Tilbury Tornado Storms To First Career SOS Feature Win at Brighton Speedway

by Daryl Turford

Brighton Speedway-July 10, 2004

Kyle Patrick of Tilbury, ON picked up his first career Southern Ontario Sprints feature win Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. The “Tilbury Tornado” bested a strong field and held off 2001 SOS champion Warren Mahoney to take the 20 lap A Main event.

Prior to the Feature event the smart money was on Adam Westin the TVT Trucking #30. Last year’s KIDD program driver had been approached by a fan during the always popular autograph session and told that based on his heat race at Dash for Cash wins that he was putting $100 on him. “I told him I hoped he would win”, The Ridgetown, ON star stated.

The action was fast and furious from the moment starter Cliff Williams dropped the green flag on the 20-lap event. Patrick went right to work as he charged from 4^th to 1^st in 1 lap before a jingle brought out the yellow. Brighton regular Justin Harris had also charged from deep in the field into the top 5 on the opening lap, Harris would later exit the speedway with power steering problems.

On the restart, West looked to have made the anonymous better look like a genius when he snuck past Patrick and into the lead only to have the pass nullified by another yellow.

As things got rolling it was clear the Friday night’s winner Cody Geldart was the man on the move as he quickly moved through the field and took the lead from Patrick. The Mossley, ON youngster was looking to take the points lead for from Glenn Styres who was struggling mid-pack and become the third driver in SOS history to win three-straight SOS features.

Things were looking great for Geldart who had won the two most recent Brighton Speedway features until lap 11 when Cody tangled with a lapped car in turn 2 and went into a series of flips that saw him get serious of air time. Fortunately despite his diminutive size the teenager was able to emerge from the wreck unharmed although unfortunately the same cannot be said for his green and white #6.

During the yellow flag SOS points leader Glenn Styres headed to the pits for some adjustments while Daryl Turford headed to the pits without power steering. Both drivers returned to the track but had lost their positions within the top 5.

On the restart Patrick had the lead but Warren Mahoney was coming on strong. The 2001 champion disposed of West and set sail in an attempt to run down Patrick. In the end “The Tilbury Tornado” in the Patrick Welding #33K Eagle was just too strong as he sailed to his first career SOS Feature win. Mahoney followed closely in 2^nd followed by West, Dempster and rookie Gary Evans who turned in a stellar top 5 effort. The second 5 was led by Styres, with Pillon, Northcott, Turford and rookie Al Gaukel rounding out the top 10.

“This is just great to finally get the first win”, stated an excited Patrick, “We’ve been so close, I thought we might have one earlier in the year but Keith got us there at Ohsweken. My dad helped John Reigling get his first win of the year earlier this year and it’s just really nice to put him back into the winner’s circle in my car”.

He also added about taking the initial lead from his 4^th place starting position, “I’m not really sure what happened there on the first lap, things we’re pretty wild and I don’t know exactly what I did but we were able to emerge with the lead”.

The heat races were won by West who made a lap 6 move under Jack Pillon to take his second career heat race win. Former Can-Am midget star Bobby Crawford drove a stellar race to hold off Patrick in the second heat despite a smoking motor during the final 3 laps. It was later discovered that there was a crack in the block of the motor so Crawford started the feature but pulled off the track right away.

West ran off and hid in the Dash for Cash as he won by nearly a straightaway over Pillon, Dick Mahoney and Dempster.

The Southern Ontario Sprints points battle has become very interesting. Styres has now pulled out a 49 point lead over Geldart who is holding off Warren Mahoney by a slim two point margin but the big mover was West who has charged into fourth with 1043 points, 73 behind Styres. If West not missed a race with motor problems he would now be leading the SOS points.

Other big movers in the SOS points were several of the rookie contenders, as Jack Pillon, Gary Evans, Willie Northcott and Al Gaukel all had strong weekends. Evans was particularly strong at Brighton where he held off Styres for a top 5, while also capturing the Rookie Dash win at Ohsweken. Northcott turned in two solid top-10 performances.

The next race for the Southern Ontario Sprints will be July 24 with a return to the newly revamped South Buxton Speedway south of Chatham, ON. This is a return to where the SOS held its first race in 1996. Several top local drivers are anxious to make home track starts with the SOS including Kyle Patrick, Adam West, John Riegling, Jason Haskell and Jack Pillon who all live within a short distance of the track.

Results:

Pennzoil Heat #1

1^st-#30 Adam West; Ridgetown, ON 2^nd-#18J Jack Pillon; Belle River, ON 3^rd-#6 Cody Geldart; Mossley, ON 4^th-#25 Warren Mahoney; Lefroy, ON 5^th-#0 Glenn Styres; Ohsweken, ON 6^th-#93 Daryl Turford; Mitchell, ON 7^th-#12 Willie Northcott; London, ON

Signet Tools Heat #2

1^st-#10 Bob Crawford; Sutton, ON 2^nd-#79 Dick Mahoney; Newmarket, ON 3^rd-#5 Keith Dempster; Alton, ON 4^th-#33K Kyle Patrick; Tilbury, ON 5^th-#2J Justin Harris; Kingston, ON 6^th-#99 Al Gaukel; Cambridge, ON 7^th-#17 Gary Evans; Thorndale, ON

Wiseco Pistons Dash For Cash

1^st-Adam West, 2^nd-Jack Pillon, 3^rd-Dick Mahoney, 4^th-Keith Dempster

Leaf Racewear Feature

1^st-#33K Kyle Patrick, 2^nd-#25 Warren Mahoney, 3^rd-#30 Adam West, 4^th-#5 Keith Dempster, 5^th-#17 Gary Evans, 6^th-#Glenn Styres, 7^th-#18J Jack Pillon, 8^th-#12 Willie Northcott, 9^th-#93 Daryl Turford, 10^th-#99 Al Gaukel, 11^th-#79 Dick Mahoney, 12^th-#6 Cody Geldart, 13^th-Justin Harris, 14^th-#10 Bobby Crawford  

LEAF RACEWEAR AWARD - Adam West