GILL INCHES CLOSER TO FOURTH STRAIGHT CROWN, TUCKER CLOSE TO CLINCHING

BROCKVILLE-Lefargeville, New York’s Lee Gill inched a little closer to his fourth consecutive Brockville Ontario Speedway Modified track title. Gill went into the night with just a 12 point edge in the 358 division but expanded that with his fourth feature win of 2003 at the fast clay oval on Friday night

Stephane LaFrance appeared headed to an easy win in the 30 lap Modified feature. LaFrance had a large lead until a 7 car pileup in turn 3 on the 19th lap put him out for the evening. The vetern driver had the car stopped in time to avoid a two car collision, however the rest of the field couldn’t see the incident in front of them and barrelled into the rear of the lead car. LaFrance was shaken up and taken to hospital as a precaution only. Jeff Sykes then inherited the lead and would hold it until a final caution flag flew with 2 laps to go. Gill took advantage of the opportunity and rocketed to the inside coming off turn 4 on the restart and then won the drag race to the checkered by .334 seconds over Sykes. Bill Gill was third followed by Mark Hitchcock and Doug Fuller. Hitchcock goes into the final week of points competition as the only driver with any real chance of dethroning the three time champ.

All Redwood, NY’s Ben Tucker has to do next week is basically wheel his number 2 out for the feature to clinch his 2nd Sportsman track crown in the last four years. Tucker romped to an impressive win in the 20 lap feature run Friday. John Mulder had his best performance of the season in coming home second in front of Kyle Dingwall, Randy Earl and Jason Riddell.

It was another one of those wild and wacky 15 lap Novice free for alls. When the dust cleared Brockville’s Peter Stapper claimed his third feature win and had gone from a distant third in the points to into a three way dogfight for the title. Contenders Sheldon Hoogwerf and Roger Bushey were both forced out early with mechanical woes opening the door for Stapper to have a chance next week. Barry Baker was second with Ryan Poole, Peter Raabe and Shane Ray rounding out the top 5 in a race with numerous accidents and caution flags.

Cornwall’s Kurtis McPhee has already clinched the Rookie class track crown. McPhee captured his 9th feature win of the year when leader Joe Banks slammed the front straightaway wall while leading with 2 laps to go. Stuart Mullin was second followed by Don Hall, Jesse Perrin and Dave Blue.

The Speedway returns to action on Friday Night, August 29th at 7:30 pm for a full program of Modifieds, Sportsman, Novice and Rookies along the Midstate Vintage Car Club. It will be the final points night in all four regular divisions.

Modifieds 30 laps: 1. Lee Gill 2. Jeff Sykes 3. Bill Gill 4. Mark Hitchcock 5. Doug Fuller 6. Jeff Marshall 7. Chris Herbison 8. Randy Gaudet 9. Billy Cook 10. Brian Rogers 11. Dan Foss 12. Adam Moore 13. Sam Vanderlinden 14. Tom Jock Jr. 15. Jamie Martin 16. Stephane LaFrance 17. Todd Stewart 18. Cole Dingwall 19. Steve Bilow

Sportsman 20 laps: 1. Ben Tucker 2. John Mulder 3. Kyle Dingwall 4. Randy Earl 5. Jason Riddell 6. Jason Potter 7. Lance Willix 8. Marcel Pecore 9. Kurtis Lee 10. Kees VanWinden

Novice 15 laps 1. Peter Stapper 2. Barry Baker 3. Ryan Poole 4. Peter Raabe 5. Shane Ray 6. Jack Code 7. Steve Billings 8. Wayne Holmes 9. Jason Hutchings 10. Art Brown

Rookie 10 laps 1. Kurtis McPhee 2. Stuart Mullin 3. Don Hall 4. Jesse Perrin 5. Dave Blue