Rick Wilson aided by ‘Flower Power’ in Ohsweken victory As
Southern Ontario Sprints Tour outpaces the weather man
Dave Cook, Media Officer
Ohsweken, Ontario: June 14. Flower Power was the thing to have in the
late 1960s but when Rick Wilson’s young daughter tied a bouquet of
daisies onto the front bar of his 360-sprint car Friday at Ohsweken
Speedway, there seemed to be no stopping the Joyceville Jet.
"My daughter April covered my car with them before the race. It was her
Father’s Day gift to me," said the Joyceville, Ontario driver. The bouquet
was fully intact following a grueling fast-paced 20 laps, which saw only
one caution.
Extremely poor weather, which dealt blows to promoters across the
northeast Friday, had one little pocket of sunshine that was directly over
Ohsweken Speedway. Southern Ontario Sprint (SOS) officials decided not
to tempt the weather man too much and postponed the Performance
Improvement Dash for Cash in an effort to get the show in early.
Wilson took command of the race at the green with Newmarket, Ontario’s
Dick Mahoney and visiting Empire Super Sprint driver Erin Crocker of
Wilbraham, Mass. And Keith Dempster of Alton, Ontario, following. The
only caution of the race came early as on lap five Windsor, Ontario ace
Dean St. Denis, who was about to be lapped, looped his mount in turn
four forcing the lead trio to scramble. Wilson got caught on the high side
while Mahoney took an inside line and grabbed a short-lived lead.
At the restart Wilson again picked up the lead and held it to the finish
with Mahoney and Crocker finishing second and third respectively and
Dempster fourth. However, a post race inspection revealed no visible
traces of Bazell, a fuel additive required by SOS rules, and therefore Erin
Crocker’s car was scored 20th.
A race-long battle was waged between defending SOS champion Warren
Mahoney of Lefroy, Ontario and Belmont, Ontario’s Les Macmillan.
Mahoney and MacMillan were scored fourth and fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were Billy Krull of Wheatfield, N.Y., John Riegling
of Chatham, Ontario, Tim Phillips of Grand Island, N.Y.,
Ohsweken Speedway owner Glenn Styers, and Bob Mesmer
Grand Island, N.Y.
During the post race interview in the winner’s circle Wilson praised the
track condition and complimented the track officials.
"The track was really excellent tonight it was very smooth and provided
great racing for the fans," he said, adding that his car was awesome as
well.
"We ran the Dash set up for the feature. When they scrapped the Dash
for Cash, we just left the set up alone and it turned out to be awesome,"
he said.
Completing the finish order in the 20-car feature was Adam West of
Ridgetown, Ontario, Charles McCann of London, Ontario, Mike Galajda of
Delaware, Ontario, Dave MacLeod of Tonawanda, N.Y., Jim
Porte of Grand Island, N.Y., Dean St. Denis of Windsor, Ontario, Joe
Arsenault of Burlington, Ontario and Erin Crocker of Wilbraham, Mass.
PROVISIONAL RESULTS-Subject to a scoring review.
Results: June 14, Ohsweken-Feature: 1. Rick Wilson, Joyceville, Ontario;
2. Dick Mahoney, Newmarket, Ontario; 3. Keith Dempster, Alton, Ontario;
4. Warren Mahoney, Lefroy, Ontario; 5. Les MacMillan, Belmont, Ontario;
6. Billy Krull, Wheatfield, N.Y.; 7. John Riegling, Chatham, Ontario; 8.
Tim Phillips, Grand Island, N.Y.; 9. Glenn Styers, Ohsweken,
Ontario; 10. Bob Mesmer, Grand Island, N.Y.; 11. Adam West,
Ridgetown, Ontario; 12. Charles McCann, London, Ontario; 13. Mike
Galajda, Delaware, Ontario; 14. Dave MacLeod, Kenmore, N.Y.; 15.
Jim Porter, Grand Island, N.Y.; 16. Dean St. Denis, Windsor,
Ontario; 17. Paul Ballantyne, Brantford, Ontario; 18. Curt Sherwood,
Sanborn, N.Y.; 19. Joe Arsenault, Burlington, Ontario; 20. Erin Crocker,
Wilbraham, Mass. Did not start; Vinnie Christiano Jr, Tonawanda, N.Y.,
Ryan Coniam, Burlington, Ontario.
Signet Tools Heat One: Warren Mahoney, Wilson, Dick Mahoney, McCann,
Mesmer, Porter, Ballantyne.
Signet Tools Heat Two: Dempster, Phillips, Crocker, Krull, West, St.
Denis, Arsenault
Signet Tools Heat Three: Coniam, Galajda, Sherwood, MacMillan,
MacLeod, Riegling, Styers. DNS- Christiano Jr.
Performance Improvement Dash-postponed