Titles On The Line At Buxton

Ridgetown’s Dale Glassford and Leamington’s Joel Dick are two-thirds of the way to completing triple crown seasons.

Both drivers have clinched their second straight division titles even before taking the green flags for their championship races on Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.

Chatham-Kent Sports Network (cksn.ca) is the co-sponsor for Saturday’s racing action.

Glassford holds a 135-point lead atop the Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models while Dick has a 110-point advantage in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds.

The most points a driver can accumulate in a single race night is 105 points by winning their heat and feature races.

It will be the fourth points title for Glassford since 2009.

Both drivers won their respective mid-season championships on July 11, as they will complete the triple-crown sweeps with wins on Saturday.

And they are both the defending winners of their division’s championship races.

Glassford has put together one of the most dominating seasons in track history.

He has won 13 of the 15 Late Model features including eight in a row to start the season and three in a row heading into championship night. He leads all drivers with 20 checkered flags.

The only other Late Model drivers to win features this season were Chatham drivers Jim Jones (Gord DeWael memorial on July 18) and Gregg Haskell (Rick Haskell memorial on Aug. 23).

Glassford has won 43 features since the start of the 2010 season, the most of any drivers in all classes.

Haskell will start on the outside of the front row for the 25-lap championship race.

The 2012-13 points champion was in third place following last Saturday’s races, but after the standings were adjusted to eliminate each driver’s worst two points, Haskell moved ahead of Jones into second.

Jones, the 2013 championship race winner, will start beside Chatham’s Brad Authier, a three-time championship race winner, in the second row.

Dick has also strung together a second straight dominating season, coming off an 11-feature win season last year with eight victories this season.

He won seven in a row from late May until the end of July. His last feature win came on Aug. 22, his 36th victory since the start of 2010.

Dick has won three of the last four season championship races.

There was a big shake-up in the Modified standings, after the points were adjusted.

Shrewsbury’s Jim Dale Jr., an eight-time championship race winner, moved up one spot to second and will start beside Dick.

Clayton Smith, of Taylor, Mich., fell from second to fourth, where he will start beside Belle River’s Mario Toniolo in the second row.

Blenheim’s Brian Speelman was also a big gainer, going from seventh to fifth and a third-row inside starting position.

Six Modified drivers have one feature win each this season – Chatham drivers Louis Clements and the father-son duo of Eugene and Darryl Hoekstra, along with Port Lambton’s Drew Smith, Clayton Smith and Dale Jr.

The Tirecraft Mini-Mods and Sport Stocks will run non-points heats and features after crowning their season champions last Saturday.

Chatham’s Jake Hooker completed the triple crown in the Sport Stocks while winning the points and championship race to go along with his mid-season title.

Blenheim’s Kyle Hope won the points and championship race in the Mini-Mods.

Windsor’s Jamie Beaulieu won the Autotech Bombers’ points title and championship race on Sept. 5.
If Glassford and Dick both win their championship races on Saturday, it will mark the second year in a row that drivers swept the both the points and championship races in all five classes.

The grandstand opens at 4:30 p.m. and racing starts at 6:30 p.m.

Rain is on the forecast for Saturday and if it does stop early enough, track officials will attempt to run the program at night.

If there is a complete rainout, the program will be run on Sunday starting at 5 p.m.

Please check the track’s website www.southbuxtonraceway.ca or its Facebook page for updates on the race status.