Saturday Night Thunder

On Saturday night the Niagara Escarpment shudders under the roar of grass roots stock car racing on Flamboro Speedway 's one third of a mile oval. Back yard racers from across the Golden Horseshoe drive the wheels off their hobbies for the bragging rights that only a plastic trophy and mention on the local country music station can bring.

The Webber and I stretched it out down the backroads of the old Wentworth County this weekend for an evening of racing and weren't disappointed by either the Flamburgers or the competition. Paul Howse's #8 sanded Scott Lyons' bumper to the chrome from green to checkers, but the 5-time late model champ would not be overtaken, conducting a car control clinic for 25 laps despite the #8's relentless bump-and-run efforts off turn four. By the end of the night, the fried onions were free and the full qualifying line-up of Thunder Cars was inverted, forcing the fastest cars to fight traffic for a shot at the win. Bobbing and weaving for fifteen laps, Randy Rusnell's #72 hauled Paul McIlroy in the #4 to the front, but had few laps remaining to work on Cambridge's Jamie Cox. Under the white flag, the #72 tried the high side on Cox's #44, but could gain no more than a quarter panel in turn one. Cox and Rusnell screamed nose-to-tail down the backstretch with McIlroy only a car length behind. Rusnell took one more shot at the high line coming off turn four, but after twenty laps of near-flawless piloting, the #72 got loose, allowing defending champ McIlroy to steal the second spot on the inside while Cox sprinted to his first win of 2006.