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The
Southern Ontario Sprints (SOS) ninth season is now
in the history books and there were so many
highlights to the 2004 SOS season, it’s hard to
know where to begin. Definitely one of the
highlights was an increased international
recognition of the SOS. Series regulars, Glenn
Styres and Cody Geldart made the tow to East Bay
Raceway in Florida to compete in the 360 Winter
Nationals. In June, Styres entered the 360
Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa and then in August,
Warren Mahoney joined Styres and Geldart as the
trio competed in the Brodix Tournament of
Champions, also held at the famed Knoxville
Speedway. Geldart impressed everyone with an
outstanding run finishing in twelfth place in the
“A-Main”. The crowning moment however came
after the season had ended. Geldart was selected
as the winner of the National Sprint Car Poll 360
Rookie of the Year Award.
The 2004 season saw the first ever co-sanctioned
events for the SOS as they teamed up with the
Sprints on Dirt (SOD) group to stage a two-race
mini series known as the Can-Am Challenge. The SOS
also returned to its birthplace, South Buxton
Speedway, for the first time in five years and had
an excellent outing in front of the standing-room
only crowd. Speaking of crowds, attendance was up
at every track in 2004 and the average car count
was also at an all-time high of twenty-one cars
per event.
The race for the championship went down to the
last race of the season again in 2004. Sixteen
year-old Geldart won the first race of the season
(his first career feature win in a sprint car)
giving him the early points lead however, Styres
was quick to respond as he took over the point
position after the second event. Styres would
remain in the points lead until late August when
he had a disastrous outing in a double feature
affair. This gave the points lead back to Geldart,
a position that he would hold until the final
checkered fell in mid September. Along the way,
Geldart racked up some impressive numbers winning
five features and finishing in the top five in
twelve of the fifteen points races.
Another young competitor also made his mark in
2004 with the SOS. Jack Pillon made his sprint car
debut in 2004 capturing Rookie of the Year honors
and finishing in seventh place in points. Along
the way he picked up a couple of heat race wins
along with six top ten finishes. Several other
rookies also had a fine year with the SOS in 2004
including Gary Evans, Willy Northcott, Stephanie
Christiano, Jamie Collard, Al Gaukel and Craig
Downie.
The 2004 season saw a total of nine different
winners including two of the SOS regulars who won
a feature race for the first time in 2004. Kyle
Patrick captured his first win at Brighton
Speedway while Bob Crawford visited victory lane
at Ohsweken Speedway. Another driver, Dustin
Daggett who is a regular with the Michigan-based
SOD series, also won his first SOS event when he
captured the Can-Am Challenge race at Ohsweken.
Other than Geldart, there were only two other
drivers with multiple wins. Styres and John
Riegling both won a pair of races during the 2004
campaign.
The season finale, the 6th annual Canadian Sprint
Car Championships was once again a real thriller.
Nick Mulheim of Ohio, who is also a regular with
the SOD group, captured the prestigious CSCC
title. Second place was taken by Adam West who
lead the first half of the event and appeared to
be on his way to his first career victory. However
with ten laps remaining Mulheim made his move to
the front dropped West to second. Geldart ran a
very steady race to finish in the third position
and with his start, secured the 2004 SOS Title. A
total of twenty-eight competitors were on hand to
compete in what has become a well-recognized and
prestigious event. This year’s event also marked
the first time in history that a Canadian race had
been designated as a qualifier for the Knoxville,
Fleet Buying Group World Challenge scheduled to
take place in August of 2005.
by
Bill Oldroyd
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