. Sunday, May 27th - Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series/DIRT Motorsports Hall-of-Fame induction ceremonies Cayuga County Fair Speedway. Monday, May 28th - World of Outlaws sprint cars Rolling Wheels Raceway Park.
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