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Two For Two As The “Jet” Buzzes Ohsweken In Southern Ontario Sprint Action

The green flag dropped at Ohsweken Speedway Friday night as the 2007 season
swung into action. The Southern Ontario Sprints were the headlining
attraction as the “Joyceville Jet” Rick Wilson found his way into victory
lane. Rob Pietz turned in his best performance ever at Ohsweken in a sprint
car as he run down the high flying Wilson in the closing laps to the cheers
of the huge crowd but could not quite complete a pass on the high flying
veteran.
In a post race interview Wilson stated “I got hung up behind a couple of
lapped cars and lost a lot of ground. I didn’t have enough gear in the car
to run the bottom of the track but the car was good on the top. Rob must
have been going good to get beside me but I could have pushed a bit harder
if I had to. It has been a while since we have won here at Ohsweken and that
feels pretty good. I race at a lot of different track but this one is the
smoothest that I race on anywhere” concluded Wilson.
For the second week in a row, pole sitter Craig Downie grabbed an early lead
at the drop of the green from the 24 car starting field and set the early
pace. Warren Mahoney, Kevin Job, Bob Crawford and Kyle Patrick lined up to
chase the leader through the early stages of the twenty lap event.
The first of four cautions waved on lap two as Keith Dempster lost the
handle on the 5 at the exit of turn two. As the field took the green flag to
restart the event the second caution flew as Glenn Styres in the Ohsweken
Speedway team car to Dempster looped in the same spot in turn two.
When the green flag reappeared, Downie continued to set the pace as Job,
Mahoney, Patrick and Wilson gave chase. The five ran this way until the
third caution of the event appeared as Joel Lehman came to a stop in turn
two.
Downie once again set the pace as the green reappeared on the speedway.
Patrick and Wilson quickly moved around Job to claim second and third with
Patrick overhauling Downie at the completion of lap seven. Wilson slipped by
Downie on lap eight and Patrick continued to lead until entering the first
turn on lap nine. The right front wheel left the 33k machine as Patrick was
able to maintain control and limp to a stop in the exit road in turn two.
With Wilson now the leader, the green flagged wave one last time. Job and
Crawford moved around Downie on lap eleven as Pietz entered the top five. On
lap fourteen, Pietz gained second spot and set sights on the leader Wilson.
Downie began to show signs of mechanical problems as Dempster was closing in
on the top five. Pietz was able to pull along side Wilson during the final
laps but the determined Wilson held on to capture his second win of the
season. Following Pietz were Job, Crawford, and Dempster completing the top
five. Warren Mahoney finished sixth with Downie hanging on for seventh.
Styres, Fred Cade, and Adam West rounded out the top ten.

Heat races were won by Warren Mahoney, Kyle Patrick, Rick Wilson, and Bob
Crawford. Jamie Collard captured the “B” Main.

Next up on June 8th the series will return to Ohsweken Speedway Friday night
before moving back to Brighton Speedway the following night, June 9th.

Be sure to come out to a speedway near you as the series continues on it’s
2007 tour and for all of the latest news and information on the Southern
Ontario Sprints be sure to log on to the official website at HYPERLINK
"http://www.southernontariosprints.com" www.southernontariosprints.com .


Results: 32 cars in Pit


Heat #1

1/ 25 – Warren MAHONEY (Lefroy, ON) 2/ 0 – Glenn STYRES
(Ohsweken, ON)
3/ 21x – Kevin JOB (Campbellville, ON) 4/ 27H – Tom HUPPUNEN
(Fenwick, ON)
5/ 21j – John BURBRIDGE (Simcoe, ON) 6/ 37F – Jamie COLLARD
(Princeton, ON)
7/ 83 – James WHITTAKER (Lynden, ON) *R* 8/ 22 – Jim PORTER
(Grand Island, NY)

Heat #2

1/ 33k – Kyle PATRICK (Tilbury, ON) 2/ 30 – Adam WEST
(Ridgetown, ON)
3/ 94 – Stan ZANCHIN (Fort Erie, ON) 4/ 26 – John WATSON
(St. Thomas, ON)
5/ 4Z – Joel LEHMAN ( Elora, ON) 6/ 15 – Mike FERRELL (London,
ON) *R*
7/ 5M – Brad MALLOY (Niagara Falls, ON) 8/ 15aw – April WILSON
(Joyceville, ON)*R*


Heat #3

1/ 42W – Rick WILSON (Joyceville, ON) 2/ 71 – Craig DOWNIE
(Burlington, ON)
3/ 11m – Joe MIDDLEMISS (Chippawa, ON) 4/ 05 – Mark SWAIN
(Port Perry, ON)
5/ 71Jr - Jason PIETZ (Gasline, ON) 6/ 29 – Daryl TURFORD
(Mitchell, ON)
7/ 79 – Dick MAHONEY (Newmarket, ON) 8/ 69 – Garry EVANS
(London, ON)

Heat #4

1/ 10 – Bob CRAWFORD (Sutton, ON) 2/ 5 – Keith DEMPSTER (Alton,
ON)
3/ 69P – Rob PIETZ (Gasline, ON) 4/ 12c – Fred CADE (Niagara
Falls, ON)
5/ 9JR – Tim ZACH (Dain City, ON) 6/ 10m – Rob MIDDLEMISS
(Niagara Falls, ON)
7/ 81 – Derek JONATHON (Lockport, NY) 8/ 14 – Bill BALDWIN
(Courtice, ON)

“A” MAIN

1/ 42W – Rick WILSON (11) 2/ 69P – Rob PIETZ (12)
3/ 21X – Kevin JOB (7) 4/ 10 – Bob CRAWFORD (5)
5/ 5 – Keith DEMPSTER (6) 6/ 25 – Warren MAHONEY (2)
7/ 71 – Craig DOWNIE (1) 8/ 0 – Glenn STYRES (9)
9/ 12c – Fred CADE (16) 10/ 30 – Adam WEST (10)
11/ 37F – Jamie COLLARD (21) 12/ 21J – John BURBRIDGE (17)

13/ 9JR – Tim ZACH (20) 14/ 94 – Stan ZANCHIN (3)
15/ 11m – Joe MIDDLEMISS (4) 16/ 05 – Mark SWAIN (15)
17/ 83 – James WHITTAKER (24) 18/ 15 – Mike FERRELL ( 22)
19/ 10m – Rob MIDDLEMISS (23) 20/ 4Z – Joel LEHMAN (18)
21/ 26 – John WATSON (14) 22/ 33K – Kyle PATRICK (8)
23/ 71Jr – Jason PIETZ (19) 24/ 27H – Tom HUPPUNEN (13)


KENETIC Photos Hard Charger after May 18th:

1
Jamie COLLARD
20

2
Rick WILSON
19

3
Rob MIDDLEMISS
11

4
Mike FERRELL
11

5
Rob PIETZ
10

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