June 30th, 2009
Justin Coulter (5c) and Brian Speelman (22s) battle door-to-door in turn one during a Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modified heat race. They will be shooting for the $1,000 winner's purse in Saturday's UMP Modified Summer Sizzler. (James MacDonald Apex One Photo)
The Fourth of July promises to provide plenty of fireworks as the Outhouse Image & Design UMP Modified Summer Sizzler will heat up the summer night this Saturday at South Buxton Raceway.
South Buxton’s Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats UMP Modified class will be trying to prevent Tilbury’s Tim Richardson from completing a Sizzler sweep on their own track.
Richardson, a three-time points champion at South Buxton who now races predominately in the United States, won the first leg of the home-and-home Summer Sizzler at Ohsweken on June 19.
Rain fizzled the Sizzler the following night at South Buxton, forcing the schedule change to this Saturday.
As a result of the change, the UMP Modified Can-Am Clash originally slated for this Saturday has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.
American drivers are still welcome to come up to South Buxton for the Summer Sizzler, which pays $1,000 to win and is a guaranteed purse for a 24-car field.
Richardson pocketed a $1,000 with his Ohsweken victory and will be the driver to beat on Saturday at South Buxton.
There is also a $500 bonus for the driver with the best overall finish at Ohsweken and South Buxton.
The two tracks held a similar bonus for the ASCS Sprints On Dirt earlier this month when the series visited Ohsweken and South Buxton on back-to-back nights. The $500 wound up being split by South Buxton winner Dustin Daggett of Grand Ledge, Mich., and Ryan Grubaugh, of St. Johns, Mich.
Richardson, who is eighth in the Modified standings at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, credited his experience racing at various tracks in the States for his win at Ohsweken.
“This is a good track for my style of racing. The shape is similar to the tracks I run in Ohio, so I have an advantage,” he said after the win.
For most of the South Buxton regulars, it was their first time racing at Ohsweken.
The father-son combination of Curtis and Justin Coulter of Leamington will have good shots at collecting the bonus cash with good finishes on Saturday. Justin finished second and Curtis third at Ohsweken.
Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. and Merlin’s Brad McLeod, who have combined to win 23 championship titles in their careers at South Buxton, finished fourth and fifth at Ohsweken and expect to be in contention for the win and bonus money.
Chris Van De Wiele will also be a favourite to win on Saturday, as the Rutherford driver has won three of the five feature races in the Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds. However, after his seventh-place finish at Ohsweken, he would need a lot of cars ahead of him to break in order to be in the running for the bonus cash.
The Summer Sizzler at Ohsweken drew only 12 cars - 11 Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats cars and Richardson - but the field is expected to be bigger on Saturday as other South Buxton regulars will be running.
The forecast of rain for the original Summer Sizzler weekend proved to be a deterrent to several American drivers, who didn’t want to take a chance of coming to Canada for a possible double postponement.
As it turned out, Ohsweken was dry on Friday while catfish were swimming in the pit laneway at South Buxton after the pond behind turn one overflowed from the heavy overnight rainstorms.
There have been inquiries from several American drivers this week, interested in coming to South Buxton for Saturday’s Summer Sizzler.
There will also be regular racing in the Ultimate Sandblasting & Coatings UMP Late Models, Sun Parlour Trailers Sport Stocks and the Four Seasons Driver Education Comp 4s.
The UMP Late Models will be competing in the second Summer Sizzler between the two tracks - Friday, July 31 at Ohsweken and Saturday, August 1 at South Buxton.
The Late Models will be racing for a $2,000 first-place prize each night and a $500 bonus for the best overall two-night finish.
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