Story By Dave Vokey / Barrie Speedway // Photo by Dave Franks
BARRIE, ON - The highly competitive OSCAAR Super Late Models took to the track June 16 at Barrie Speedway, with Milton's #61 John Fletcher taking he win in the 50 lap feature. For Fletcher, the winner of both the June and Sept/06 features it marked his 3rd straight win in OSCAAR action at the High Line.
A series of early cautions would slow the race somewhat throughout the early stages, but the 2nd 25 laps would show the fans a awesome display of ultra fast racing, with several drivers recording lap times in the low 13 sec range. The big story going into the race was the return of local heros Tim and Glenn Watson and the many fans in attendance would not leave disappointed as both drivers finished in the top 5.
Fletcher charged charge into the lead from the outside pole, getting the jump on #20 Shawn Chenoweth. #49 Rob Clarke also got around Chenoweth by lap 2.
An early caution flew at lap 3 involving top runners #7 Derrick Tiemersma and the #68 of 2-time series champ Stu Robinson Jr. Fletcher continued on with the lead, turning laps in the 13.3 sec. range under heavy fire from Clarke, with the #22 of Glenn Watson welded to Clarke's bumper as well.
That 3-car train would open up a marginal advantage on the battle for 4th, which saw #99 Tim Watson dueling with #89 Drew Spicer side by side for a couple laps until Spicer would forge ahead to take the position. Clarke, a 5-time series champ himself, began to intensify the pressure up front on Fletcher, looking under him a couple times as the pair raced out of corner 2.
Clarke’s good run ended with a mechanical problem during a caution at lap 15, handing the runner up post to the 2000 and 2002 Barrie Late Model champ Glenn Watson.
On the restart, Watson would not let the veteran Fletcher get away, dogging him lap after lap for the lead as Spicer and Tiemersma, who had made his way back to the front battled furiously for 3rd.
The caution again would fly at the midway point as Tiemersma and Robinson Jr. made contact racing out of 4, sending the 68 machine hard into the wall in turn 1. Fletcher, would begin to open up a 2 car length advantage over Watson in the race for the lead, as both drivers began to step up the pace, now completing laps in the 13.1 sec. range.
The best battle at this point was the race for 5th between #15 Al Shepstone and #99 Tim Watson. Watson, the 2006 Barrie Late Model runner up was making his Barrie OSCAAR debut and the track familiarity was proving to be a bonus putting him in line for his best finish in a Super Late.
Just past lap 40, the 3rd place car of Spicer was given the mechanical black flag for excessive smoke ending a strong run for the Green Machine. Over the closing laps, Watson would close in on Fletcher a couple times but was just unable to work his way around him. Fletcher, who won a remarkable 7 of 11 features in 2006 drove on to his first feature win of the 07 season.
#22 Glenn Watson would maintain his series point lead with a 2nd place finish. Rookie of the Year contender #7 Derrick Tiemersma would cap off a solid point night with a 3rd place finish ,with #15 Al Shepstone and #99 Tim Watson rounding out the fast five.
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