Hooker Silences Critics With Wins
Jake Hooker took the feature win Saturday at South Buxton Raceway – Photo by James MacDonald/ Apex One
As the 14-year-old was conducting his on-track interview following his third straight Tirecraft Sport Stocks win on July 18, a fan yelled out, “you win because you’re always on the pole!”
It was the luck of the invert pill draw that lines up features that put Hooker on the front row three weeks in a row, as he led every lap of those victories.
On Saturday, Hooker’s luck changed as he started on the inside of row three. But he still wound up in the same destination – Victory Lane.
“It’s pretty cool that I got that done and out of the way, now hopefully we can stop hearing all the hate I was getting,” said Hooker, admitting he was getting a lot of negative comments about his winning streak.
“It kind of irritated me, but it motivated me,” he said.
It took Hooker less than two laps to clear three cars and move into second place behind Chatham’s Eren Vanderiviere, the four-time reigning series champion.
Six laps later, Hooker used the slingshot move to take the lead as he went high into turn three and then dove to the bottom to get by Vanderiviere coming out of turn four.
“I tried the inside but couldn’t get by him, then I got a run on the outside but it (opening) just wasn’t there … and I didn’t want to wreck the car,” he said of his pursuit of Vanderiviere.
“He kind of checked up and left a space, so I took it.”
Hooker led the final 12 laps, which included four restarts for cautions, for his fifth feature win in nine weeks.
“For sure, this one feels better than the others, it really helps my confidence,” said Hooker.
“The others, I started on the pole so I should be able to finish it.
“Now I kind of proved to myself and to others that I can pass cars and move to the front,” said Hooker, who turns 15 this Saturday.
Wallaceburg’s Willy Vyse finished second, followed by Dover Centre’s Tyler Lozon, Kingsville’s Rob Young and Merlin’s Steve Shaw. Shaw and Vanderiviere won the heats.
Hooker moved to within six points of Young’s division lead.
Chatham-Kent drivers won all five features on Saturday night.
Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford won for the eighth time in nine Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Model features while his son Nick, 15, won his second straight and fourth Autotech Bomber feature of the season.
Blenheim’s Kyle Hope won his second straight in the Tirecraft Mini-Mods and Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr. won his first in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds following back-to-back second-place finishes.
Glassford started in the fifth row of the Late Model feature and moved up to third when the race was slowed by its fourth caution on lap five.
On the restart, the defending series champion got a run on the inside of Chatham’s Gregg Haskell at the bottom of turn three and took the lead coming out of turn four. Haskell stayed with Glassford for a couple of laps by riding the top side before falling back to second.
“If he went down to the bottom of the race track, he would have won,” Glassford said of Haskell.
“The track was getting drier and you couldn’t run on the outside, but that’s the disadvantage of being up front, you don’t know where the fast line is because you’re by yourself.
“I dove to the inside and found that was the place to run,” Glassford said.
“Once I got down to the bottom, I knew eventually I’d get him.”
Haskell finished second, followed by Chatham’s Brad Authier, Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis and Rodney’s Brad Simpson.
Glassford and Lewis won the heats.
It took Hope eight years to claim his first career feature win, and now the Blenheim driver has won back-to-back. He also won his heat race, giving him five straight checkered flags.
“Our consistency is credited to the crew,” Hope said of his hot streak.
“They’re there every night all week, they put it in the time and it’s paying off on the track.
“The new motor Mike (Legue) gave us works awesome,” he added.
“We’ve been close before but that extra little bit of horsepower definitely helps us.”
Hope started on the outside of the front row and led all 22 laps, including three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish before the race finally ended under caution. Kingsville’s Dylan Wolters finished second, followed by Chatham’s Tim Mackenzie, Dresden’s Matt Sorrell and Blenheim’s Jeff Schives. Blenheim’s Dylan Bonner and Sorrell won the other heats.
Dale Jr. is used to multiple-win seasons, so he was ecstatic to finally win his first of 2015.
“My luck’s finally coming back, what’s it been two and-a-half years? Dale Jr. said about his famine.
He did win a feature in July of 2014, “but I didn’t run good last year, I got lucky and won one.
“At least I’m getting one a year,” he said, with a laugh.
Dale Jr. took the lead from Leamington’s Justin Coulter on lap nine and led at the halfway mark for the third straight feature. This time, he was able to maintain his advantage as Leamington’s Joel Dick, in his bid for an eighth straight feature win, only had three laps left to chase down Dale Jr. after finally clearing Coulter for second.
“When I saw Joel pull up beside me on that last restart, I said ‘oh oh,’ but I felt pretty good when I realized we’d be going single file and I knew I was going to run the bottom,” Dale Jr. said.
The eight-time track champion has been battling engine issues for more than two years but is confident his team is back on track.
“The motor just didn’t have any power, but it’s working well now, and with the track conditions, this car is nice to drive,” he said.
Port Lambton’s Drew Smith finished fourth and Blenheim’s Brian Speelman fifth. Chatham’s Louis Clements, Clayton Smith of Taylor, Mich., and Coulter won the heats and Drew Smith took the ‘B’ Main checkered.
Nick Glassford used the same inside move in turns three and four as his father to take the lead from Chatham’s Chris Ellerbeck midway through the Bomber feature.
“There were a lot of fast cars starting in front of me, and they all seemed to slip up in the corner,” said Glassford, who started in the fourth row but needed just two laps to pull behind Ellerbeck.
“I tried to get him on the outside but he went down to block me, so the second time I went to the bottom and got the nose up to his front tire and figured I was in there so I couldn’t back out,” he said of his pass for the lead.
Ellerbeck held on to finish second while Windsor’s Jamie Beaulieu, Blenheim’s Austin Pickering and Merlin’s Bill Featherstone rounded out the top five.
Pickering and Beaulieu won the heats.
Fans donated $485 to the O’Learys – father Vic, sons Tate and Caleb – to have their long hair cut
to during the intermission to support the Bravery Beads program at the Sick Children’s Hospital.