OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY – June 24th, 2005
by Dean Reynolds
In what will go down as one of the most exciting finishes in Empire Super Sprints (ESS) history came Friday night at the Ohsweken Speedway during the Spectro Oils Canadian Invasion event. Coming from his 21st place starting position, Dan Kaszubinski took full advantage of a lap 23 restart to swing by race long leaderAlain Bergeron on the final lap to pick up his second A-Main triumph of 2005 in thrilling fashion.
For both drivers, it was a bit of good luck as Kaszubinski and Bergeron were running back-up sprinters after destroying their main mounts last week. For the Syracuse, N.Y. star it was a continuation of a tale that has you scratching your head. His winning mount? Yes, the 1987 Bobby Allen chassis is back and it’s back in victory lane.
I guess I should have run this car at the beginning of the season! Kaszubinski screamed in victory lane. “The Maxim has been good to me, it was a good car. But, there is just something about this old thing. After last week I told everyone the junk will be back, I even have it painted on the car!”
An oil pressure gauge failure forced Kaszubinski to miss his heat so he had to make it into the feature event through the B-Main thus spotting the field some 20 spots. While Kaszubinski’s charge to the front is the key part of this night. Bergeron also had his hands full with two other competitors during the 25 lap finale as well.
First was the charge from ageless veteran Mike VanDusen who came from his eighth starting spot to second on lap seven. The #58 sprinter was ready to make his move on Bergeron when all of a sudden his mount lost power on lap 10 bringing out the yellow. The culprit was that the car wouldn’t stay in gear.
If I was running eighth or something I wouldn’t feel so bad, but we had a great car. I think this was our race. noted VanDusen.
The second challenge for the likeable driver from Quebec came from New Hampshire’s Luke Eriksen who is looking for his first ever ESS A-Main victory. Eriksen started in second, fell to third with the VanDusen pass but was back up to challenge Bergeron when VanDusen fell by the wayside. As laps clicked on, Eriksen found his groove and was ready to make a challenge of his own. But, just like VanDusen, Eriksen fell to fate that ended his bid. The right rear tire blew out forcing him into the outside turn two wall causing the lap 23 caution that set up Kaszubinski’s bid.
I was coming, I didn’t know if I was going to get Alain but I was coming. said the driver of the Autotech of Syracuse #20. “But, when the yellow came out I just tried to get a good restart and I knew I was going to the top, hit the cushion and go balls to the wall!”
The plan worked to perfection, on the final lap Kaszubinski drove into turn one not lifting and swept by the Bergeron mount into the lead and on to victory. For the second place finisher, who nursed his car minus a front wing for the final laps, it was a bittersweet second place.
It’s better than last week but I really wanted to win. simply said by Bergeron. “The car was really tough to steer when the front wing went. I was driving the best I could do but Dan beat me, he did a great job.”
Just a little side note, the gauge that Kaszubinski borrowed came from Bergeron.
At the finish it was Kaszubinski taking the checkers in front of a cheering crowd with Bergeron close for second. John Karklin Jr. kept his hot streak going with his third top five in a row taking third ahead of Lance Yonge and Southern Ontario Sprint (SOS) regular Jim Porter.
Unfortunately for Porter, he didn’t go directly to the weigh in scales and he will be scored in last place under ESS rules.
This moved Nick Fratto in to fifth. Making up the next five was another SOS runner Jamie Collard, Don Sharp Jr., Doug Emery and Ray Preston with the Shuttleworth Asphalt Sealing 22.
Five cautions and one red flag did slow the quick pace on the tacky Ohsweken oval. Doug Norrie spun on lap five; Randy Years did the same one tour later while running in fourth.
Track owner/promoter Glenn Styres got up into the turn four wall and did a wild series of flips. His car was heavily damaged but he walked out and waved to his hometown crowd.
Even though Styres had to tend to a bent race car afterwards, he did have smiles with his biggest crowd of this season, it was SRO at Ohsweken. He rewarded all sprint teams with a roast beef buffet after the races.
VanDusen stopped on lap 12 with Bubby Kerrick and Jeff VanDusen making contact on lap 17 ending VanDusen’s night. The final caution came on lap 23 for Eriksen’s bad luck.
A total of 26 sprints in the pits with a welcome support from the SOS group. Along with Porter and Collard, making first ESS starts for 2005 were Mark Schulz, Craig Downie and James Whittaker That brings the total to 62 different drivers in ESS competition so far this year.
Many ESS stars and cars will make their return to Ohsweken for the Canadian Nationals weekend on September 16-17. Kaszubinski, Bergeron and Karklin will represent ESS in the Shootout in Friday night. On Saturday it’s the first ever Canadian Sprint Nationals that will pay $5000 to win in American Funds.
Car Mate Trailer Heat 1) Randy Years, Luke Eriksen, Doug Emery, Jeff VanDusen, Lance Yonge, Bubby Kerrick
Car Mate Trailer Heat 2) Alain Bergeron, Jeff Cook, Jamie Collard, Nick Fratto, George Ely, Ray Preston
Car Mate Trailer Heat 3) R.C Faigle, Mike VanDusen, Donnie Sharp, John Karklin, Doug Norrie, Jim Porter
Ohsweken Speedway/Walt’s Hobby dash) Faigle
KSE Racing Products B-main) 1 Glenn Styres, 2 Dave Schulz, 3 Dan Kaszubinski, 4 Mark Schulz. DNQ Matt Norrie 14m (provisional), Kyle Moffit 77 (provisional), Craig Downie 71, James Whittaker 83w.
A-main) 1 DAN KASZUBINSKI 20, 2 Alain Bergeron 8b, 3 John Karklin (Goff 69k), 4 Lance Yonge 17J, 5 Nick Fratto F1, 6 Jamie Collard 33m, 7 Donnie Sharp 28nh, 8 Doug Emery 33, 9 Ray Preston 22, 10 Dave Schulz 6s, 11 Kyle Moffit 77, 12 Jeff Cook 10c, 13 Doug Norrie 92m, 14 R.C Faigle 21a, 15 Bubby Kerrick 61, 16 Mark Schulz 32m, 17 Randy Years 2, 18 Luke Eriksen 22, 19 Matt Norrie 14m, 20 Jeff VanDusen 56d, 21 Mike VanDusen 58, 22 Glenn Styres 0, 23 George Ely 90. DQ Jim Porter 22 (finished fifth but did not report to scales) ESS 360w
Gater News Lap Leaders) Bergeron 1-24, Kaszubinski 25
Lane’s Yamaha Hard Charger – Kaszubinski (20 spots) $50
Brodix Cylinder Heads Halfway – Bergeron $50
Winner’s Bonuses
Geneva Curbing $50, ATL Fuel Cells $100, Pro Shocks $100, Butler Built Seats $100, Penske Shocks $100, Hank’s Performance Products $50, Total Seal $50, Racing Optics $30, Rod End Supply $30, Race Depot $25, The Brake Man $25, Kreitz Oval Track Products $25, Red’s Speed Shop $25, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Bect Chemicals $20, Ultra-Shield $10, MRE Productions $10
Other Bonuses
Weld Racing Hard Luck – Styres $100
Design 500 – Faigle $100, Fratto $50
M&W Aluminum Products – Don Sharp Jr. $75
Leaf Racewear – Karklin Jr. $75
KSE Racing Products – Styres $50
B&B Oval Track Products – Bergeron $50
Saldana Racing Products – Karklin Jr. $50
Zemco Headers – Fratto $50
Joe Hunt Magnetos – Styres $50
Rod End Supply – Bergeron $30
Fourwide Motorsports – Yonge $25
DMI – M. VanDusen $25
HRP – D. Norrie $25
LA Sharp Services – Faigle $25
pos car # SPORTSMAN FEATURE
1st #56 Dereck Lemyre
2nd #01 Mike Kruchka
3rd 99c Nick Copolo
4th 11m Mark Dixon
5th #44 Lee Mallory
6th 88b Doug Spiece
7th #77 Bill Willard
8th #6 Matt Williamson
9th #21 John Burbridge
10th #28 Jay Bain
11th #7 Steve Ruddy
12th #20 Jay Mallory
13th 20j Tony Cowel
14TH #37 Francisco Pereira
15TH 7A Allan Blanchard
pos car # STREET STOCK FEATURE
1st #98 Brad Bacher
2nd #11 Michelle Parr
3rd 24A A.J.Lewis
4th #50 Jeff Burke
5th #29 Rob Murray
6th #1J Jason Fontaine
7th #2 Daryl Randall
8th #18 Amanda Stoner 100% DQ
pos Car # MINI STOCK FEATURE
1st #64 DOUG ERSKINE
2nd #111 ROBBIE ROUNCE
3rd #9 Glen Lienen
4th #2 LEE WINGER
5th #14 HALLETT/ Gowan
6th #28 Abel Castelein
7th #222 DAVE MAGRIN
8th 69e Dan Erskine
9th #79 The Miller’s
10th #265 MIKE EVERS
11th #10 Kevin Magrin
12th #89 sam Miller
13th #31 Greg Wilson
14th #5 Mike Robinson
15th #39 JIM COCHRANE
16th #86 RICK EMBERSON
17th #81 Ryan Dinning
18th #148 MT.PLEASANT/ Porter
19th #67 Larry Erskine
20th #00 Jeff Leegstra
21st #27 Dan stewart
22nd #25 ROY RINNE
23rd #18 Team #18
24th #11 MIKE GIBERSON
MINI STOCK B-MAIN NON-QUALIFIERS
7TH #05 DAVID GOODACRE
8TH #1 Chris Rhynold
9TH #55 Rob Slater
10TH #191 Gord Bates ns
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