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Danny O’Brien and Pete Stefanski are the winners of the Mr.DIRTcar races at Edelweiss Speedway
By Martin Bélanger
Cantley, PQ – Friday, September 7, 2007 – It was the biggest night of the year at Edelweiss Speedway with the presentation of the Mr.DIRTcar series race for the 358 modifieds and the pro-stock category. More than $25,000 in money was to be giving to the excellent field of drivers present on this hot and humid Friday night.
Roy Tarbell and Dave Heaslip were on the top row for the 100-lap Mr.DIRTcar feature race has Tarbell took the early lead with Pat O’Brien getting the second spot quickly after starting fourth and he took the lead on the second lap over Tarbell with Mike Adderley in third spot. O’Brien got into traffic after 7 laps down when Clement Therrien lost control of his car in the front stretch on lap 13. When the race resumed, O’Brien kept the lead with Danny O’Brien and Pierre Dagenais having great start as they are now second and third when Roy Tarbell and Brian Mcdonald got together in turn 1 and the yellow was out. Pat O’Brien stayed in front but his brother was right there and he used the outside lane to take the lead over Pat and Dagenais was still in third when Clement Therrien stopped in turn 4 of lap 17. On the restart, the O’Brien brothers went into a great battle for many laps, as Danny stayed first with Mario Clair now third spot. The leaders got into traffic and Danny O’Brien manages to stay in front of Pat with 30 laps in the books. Carey Terrance used these conditions to grab the third spot from Clair on the same lap. Danny O’Brien started to build himself a comfortable lead as the laps went down as he had a half-track lead over the fifth spot of Pierre Dagenais on lap 45. Dagenais had a right rear flat on the same lap and this brought the caution out. Danny O’Brien was still the lead when the green came back out with Terrance using a lap car to pass Pat O’Brien and Mario Clair did the same thing and Pat was now fourth when Robbie Grant stopped on lap 47. O’Brien was still first when the green came back with Mario Clair moving up to third and on at the halfway point, it was Danny O’Brien, Carey Terrance, Mario Clair, Brian McDonald and Pat O’Brien completed the top 5 when Denis Larocque stopped in front of the grandstand on lap 51. On the ensuing green, O’Brien was first with Clair passing Terrance because he got too high but the yellow was back out. O’Brien got a good start over Clair when Eric Gauvreau slowed on lap 68 and the caution slowed the field down. O’Brien was still on top when the green flew back. When the leaders got into traffic Clair tried to catch O’Brien but no luck for him has O’Brien was very strong and with 15 laps to go, he had a complete stretch lead over Clair. The last 29 laps when on green conditions as Danny O’Brien won the feature race Mario Clair finishing second, Carey Terrance third, Mike Adderley fourth and Clement Therrien rounded out the top 5. O’Brien said: ‘I am very happy to win a series race at Edelweiss and I will pick and choose some other series races’. Pat O’Brien, Pierre Dagenais and Brian McDonald were the winners in the qualifying race while Pat O’Brien had set fast time with trip of 13.850 seconds around the track.
It is a total of 17 semi-pros that took the initial green in the 20-lap feature race when Bruno Richard took the lead over the field with Brian Rochon following him when Richard had problems with his car on lap 4 and this brought the first yellow of the feature. Brian Rochon was the new leader with Bruno Boivin following him when the caution was back on lap 6 for John Benard. Rochon took a good lead on the restart with a good battle going on for second spot with Greg Ogilvie getting it but he lost his spot over Dominic Gauvreau on lap 12. With 5 to go Rochon was still first but Gauvreau was gaining ground and the two of them got together and this ended the night of Rochon. Gauvreau was sent to the back. Greg Ogilvie was the new leader with two laps to go and he got too high in the last corner and Bruno Boivin won the feature race with Ogilvie finishing in second and Sébastien Bigras completed the podium but was disqualified during inspection. Bruno Richard and Brian Rochon had won the qualifying heats.
In the Mr.DIRTcar Pro-Stock 50-lap feature race, Stéphane Lebrun took the lead with Stefanski on his back bumper and he used the inside lane to pass Lebrun and was the new leader when Allan Peters spun out in turn 4 on lap 2. Stefanski had a good start on the following green with Dave Bissonnette using the outside lane to grab the the third spot with Steve Johnston stopping in turn 2 and this brought the second yellow. Stefanski was still in front with Joey Ladouceur now in third and a few cars got together in turn 4 on lap 8. Stefanski had some company on the restart with Ladouceur but manage to keep his spot and PJ Peters in third when Roger Levesque stopped with 10 laps down. Stefanski resisted to Ladouceur on the green flag when three laps later two cars came together in turn 4. Stefanski stayed first with Louie Jackson cracking the top 5 with 15 laps done. On lap 18, Dale Seymour brought the yellow out. Stefanski led the field on the green but Gilles Godard slowed down the field on lap 21. Both Stefanski and Ladouceur had some good start with Jackson now in third but Lebrun was still with him when Levesque brings his second caution of the night at the halfway point. Stefanski had a good start on the field with Lebrun charging for second on Ladouceur. The leaders are now in the lap cars with 15 to go with Ladouceur and Jackson getting closer to Stefanski when Roch Aubin and Gilles Godard tangled in the backstretch on lap 39. Stefanski led the following 4 laps when Jackson pushed Ladouceur and he was sent to the back for rough riding. When the green was back on the field, Stefanski led the last 7 laps to win his second series race in a row, Edelweiss regular Stéphane Lebrun finished second, Nicolas Vaillant was third, PJ Peters fourth and Dion Oakes completed the top 5. ‘It is really pleasant to get a win here after winning in Cornwall’ Stefanski said in the post race interview. Lebrun, Oakes and Stefanski we’re the heat winners
A decent field of cars showed for tonight’s program at Edelweiss. Heavy wind throughout the evening gave some dry, slick and dusty conditions to the drivers. The modifieds feature ran smoothly with O’Brien giving a clinic in the traffic. With his second place, Mario Clair is the new leader in the Mr.DIRTcar Series point’s race. With his win, Stefanski his still the leader of the Mr.DIRTcar pro-stock series trail. Next week at Edelweiss, it will be the annual Enduro race with racing on Saturday, September 15 with racing starting at 2pm with a 100 for 6 & 8 cylinders cars plus a 50 laps for 4 cylinders cars and a women’s race.
Full Results:
Modified Feature (100 laps):
Danny O’Brien, Mario Clair, Carey Terrance, Mike Adderly, Clement Therrien, Pat O’Brien, Pierre Dagenais, Brian McDonald, Roy Tarbell, Lance Willix, Dave Heaslip, Fransisco Pereira, Delbert Legrow, Ryan Foley, Robbie Grant, Philippe Landry, Mark Smoke, Eric Gauvreau, Billy Cook, Denis Larocque, Ron Valade, Laurent Ladouceur (DNS), Ryan Poole (DNS)
Pro Stock Feature (50 laps):
Pete Stefanski, Stéphane Lebrun, Nicolas Vaillant, PJ Peters, Dion Oakes, Allen Peters, Joey Ladouceur, Denis Gauvreau, Louie Jackson, Jocelyn Roy, Dale Seymour, Dave Bissonnette, Don Barnes, Jack Terrell, Roger Levesque, Ghyslain Valade, Gordon Lafflin, Ricky Thompson, Roch Aubin, Gilles Godard, Steve Johnston, Mike Martin
Semi-Pro Feature (20 laps):
Bruno Boivin, Greg Ogilvie, Guy Regimbald, Stéphane Carrière, Richard Brady, Dominic Gauvreau, Bruno Richard, Gilbert Mongeon, Brian Rochon, John Bénard, Michel Vincent, Andre Huot, Benoit Dubois, Alexandre Gagnon, Marcel Baron, Marc-André Duchesne, Sébastien Bigras (DQ), Marc Lalonde (DNS)
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