Green Flag Ready To Wave At Buxton
Racing season is ready to roll at South Buxton – Photo by James MacDonald/ ApexOne Photo
South Buxton will again offer five classes of racing every Saturday night through the end of September, with several special race nights dotting the schedule.
But racing action won’t be confined to Saturday nights, as South Buxton is home to a new go-cart series.
The South Buxton Raceway Kart Club begins on Wednesday, May 6, and will race every Wednesday night beginning at 6:30 p.m.
There will be five age restricted classes in the Kart Club, plus a non-competitive starters’ class for first-time drivers.
Kids as young as five-years-old will be eligible to race.
The Kart Club will race on a lighted infield track.
South Buxton promoter Sherry Lemesurier was approached by several racers last year about adding go-karts after the 5150 Kart Track in Tilbury closed late in the season. The Tilbury track is planning to reopen under new management and race on Thursday nights.
Lemesurier said South Buxton had already committed to Wednesday nights as its night for go-kart racing because of workers’ and track prep schedules.
“We are not trying to go head-to-head with 5150, we’re giving kids an opportunity to race twice a week at two different tracks,” Lemesurier said.
“These are our future drivers, so they’re getting a head start and getting a lot of experience behind the wheel … and hopefully will some day race in our series,” she said.
There will be some changes to the Saturday night racing format for 2015, namely the elimination of dash and pursuit preliminary races.
All five classes will run qualifying heats for drivers to earn one of 18 starting positions for feature races. ‘B’ mains will be used in classes with more than 18 entries to complete the feature lineups.
The track will be available for hot laps at 6:25 p.m. so drivers can test their machines before the 7 p.m. start time.
This is the second year Sherry and Garry Lemesurier have operated the track.
The couple made several improvements to the 44-year-old facility last year and have more plans to enhance the track, pits and grandstands this year.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t help us over the winter, so we are a little behind on what we’d like to do,” Sherry said.
“We spent most of our time, once the weather did cooperate, on building the new infield (go-kart) track and the main racing surface,” she said.
The next project will be rebuilding the pit wall.
South Buxton had five drivers sweep the division points title and championship races for their classes in 2014.
Chatham’s Eren Vanderiviere won his fourth straight points title and his first championship race in the Tirecraft Sport Stocks, while Leamington’s Joel Dick completed the sweep in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds, Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford in the Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models, and Blenheim drivers Trevor Jones and Jeff Schives in the Tirecraft Mini-Mods and Auto Tech Bombers, respectively.
Fans will vote for the best appearing cars in all five classes on opening night, with the winners being announced for the May 9 race night, which will feature the return of the Vintage Modified series as well as the second annual Wall of Fame inductions.
The Southern Ontario Sprints will visit South Buxton on June 6 and July 4 while the Ontario Topless Sprints’ lone appearance will be August 29.
Mid-season championship night is July 11 with the season championships on Sept. 12 and 19.
The season ends with the Canadian Fall Shootout on Sept. 25-26.
South Buxton also has a new web site at www.southbuxtonraceway.ca where the full 2015 schedule and admission prices are available.