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Racenight Recap for Friday August 22nd, 2019

Fans experienced another exciting night of racing at Laird International Raceway on the evening of Thursday Aug 22, our seventh and last regular race night of the season. There is only one remaining race weekend this season in mid September. There was fast action in four divisions with just a few caution flags flying.

Weather was a bit on the cool side as the evening progressed, which in turn forced some drivers to adjust their setups to compensate. In the absence of Spanky Robinson, announcers for the night were Greg Brazeau, and John Mignacca. The national anthems were sung by Annette Bouchard once again, with the Modified Drivers up on the track. After the anthems were sung, Greg did some driver introductions and short interviews and our race night got started with heat races.

NAPA Auto Parts Michigan Modifieds

In the Michigan Modified division there were 11 cars in the pits for the night, of which 9 qualified earlier in the evening. The fast qualifier was #27 Dustin Jackson with a time of 14.936 seconds
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Eleven cars came out on the track for opening ceremonies but #28K Dave Wagner exited the track before the green flag flew, possibly due to a hood that was not locked down properly. Jay Palumbo #90 and #79 Roddy Bolduc started the race up front. Bolduc took the lead at the start. A lap in and Jackson moved up to take second from Palumbo. Roddy led for two laps then Jackson took over the lead spot and opened a 10 car length gap on Roddy by the end of the 8 lap heat. Jackson took the win and Roddy pulled up second. As the race progressed Palumbo got passed by #7 Josh Ware who finished 3rd, and #84 Mark Laakso who finished 4th. Palumbo finished 5th, #20 Mike Hearty 6th, #21 Glen Irwin 7th, #71 Jay McCoy 8th, #67 Jarritt Varcoe 9th. The #4 of Michael Carbone ended a lap early and received 10th. Carbone wasn’t seen in the following races for the night.

In heat 2, Jarritt Varcoe was missing, as well as Carbone, but Wagner was back out. Palumbo and Bolduc started up front once again, but this time at the green Palumbo moved to the lead. The 8 lap heat ran caution free and Palumbo held off the rest of the cars and took the win. Jackson took second spot from Bolduc on the first lap of the race and finished in that position. Bolduc took 3rd, Ware 4th, Laakso 5th, Hearty 6th, Irwin 7th, McCoy 8th, and Wagner 9th.

In the Modified Feature, Wagner and Varcoe were absent bringing the car count to 8 for the 25 lap race. Right at the green flag, Glen Irwin and Jay McCoy running at the back got together out of corner 4, and forced a caution and a complete restart. Roddy Bolduc started the race at the pole with Mark Laakso outside. Bolduc snagged the early lead and right behind was Jackson, with Laakso beside for a couple laps. Laakso fell back a bit, Jackson took advantage and switched up to the top lane and Josh Ware moved up behind Bolduc. Jackson worked to get beside Bolduc for a couple laps, then on lap 7, Bolduc was a bit high coming out of corner 2 and found he had Ware making a pass below, and Jackson attempting to make a pass high. Ware’s front left wheel was on the white line during the pass, but he didn’t go below it. Bolduc and Ware might also have touched as they entered the backstretch, with Bolduc sliding a bit but keeping control. Ware took over the lead, with Bolduc and Jackson racing side by side behind. Ware opened his lead as laps continued. At the half way point, Bolduc pulled ahead of Jackson. Ware began to lap cars at the rear of the field on lap 18, while further back Jackson slipped up and slowed on corner 2 allowing Palumbo to move into third. With lap traffic to pass, and laps winding down, Jackson could not recover his position, Palumbo couldn’t catch up to Bolduc, and Ware was way up front. Ware took the checkered flag about a quarter lap ahead of Bolduc . Palumbo grabbed 3rd, Jackson 4th, Laakso 5th right behind Jackson, Hearty 6th a bit further back, Irwin 7th a lap down, and McCoy 8th with a DNF after leaving the track on lap 20.

Bolduc’s finished all the nights races ahead of current points leader Mark Laakso, bringing Bolduc within 12 points of the leader. Both drivers will likely bring their “A” game to the track during the last race of the season in mid September.

Northern Fencing Super Late Models

In the Super Late Model division seven cars were out for qualifying with fast qualifier being #21 Jake Irwin with a time of 14.404 seconds. Included in the qualifying run was #29 John Carter running an A Class Factory Stock, which was too fast to include with the Laird Factory Stocks . “A” cars such as Carters were to be put into a new Laird Sportsman’s class, but enough driver interest wasn’t generated earlier in the season to start the class. Maybe next season?

Carter’s qualifying time was about 1 second beyond the times for the rest of the field, so during heat 1, Carter was given a half lap lead over the rest of the field at the green, to help to equalize the field. Behind Carter, starting at the front row of the pack was #100 Ron Raynor on the inside, and #21k Kevin Errington outside. On the second lap of the 8 lap heat, Raynor went into corner 3 a bit hot, and slid into a spin, taking Errington with him. The race was restarted with Raynor at the back, Errington now inside front, and #61 Dustin Jackson outside. On lap 5, caution was out again, this time with Raynor spinning by himself in corner 1. The race restarted, Jackson took the lead, and eventually took the checkers. Errington finished 2nd, #90 Jay Palumbo 3rd, Carter 4th, #50 Rob Hiiemaa 5th, Irwin 6th, and Raynor 7th.
In the Late Model heat 2, Carter was once again give a half lap lead at the start. The race ran caution free. Carter began to get passed by the other cars on lap 5, beginning with Errington. The race ran without much passing. Errington crossed the line 1st, Hiiemaa 2nd, Jackson 3rd, Palumbo 4th, Raynor 5th, Irwin 6th, and Carter 7th.

All seven were out later in the night for a 20 lap feature, with no cautions. Carter started this race at the back. Up front were Raynor inside, and Errington outside. Errington took the lead right from the start. Raynor held second for a lap, then began to drift back. Palumbo moved into second on lap 3, with Hiiemaa and Jackson lined up behind. Irwin left the race at the half way point. Carter got lapped on lap 14. On lap 17, Palumbo started to fade, then lost second spot to Hiiemaa, then got passed by Jackson. At that point though, Errington had a sizeable lead of about a dozen car lengths on Hiiemaa. The checkered flag flew with Errington snagging it for the second time in the evening. Hiiemaa crossed the line 2nd, Jackson 3rd, Palumbo 4th, Raynor 5th, Carter 6th, and Irwin 7th with a DNF. Irwin was unable to translate on his fast qualifying time posted for the night into a win.
At the end of the night Hiiemaa holds a 31 point lead over Jackson in the standings, not enough to automatically be declared division champion; Hiiemaa will still have to compete and gather a few points in the last race of the season for that championship.

Service Rental Factory Stocks

Buddy Palahnuk in car #26 posted fast time of 16.151 in qualifying for the Factory Stock division. Eight cars were seen on track during the night. Dave King showed up in a freshly built, sweet looking 50’s vintage Chevy that he recently completed.

The Factory Stocks only had one heat during the night, with eight cars starting. At the front were #52 Jon Diodati and #51 Jamie Fox. On the first lap of the race, #13 Dave King brought out the caution with a spin in corner 1. #21 Jacob Heimonen left the track during the caution with a problem. A full restart was made and continued with #67 Jarritt Varcoe taking up the lead.
Caution was out again on lap 5. This time is was for #51 Jamie Fox who got too close to the inside of corner 3, ran over some tires and rolled to a stop. Fox got under way again during the caution, and on the backstretch a tire popped out from under his car that had been dragged three quarters of the way around the track. During the same caution Dave King stopped on corner 1 with a problem. With a fluid spill, it took track crews a few minutes to clean things up then the race got underway again, without King. Varcoe maintained his lead, after the green and eventually took the checkered flag. #01 Jerry Ross came up 2nd, Diodati 3rd, Fox 4th, Palahnuk 5th, #64 Ed Lapish 6th. King was scored 7th and Heimonen 8th, both with DNF’s.

Eight cars started the 20 lap feature in the last race of the night. Diodati and Fox started up front, with Varcoe and Palahnuk in the second row. At the green, Diodati got a good start and took the lead, while Fox had drifted back in the pack within the first couple laps. Diodati held the lead, with Varcoe right behind for the first six laps. Palahnuk got past Varcoe, ran up outside Diodati and took the lead on lap 7. Palahnuk held the lead for 6 laps while Ross moved up and started to challenge for the lead. On lap 13 Palahnuk went high coming out of corner 2 and Ross took advantage with a pass on the inside going down the backstretch to take over the lead. On lap 15, caution flew with Varcoe suddenly slowing on corner 2 and rolling to a stop inside on the backstretch. Varcoe left the track. Through the race to this point Dave King, Ed Lapish, and Jacob Heimonen had all also left the race with problems, leaving 4 cars for the restart. Palahnuk starting outside of Ross had another change to get the lead but couldn’t make a go of it. The race ended with Ross winning his 6th feature of the season. Palahnuk took 2nd, Fox 3rd, and Diodati 4th. Varcoe, King, Lapish, and Heimonen took 5th through 8th respectively all with DNF’s. Speaking with Dave King at the end of the nights in the pits, he explained that he was having a transmission problem.

With those feature wins in 6 out of 7 races this season, Ross holds a 45 point lead over Jamie Fox so is now technically the champion in the division since in any given race night the maximum number of points a driver can gather are 43 (20 points in the feature, 10 points in each heat, and 3 for fast qualifier.) There is a 20 point spread between Fox and Diodati so watch for those two to do battle during the mid-September Invitational Weekend to capture second place in the season championship.

Atomic Blonde Factory Fours

Racing in the Factory Four division included six cars qualifying, plus Caleb Foster and first time driver Taylor Larrett in the #05. “Enduro” drivers, out for some fun and not officially scored included Randy Larrett in the 72, Ben Jones in the #16, and a couple other drivers that were unknown at the time of writing
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In a caution free heat 1, #88 Kayla Kurnell held the lead for the first three laps before being passed by #3 Brent Fewchuk. Kurnell was passed by #99 Rebecca Fewchuk a couple laps later, but regained second place a lap after that. Brent Fewchuk took the checkers, Kurnell 2nd, Rebecca 3rd, #12 Jason Kern 4th, #42 Jack Lannigan 5th, #95 Owen Brown 6th, and #05 Taylor Larrett 7th.

In heat 2, also caution free, Kurnell led the first two laps, then Lannigan took over for one, followed by Jason Kern leading all the following laps except the one that counts. Kern was passed by Brent Fewchuk on the inside, coming up the front stretch towards the checkers. Kern had to settle for 2nd. Rebecca Fewchuk pulled up 3rd, Lannigan 4th, Kurnell 5th, #17 Caleb Foster 6th, and Brown 7th.

In the 15 lap Factory Four Feature, Kurnell led the first lap, then on lap 2 she slid up corner 1 and tagged Rebecca Fewchuk, sending Fewchuk off the track at the top of corner 2. Kurnell was sent to the back, while Fewchuk restarted at the front. The race order didn’t change for the rest of the race. Rebecca took the win, with brother Brent pulling 2nd. Kern 3rd, Foster 4th, Kurnell 5th, Lannigan 6th, and Brown 7th.

In the Factory Four points battle, Kern maintains top spot with 181 points, with Kurnell behind by 17 points in second place. Kurnell will have to be tuned up and ready to race hard if she wants to capture the championship, and even then would need a “no show” or some bad luck to befall on Kern.

Pictures and full results for the racenight and the season are available on the Laird International Raceway website at www.lairdraceway.com

Other Fun

Intermission was entertaining with another school bus ride, more bicycle and backpack draws for the kids, and a 15 lap “lawnmower” race on the infield. During the evening we also had a Mini wedge demonstration, courtesy of 10 year old Xavier Carter, and 14 year old Shanna Harten.

The final event of the Laird season will be held on the weekend of Friday September 13 and Saturday the 14th, with a rain date of Sunday if needed. It will be the Annual Northern Stars Invitational Weekend and includes overnight camping, and special events including a demolition derby. Full details and schedule for the weekend will be posted within the next few days.

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