South Buxton Racers Go Topless This Weekend

Kyle Patrick topped the Southern Ontario Sprints.

Now, he hopes to top the topless.

The Tilbury Tornado returns to South Buxton Raceway this Saturday night for the fourth time this season, and second time with the Ontario Topless Sprints.

Patrick picked up his second career South Buxton victory on Aug. 2 with the SOS.

He finished second to Joe Bares, of Traverse City, Mich., in the feature when the wingless sprints came to South Buxton for the first OTS visit June 14.

While Patrick has been a familiar visitor with several sprint series over the past decade, another local sprint driver will be making his South Buxton debut.

Tyler Hendricks, of Pain Court, will be taking the wing off his Crate Sprint to run with the OTS on Saturday.

Hendricks, grandson of South Buxton Hall of Fame driver Don Hendricks, had been running asphalt modifieds and late models at Delaware Speedway before making the switch to dirt this year in the new Crate Sprint Series at Ohsweken Speedway.

Hendricks will also be at South Buxton as the Ohsweken Crate Sprint Series has been added as a support class to the Canadian Fall Shootout on Friday, Sept. 26.

OTS president Ken Bayliss expects a larger car count than the nine that came to South Buxton on June 14. Several potential sprint drivers instead went to Brighton Speedway because of a schedule change with the SOS.

Bares is expected to return, along with other drivers from the Michigan Traditional Sprints.

John Watson, from St. Thomas, and Chris Durand, of Port Stanley, have been the two regular Ontario drivers in the OTS series this year, as Bayliss continues his quest to see wingless sprint racing become a popular touring series in the province.

Watson won the OTS feature at South Buxton on June 15, 2013,

South Buxton is the only Canadian track on the OTS schedule this season. The OTS has a second date at Crystal Motor Speedway in Michigan on Sept 13 to conclude the 2014 schedule.