Topless Sprints Make Their Way To Buxton

The Ontario Topless Sprints roll into South Buxton Raceway on Saturday for their first of two trips this season.

OTS president Ken Bayliss expects between 12 and 15 entries, including cars from the Michigan Traditional Sprints and the Ohio wingless circuits.

Kyle Patrick – The Tilbury Tornado – has confirmed he will take the wings off of his 33K sprint to race again with the OTS.

Patrick finished third, behind the winner John Watson of St. Thomas and runner-up Justin Martin of Rodney, in last year’s Can-Am Topless Sprint feature on June 15.

Joe Bares, of Traverse City. Mich, won the first OTS event at Crystal Motor Speedway in Michigan on May 25 in a field of 20 cars.

The series will be at Freedom Speedway in Delevan, N.Y., on Friday before heading to South Buxton for Saturday’s show.

The OTS will run heats, a dash and a ‘B’ Main, if necessary, before the intermission.

The 25-lap ‘A’ Main will second in the five-feature line-up.

South Buxton is the only Canadian track on the OTS schedule this season, as it returns here on Aug. 23.

The OTS has dates at Silver Bullet Speedway in Owendale, Mich. (July 26); Big Diamond Raceway in Pottsville, Pa. (Aug.8) and Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa. (Aug 9); and concludes at Crystal Speedway (Sept. 13) with the Great Lakes Nationals.

All five of South Buxton’s regular classes will also be in action on Saturday, giving fans six divisions of racing. The SBR series will run heats and features only.

Pit Stops

• Fans can meet National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jack Hewitt at Lube Tech, 495 Richmond St. in Chatham, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday. Hewitt, who will have his two-seater at the track Saturday, will be on hand with a couple of other OTS competitors to sign autographs and talk with fans.
• This Saturday, fans will be able to purchase beer and coolers and bring them to their grandstand seats to enjoy.
• Special Event prices are in effect – $20 for adults (ages 17-59); $15 for seniors (60-over) and teens (13-16); $10 for children (ages 6-12) and kids 5-under are free.
• Jim Jones is the fourth points leader in six weeks in the Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models standings. Jones has a six-point lead over previous leaders Chatham’s Gregg Haskell and seven over Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford – who went 3-for-3 including the first Gord Gotelaer memorial feature last week. Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis, who led the standings for two weeks, fell to fifth, 106 points behind Jones, after sitting out last week with motor issues.
• Three-time reigning Tirecraft Sport Stocks champion Eren Vanderiviere increased his lead to 21 points over fellow Merlin driver Steve Shaw, while last week’s feature winner Rob Young is 58 points off the lead in third.
• Leamington’s Joel Dick has a 60-point lead over Belle River’s Mario Toniolo in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds despite a 16th-place finish last Saturday when his five-feature win streak ended. Merlin’s Jeff Daniels, last week’s feature winner, gained seven positions in the standings to sixth, 156 points behind the leader.
• Trevor Jones leads the Tirecraft Mini-Mods for the fifth time in six weeks, as he carries a 25-point leader over last week’s feature winner Brett Hope, also of Blenheim. Kyle Hope, the points leader two weeks ago, only dropped two spots in the standings to fourth after his black flag last week, as he is 61 points behind Jones and 25 behind third-place Rob Quick of Cottam.
• Chatham’s Chris Ellerbeck has a 28-point lead over Blenheim’s Jeff Schives in the Autotech Bombers. Ellerbeck has won the last three features after Schives won the first three.
• The grandstand opens at 5 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m.