For more info, please visit DIRT and Brockville Speedway .
By Tom Skibinski, Super DIRT Series Reporter
Brockville, ONT — September 9, 2005 — Local driver Jason Riddell led flag-to-flag-to
score the biggest win of his career Friday night at Brockville Ontario Speedway in
the 30-lap Sportsman Super DIRT Series East Region finale and became the 10th
different winner in as many events this season.
"This is just awesome," exclaimed Riddell, on the heels of his second win of the
season at 'The BOS' and worth $1,000. The Cardinal, Ontario pilot also became the
seventh first-time winner in Sportsman SDS competition this year. "I never won a
Series race before and this is as good as it gets. The track was getting slick at
the end but tonight we hit the set-up just right and the car couldn't have been much
better."
Riddell staved off a bid by former 358-Modified driver Chris Herbison in the
green-white-checkered flag finish and still opened up a half-dozen car-length margin
of victory. New Yorkers Lance Willix II and Greg Doust and Pennsylvanian Kevin Bates
filled out the front-five in Brockville's second-ever Sportsman tour event.
By virtue of the heads-up start format in effect, heat winners Riddell and young
Bobby Herrington secured front row assignments to pace the 18-car field. Riddell
charged past pole-sitter Herrington as soon as the initial green flag flew and was
scored the leader after Sheldon Hoogwerf and Jim Peters tangled in turn two to force
the first caution period. Riddell was flanked by Herbison on the restart and chased
by Bates, Rob Bellinger and Shawn Donath, who steered owner Mike LaSalles' vacated
ride of Brockville points champion Marcel Pecore.
Late arriving Brett Horner looped his Troyer machine to require a second slowdown on
lap five, a mishap that wiped out a half straightaway advantage for the dominant
Riddell. At the halfway mark Donath had worked his way into the runner-up slot while
Herbison settled into third ahead of Herrington and eighth-place starter Willix.
Competing in just his second Sportsman race ever, Jeff McKeown spun on the back
stretch on lap 19 and two circuits later repeated the maneuver low out of turn four
to force the yellow lights on both times. With just five laps remaining Riddell held
a comfortable lead over Donath, Herbison, Willix, Bates and 12th-place starter
Doust, who was adapting quickly to the tight banked quarter-miler in his first-ever
track appearance.
Heartbreak set in for Donath as the no. m96 Kriska Transportation ride suddenly
slowed with a blown motor on lap 28 to relinquish second-place to Herbison. On the
final lap 29 restart Doust ducked under Bates down the back straightaway but ran out
of time to move his no. 67 MED Constructioin-Honeoye Auto Parts/Troyer mount any
further.
"These crate motors are a great deal, they give a lot more guys the chance to race,"
said runner-up Herbison from nearby Mallorytown, Ont., who earned three DIRT
Sportsman feature wins in 1996 before joining the small-block ranks and coming away
with a pair of victories to open the new millennium. "It's a lot of fun racing now,
the guys work hard and there's just no pressure to worry about anymore.
Sportsman veteran Willix crosses the line third to secure fourth-place outright in
the final East Region point standings. "I wish this track was a closer to home, it
was a fun place to get around tonight," said Willix, who parked his no. 16 Theresa
Redemption Center/Bicknell car in victory lane at Thunder Alley Speedpark following
the June 24 tour event. "There's been more banking put around since I was here last
and it's a lot more racey than I remember. Hopefully, we'll be coming back here more
in the future, it's a good size track for this class."
East Region points champion Doust hovered among the top-10 much of the race until
making a late-race rally during the final third. "I wish this was a 40-lapper
tonight, we could've moved up even more," Doust said to his father and crew chief
Rob Doust after posting his fourth top-four finish in the four East side events. The
Jamesville, N.Y. chauffeur captured the '05 tour lid-lifter and remained atop the
regional points chart ever since. "But I finally finished ahead of Kevin (Bates),
and that alone makes me pretty happy. I always seem to be losing two points here,
two points there to him. I would've liked more time to get a few more positions yet
heading home in one piece is still a nice consolation at a new track for us."
Bates started third on the grid and faded in the middle stages before dicing with
Doust for bragging rights as the laps dwindled. "We had a brand new right rear hard
(tire) in hot laps and it lost air right before the feature so all we had was a soft
to go on," said Bates, who finished fifth last year in Brockville's Sportsman Super
DIRT Series debut. "A longer race would've been good out here tonight as the track
was starting to come in. The top was too fast and the low lane needed more laps to
even things out. Having the wrong tire compound from the beginning never gave us a
chance."
Sportsman Super DIRT Series – Brockville Ontario Speedway, September 9, 2005 Event
Summary [*Official box score posted on ww.dirtmotorsports.com and can be viewed by
first choosing 'DIRT NorthEast' on the corporate homepage then selecting Sportsman
SDS and clicking 'Sunoco/Aplus' logo]
FEATURE
FIN STR CAR# DRIVER
1 2 9 Jason Riddell/Cardinal,ONT ($1,000)
2 6 8-BallChris Herbison/Mallorytown,ONT
3 8 16w Lance Willix II/Theresa,NY
4 12 67 Greg Doust/Jamesville,NY
5 3 42b Kevin Bates/Lake Ariel,PA
6 1 25 Bobby Herrington/Kingston,ONT
7 4 28 Jeff Stevenson/Watertown,NY
8 16 69 Brad Kirkland/Brockville,ONT
9 15 19h Chris Higgins/Syracuse,NY
10 13 23 Kees VanWinden/Hallville,ONT
11 10 8 Rob Bellinger/Dexter,NY
12 9 59 Jeff McKeown/Belleville,ONT
13 7 m96 Shawn Donath/South Onondaga,NY
14 14 102 Chris Raabe/Napannee,ONT
15 18 52 Brett Horner/Kingston,ONT
16 5 12 Jeremy LaSalle/Brockville,ONT
17 11 27 Sheldon Hoogwerf/Prescott,ONT
18 17 13j Jim Peters/Jasper,ONT
Lap Leader: Riddell (1-30).
Heat Races (8 laps, all qualify)
#1: Herrington, Bates, LaSalle, Donath, McKeown, Hoogwerf, VanWinden, Higgins, Peters.
#2: Riddell, Stevenson, Herbison, Willix, Bellinger, Doust, Raabe, Kirkland, Horner
(DNS).
2005 Sportsman Super DIRT Series Point Standings
East Region (thru Brockville 9/9)
RANK POINTS DRIVER
1 365 Greg Doust/Jamesville,NY
2 333 Kevin Bates/Lake Ariel,PA
3 314 Lance Willix II/Theresa,NY
4 284 Rob Bellinger/Dexter,NY
5 251 Chris Higgins/Syracuse,NY
6 237 Marcel Pecore/Brockville,ONT
7 160 Joe Williams/Scotia,NY
8 158 Jason Riddell/Cardinal,ONT
9 147 Mike Bowman/Baldwinsville,NY
10 145 Jordan Bennett/Pennellville,NY
11 143 Sean Carman/Stockton,NJ
12 136 Russ Hefti/Jordan,NY
13 133 Roy Bresnahan/Palermo,NY
14 130 Jeff Stevenson/Watertown,NY
15 112 Jim Dallett/Vineland,NJ
16 106 Jeremy LaSalle/Brockville,ONT
17 100 Jeremy Pitcher/Fulton,NY
18 95 Chris Herbison/Mallorytown,ONT
19 80 Kevin Ridley/Geneva,NY
20 76 Rick Amo/Schenevus,NY
76 Bobby Herrington/Kingston,ONT
22 72 Mike Conrow/Sterling,NY
23 68 Brad Kirkland/Brockville,ONT
24 65 Rick McCready/Watertown,NY
25 62 Tim VanBrocklin/Watertown,NY
62 Kees VanWinden/Hallville,ONT
27 58 Steve Babicek/Binghamton,NY
58 Jeff McKeown/Belleville,ONT
29 56 Josh Hefti/Jordan,NY
56 Shawn Donath/South Onondaga,NY
31 54 Brett Tonkin/Carbondale,PA
54 Chris Raabe/Napannee,ONT
33 52 Brett Horner/Kingston,ONT
34 50 Eric Giguere/Geneva,NY
35 48 Sheldon Hoogwerf/Prescott,ONT
36 46 Jim Peters/Jasper,ONT
37 10 Doug Shattell/Baldwinsville,NY
10 Matt Butler/Canton,NY
Brockville Banter
*Although just 18 teams ---half were first time tour entries in '05--- made the trip
for the Sportsman Super DIRT Series East Region finale Friday night at 'The BOS,'
track promoter Paul Kirkland was already excited about the division prospects for
the 2006 race season. Kirkland joins a growing group of operators applauding the GM
crate motor program initiated by DIRT MotorSports this past season. "We had and
average of 15-18 cars at the end of the season and nearly half of those used crate
motors," said Kirkland, who has directed short-track activity at the popular Eastern
Ontario oval for the past 10 years. "We're getting a lot of interest already for
next year and I expect easily over 20 Sportsman cars for opening day." When
Brockville hosts it's traditional 358-Modified Super DIRT Series race on Fri., Sept.
16, Kirkland is planning to unveil some exciting news regarding the 2006 schedule at
Brockville. An informal gathering for the media in attendance will take place under
the main grandstand during intermission, at which time Kirkland will announce his
plans.
*With the exception of Marcel Pecore, top-5 East Region point leaders coming into
the event were signed in along with 2005 tour competitors Chris Higgins, Jeff
Stevenson, Jason Riddell and Jeremy LaSalle. Since his season-opening victory at
Thunder Alley Speedpark in May, Greg Doust led the East side standings followed by
Central New York rival Kevin Bates, Pecore, Rob Bellinger and Lance Willix II.
Pecore also ranked third on the overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRT
points chart ahead of Bates (5th), Doust (9th), Willix (10th) and Bellinger (11th).
Declaring that 2005 will be his final season ---at least for awhile--- due to
ever-growing family commitments, Doust never even planned to follow so much of the
summer tour until he claimed the Thunder Alley opener in a rare appearance at the
Evans Mills oval. "Just like we've done from day one, every race is taken one at a
time," said Doust, 36, who added wins at Cayuga County (4) and Fulton (1) speedways,
where he finished second to Bates on both points charts. "And we'll continue to
follow the series as long as the equipment holds out. We're planning to be at all
the remaining combined events except for the last one at Bridgeport, that's a little
too far with all the expenses involved just getting to the track. Unless somebody
comes up with a ride, we'll be at home. Right now we're even looking at the
possibility of using Walt McArdell's no. 87 car at Can-Am and Rolling Wheels during
Super DIRT Week, its just too much switching one car back and forth and expecting to
be a factor."
Bates settled into second spot behind Doust despite outlasting his weekend rival in
the final seasonal standings at both Fulton (Sat.) and Cayuga County (Sun.). "We
expected to do well when we started and we've had a good season so far, maybe even a
little better than we first thought," said Bates, 19, who tows in every weekend from
his Lake Ariel, Pa. home to challenge Central New York's best. To date, he owns six
wins at Fulton and three more at Cayuga County. "Last year we won the title at
Penn-Can and finished eighth at Fulton before switching to Weedsport on Sundays. At
Cayuga County you know you've raced 20 laps when you're done, there's a lot of work
that goes into it." Bates first started out helping DIRT Modified legend Alan
Johnson when he was 13; his late uncle, Ed Strada, was a long-time fixture at former
DIRT member Orange County Fair Speedway. He got the bug to jump behind the wheel and
he's remained there ever since. "I want to do this for a living and be a big-block
Modified driver when its over, it's all I've ever really known. People ask what if
NASCAR comes up and I say I'll definitely try it if there's an opportunity. But
right now its not anything that I have in mind to pursue."
Maybe the biggest surprize of the night was the arrival of Syracuse, NY racer Shawn
Donath. Not as much because of his first attempt at running a Sportsman car at
Brockville, but as driver of the potent no. m96 Bicknell machine driven to the '05
track championship by Marcel Pecore and piloted to a top-three ranking in both East
Region and the overall Mr. DIRT points championship. "Mike (Lasalle, owner) called
Thursday and said he needed a driver for tonight," said Donath, whose only other
experience at Brockville was behind the wheel of an Empire Super Sprint. "When I ran
Sportsman at Can-Am last year our teams pitted next to each other and that's how we
met. When Marcel never contacted Mike about tonight's race he gave me a call and
here we are. The last time here with ESS we did just terrible, we've got a good car
and set-up to work for so we should be OK," added Donath, a regular at both Fulton
and Utica-Rome this year.
With one win under his belt this year utilizing a GM crate motor, 16 year-old
Bellinger is in position to achieve an early season goal: top-10 finish in the
overall Hoosier-Sunoco Mr. DIRT Sportsman Championship. "Winning a tour race and
finishing in the top-five in the East points were things we started looking towards
as the season moved on," said Bellinger, whose first and only feature win was
registered this summer at Cayuga County, where he finished sixth in points. The
current junior at General Brown H.S. in his Dexter, N.Y. hometown is enjoying only
his second full-season in the Sportsman ranks after a half-dozen years of go-cart
competition. "I went to Can-Am one night and saw it had a go-cart track so I asked
my Dad about racing one. That was when I was nine and things are definitely more
serious now. I'll probably stay in Sportsman next year but it will be time to move
again soon pretty soon after that," added Bellinger, who placed 31st in last year's
rookie Sportsman campaign.
A solid open-wheel veteran at 32, Willix failed to reach victory lane in Weedsport
despite placing third in track points at The Port in 2005. A pair of wins at Thunder
Alley ---1 tour victory included--- and one trip to victory lane at Can-Am helped
earn him a top-10 ranking in the overall Mr. DIRT standings. "We've been in the
Sportsman division so long its time to move on and in 2006 we're planning to run a
358-Modified all year," said Willix, a former crew chief for Floridian Buzzie
Reutimann when he was DIRT Modified co-champion at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway in
1995. "This has been a real fun year so far and hopefully it will get even better.
We got a win at Thunder Alley so we're confident there's at least one more somewhere
down the road."
Super DIRT Series Addition: The recent addition of a 50-lap Combined event at
Cayuga County Fair Speedway brings the Sportsman Super DIRT Series total back up to
21 for the 2005 race season. The $1,500-to-win open-wheel race on Sat., Oct. 15 is
part of the "Autumnfest 150" in Weedsport, with General Admission ticket prices
remaining $10.00 for the season-ending event which includes a 100-lap Enduro. More
details will be announced in the weeks to follow.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
With the recent cancellation of an East Region event at Can-Am, the West Region stop
at Genesee Speedway on September 10 will be the only Sportsman Super DIRT Series
race running on Saturday. Track points ended on Labor Day around the DIRT NorthEast
circuit to offer a clearer picture of the top Mr. DIRT Sportsman title contenders in
2005.
2005 SPORTSMAN SUPER DIRT SERIES SCHEDULE
Day-Date Track(Laps)
Location/Winner
Fri-May 6 Thunder Alley Speedpark (30L-E)......................GREG DOUST
Sun-Jun 12 Cayuga County Fair Speedway (30L-E).............JEREMY PITCHER
Fri-Jun 17 Ohsweken Speedway (50L-W)...........................MARTIN POLHILL
Fri-Jun 24 Thunder Alley Speedpark (30L-E)......................LANCE WILLIX II
Fri-Jul 1 Ransomville Speedway (50L-W)........................JEFF McGINNIS
Sun-Jul 3 Humberstone Speedway (50L-W)......................BILL BLEICH
Wed-Jul 13 Can-Am Motorsports Park (30L-C).....................BRIAN SAGE
Sat-Jul 23 Merrittville Speedway (50L-C).............................KYLE INMAN
Thr-Aug 11 Canandaigua Speedway (30L-W).......................RUSS HEFTI
Fri-Sep 9 Brockville Ontario Speedway (30L-E).................JASON RIDDELL
Fri-Sep 9 Ransomville Speedway (50L-W).........................BRIAN SAGE
Sat-Sep 10 Genesee Speedway (40L-W)..............................Batavia, NY
Fri-Sep 16 Brewerton Speedway (40L-C).............................Brewerton, NY
Sat-Sep 17 Rolling Wheels Raceway (30L-C).......................Elbridge, NY
Sat-Sep 24 Canandaigua Speedway (50L-C)........................Canandaigua, NY
Fri-Sep 30 Fulton Speedway (30L-C)...................................Fulton, NY
Wed-Oct 5 Can-Am Motorsports Park (30L-C).....................LaFargeville, NY
Fri-Oct 7 Rolling Wheels Raceway (30L-C).......................Elbridge, NY
Sat-Oct 8 New York State Fairgrounds (30L-C)..................Syracuse, NY
Sat-Oct 15 Cayuga County Fair Speedway (50L-C).............Weedsport, NY
Sat-Oct 22 Bridgeport Speedway (75L-C) ............................Bridgeport, NJ
E=East Region(4), W=West Region(6), C=Combined(11).
SUNOCO/APLUS SPORTSMAN SERIES SPONSORS
The DIRT MotorSports™ Sunoco/Aplus Sportsman Series is brought to fans across the
Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Sunoco Race
Fuels, Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and DART Machinery. Promotional
Partners include AMB i.t., RACEceiver, Zippo Lighters and F.X. Caprara Car Companies
and the contingency sponsors are Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, MSD
Ignitions and Wrisco Industries.