Reaume Wins Hendricks Memorial Race

Andrew Reaume is too young to remember when Don Hendricks was a dominant driver at South Buxton Raceway.

But even the Hall of Famer Hendricks would have tipped his hat to Reaume after his dramatic last lap pass for the win on Saturday night.

Reaume waited until the final turn on the last lap to get around Dale Glassford to win the annual Don Hendricks memorial race for the Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models.

“This means a lot, I know the stories my dad (Brett) tells, he was one of the greats” Reaume said of Hendricks, a three-time track champion who last raced in 1985 and died 10 years later at the age of 48.

Reaume won the 2007 and 2008 track championships and has raced primarily on the Ohio Late Model circuit the last five years.

When the 30-year-old Blenheim native returns to race at his home track, it is usually a checkered night.

Reaume has won his last four appearances at South Buxton in a Late Model – all in someone else’s car.

Saturday’s win was his second this year, both driving for Chatham’s Erick Walker.

He drove Kirk Hooker’s car to the 2012 Canadian Fall Shootout and last year’s inaugural Gord DeWael memorial.

“I like being a part of this history and having my name on their trophies,” he said of winning the Hendricks and DeWael memorials, as both drivers were among the track’s inaugural Hall of Fame class on May 10.

Glassford, who had won the previous two Hendricks memorials, took the lead from Chatham’s Jim Jones on the third lap and Reaume moved into second two laps later.

Reaume stalked Glassford for the next 15 laps, sticking the nose under the leader going into the corners, before finally making the pass on the high side coming to the checkered.

“I kept trying the bottom but he had really good traction coming off, I’d get beside him but he’d take off,” Reaume said of his pursuit of Glassford.

As they were coming out of turn four to take the white flag, Reaume moved to the top of the track but Glassford also went high to block.

“We got squeezed up and we made a little contact, but the next corner it worked out,” Reaume said.

“I rolled to the top and he gave me room that time, I found a cushion and I was able to it pull off,” he said of the winning pass.

Glassford admitted he knew he was in trouble on Reaume’s first attempt to pass on the high side.

“I did a little bit of a slide job and pushed him up but I think that threw off my momentum going in (turns) one and two,” said the Ridgetown native.

“When he was beside me on the back straightaway, that was the race.

“I knew if he could get the run on the outside going into the last corner, that was a little faster and I wouldn’t get the run I needed,” Glassford said.

While he was disappointed losing the race that close to the finish line, Glassford said he enjoyed the battle with Reaume.

“When you can run that close to someone and push it right to the edge knowing you’re not going to take each other out … that’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Three Chatham drivers – Jim Jones, Gregg Haskell and Brad Authier – rounded out the top five.

Leamington’s Justin Coulter also won as a feature as a substitute driver – but in his own car.

Coulter, running for points for Rodney’s Brad Simpson, won the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds feature.

He took the lead from Chatham’s Louis Clements on lap seven and led the rest of the way.

Leamington’s Joel Dick finished second in a reverse of last Saturday’s feature finish.

“I think it’s all starting position, when you can start close to the front, it makes things easier,” said Coulter, who started third row inside.

It was the same starting position a week earlier when it took Coulter 18 laps to get up to second but he had to time to run down the leader.

This time, it was Dick who ran out of time it took him 13 laps to get from his sixth row starting spot in 18-car field to into second, but he could not run down Coulter.

“It’s a lot easier being in front of him,” Coulter said of his Leamington counterpart.

Dick had won the previous two features and seven of the first eight going into Saturday.

Clements held on to fining third, with Chatham’s Eugene Hoekstra fourth and Belle River’s Mario Toniolo, who won the heat and dash preliminary races, finished fifth.

Merlin’s Steve Shaw led all 20 laps to win the Tirecraft Sport Stocks faeture, holding off Merlin’s Eren Vanderiviere for the final 13 circuits.

It was their third one-two finish of the season, with Shaw winning twice.

Shaw almost lost the lead on lap 6 when he shot up the track in turn four but was saved when a caution waved for a multi-car crash behind the leaders in turn 3.

“I got in the corner a little too deep, had to jack the brakes, Eren got into to me a little and it jerked the steering wheel out of my hand,” said Shaw, who thought he broke his thumb in the incident.

“I got a break when the caution came out.”

The race was slowed by three more cautions as Shaw was able to hold on for his third feature win of the year.

Kingsville’s Rob Young and the Lajeunesse brothers – Doris from Essex and Patrick from Harrow – rounded out the top five.

Chatham’s John Pinsonneault Jr. won his third Tirecraft Mini-Mods feature, withstanding a strong challenge from Blenheim’s Brett Hope, who now has two wins and two seconds over the last two weeks.

“The 49 was fast, I had to get the jumps on the restarts or he would have won this,” Pinsonneault said of the battle with Hope.

“I was roasting the tires on the bottom, I knew that was the fast way around and if he wanted to pass he was going to have to go around me,” Pinsonneault said.

Hope’s brother Kyle was third, with Dresden’s Matt Sorrell and Tilbury’s Gerry Rivait Jr. fourth and fifth.

Blenheim’s Jeff Schives won his fifth feature in the Autotech Bombers, with Ridgetown’s Nick Glassford second and Blenheim’s Austin Pickering third.

The Southern Ontario Sprints visit South Buxton this Saturday.