Clements Celebrates Return to Racing With Feature Win on Opening Night
Steve Clements wins first feature at South Buxton Raceway - Submitted Photo
Steve Clements celebrated his return to racing by leading all 20 laps to win the Windride Transportation Sport Stocks feature. Clements, who raced on a part-time basis in the late 1990s and hadn’t been behind the wheel of a race car since 2001, took the lead at the drop of the green from his inside pole starting position and never trailed.
“I’m still waiting for someone to pinch me,” Clements said after not only his first feature win but his first career checkered flag of any race.
Defending series points champion Eren Vanderiviere moved into second with five laps to go but could not mount a serious challenge to Clements.
“I knew he was coming,” Clements said of Vanderiviere. “I could tell he was gaining on me and it may have even got in my head a little bit because I almost slowed down. Hopefully next time I won’t make that mistake.”
While the Winner’s Circle was a new experience for the driver, the car has a winning pedigree as Clements’ older brother Louis Clements drove the same car to the 2008 and 2009 season points and championship race victories.
“Louis told me this was a good car. I made some mistakes in the heat races, he gave me some pointers and I tried to correct them when I went out in the feature,” he said of his brother’s help.
Chatham’s Jason Fox finished third with Kingsville’s Rob Young fourth and Toronto’s Brian Simard fifth. Chatham’s Tyler Lozon and Young won the heats while Vanderiviere took the crack-the-whip race.
The other three feature races were all resumptions of rivalries from the 2011 season.
Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. took the lead from Leamington’s Joel Dick with six laps to go to win the Schinkel’s Gourmet Meats UMP Modified feature. Dale Jr. won the season points title and six feature races but finished second to Dick in the season championship race. Dick, who finished second in points, won five features.
Merlin’s Joe Brosseau was third, followed by Chatham’s Jeff Daniels and Thamesville’s Jim Fletcher.
Dick and Bourassa won the heats and Fletcher the dash.
Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford won the Glencoe Auto Wreckers UMP Late Model feature with Chatham’s Brad Authier finishing second – a reversal of last year’s season championship race finish. Glassford won five features in 2011 en route to a second-place finish in the points standings. Goderich’s Mark Glassford – the winner’s brother – finished third while Chatham drivers Gregg Haskell and Jim Jones rounded out the top five. Mark Glassford won the heat and Jones the dash.
And the dominant drivers in the Tirecraft Comp 4 class picked up where they left off at the end of 2011 by finishing one-two in Saturday’s feature.
Blenheim’s Shawn Jones, the two-time defending points champion, took the lead from Cottam’s Denis DeSerrano with four laps to go and went on to win the opening-night feature. The two drivers combined to win all 15 features in 2011 – Jones winning 10 and DeSerrano five including the season championship race. They also won their heat races on Saturday.
Tilbury’s James Beaulieu finished third followed by Blenheim’s Brett Hope and Chatham’s Jamie St. Pierre.
Hope won the crack-the-whip.
Racing continues this coming Saturday, May 12 with the winners of the fan-voted Best Appearing Cars awards to be announced prior to the program. The grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.