Cornwall, Ont – Sunday , July 31, 2011 –Martin Bélanger - A big night of racing at Cornwall Motor Speedway with the second race of the Canadian Nationals along with the MrDIRTcar 358-Modified Series. A great field of 43 cars were in the pits. The Pro-Stock, Semi-Pro and Mini-Stock had regular events on Jiffy Auto Services and Pennzoil.
Tommy Flannigan and Danny O’Brien were on the first row of the 30-car field that took the initial green in the 100-lap 358-Modified Series. O’Brien took the early lead as Stéphane Lafrance charged for the second spot on lap 2. Danny Johnson moved up to third 2 laps later with Dale Planck right behind Johnson. Johnson and Planck were able to pass Lafrance before the caution came out on lap 10. O’Brien kept the lead over Johnson as a good battle was going for fifth between Pat O’Brien and David Hébert as Flannigan went slowly to the pits on lap 20. Johnson grabbed the lead as Planck followed him sending O’Brien to third with 26 laps down. Mark D’Ilario stopped in turn 2 on lap 29 and second caution came out. Johnson and Planck quickly got away from the rest of the field as a 3 way battle involving Lafrance, Danny O’Brien and Brett Hearn, the Corporate Jet won the battle over Lafrance and O’Brien but Lafrance charged back from the high side but Hearn managed to stay third with 55 laps to go. At the halfway point, Johnson, Planck, Hearn, Lafrance and Danny O’Brien were the top 5 as the leaders got into heavy traffic. Planck dove inside of Johnson and took command on lap 54. Planck a got great lead over Johnson as Hearn got close to him with 30 laps to be completed. Hearn got by Johnson with 75 laps in the books as Lafrance and O’Brien were in battle for fourth with Carey Terrance who made his way through sixth after starting last. Planck was wicked fast as he lapped up to 8th place with only 15 laps to go. The yellow lights were out on lap 91. Planck got a good jump with Lafrance got third as Carey Terrance was now in fifth. Terrance made a late charge to pass Johnson for fourth on the last lap. Planck got to the finishing line first in front of Hearn, Lafrance, Terrance and Johnson completes the top 5.
In the 20-lap Pro-Stock feature, David Papineau got ahead first and led for the first five laps as Ghislain Valade got the lead with Dave Bissonnette in third. Valade was alone in front with 5 cars racing together for top 6 positions as the feature got to the halfway. George Renaud got second with Bissonnette still in third as Corey Wheeler charged from the top and took third. The first caution came out for an accident on lap 14. On the restart, Renaud and Wheeler got by Valade as he headed to the pits with 3 laps to go. Joey Ladouceur got into the leaders as he took third on the last lap. Renaud led the final laps to win his first feature of the season in front of Wheeler and Ladouceur completing the podium.
The 15-lap Semi-Pro feature completed the night with 17 cars taking the green. The lead was swapped 3 times in the first 5 laps as Derek Cryderman was the leader over Andrew Giroux and Benoit Dubois at that point. Dubois got by Cryderman on lap 7 and never looked back to win his third feature of the year in front of Cryderman and Kevin Fetterly in third.
Marc Chartrand took the early lead in the 12-lap Mini-Stock feature, Chartrand went too high in turn 2 on lap 5 giving the lead to Mike Gaucher while Marc Usereau is second with Ben Nurse and Ernie Cree in battle for third at the halfway point. Gaucher led the final laps and won his third feature of the year over Usereau and Joe McNicholls.
A regular night of racing will start the month of August at Cornwall next Sunday night as all 5 divisions will be in action with the Semi-Pro having a 25-lap event. The first qualifying event is scheduled to start at 6pm. For all details, results, points and other useful information, you can visit the www.cornwallspeedway.com.
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