17th RUNNING OF THE AUTUMN COLOURS CLASSIC By J. Wally Nesbitt, www. insidetracknews.com Peterborough Speedway, the venerable one-third-mile, Central Ontario oval, found its pits overflowing on the Thanksgiving Weekend (Oct. 9-11), as over 200 competitors from a dozen different race tracks invaded the facility for the 17th Annual Lucas Oil Autumn Colours Classic race weekend. With rain washing out Friday’s qualifying sessions, Saturday’s schedule was expanded to allow for the OSCAAR Super Late Model and the Hurricane Midgets feature races, as well as for heat and consolation sprints for the six other various racing divisions. Starting grids finally set, a well bundled up, sellout crowd greeted 22 Four Fun stockers that began Sunday’s feature contests. Taking control of the field from pole position, Sunset Speedway’s Trevor Hemmingway (#65X Honda) grabbed the early lead, with Mosport’s Ryan (#16X) and Anthony (#27X) DiBello affixed to his back bumper. Hemmingway and Anthony DiBello swapped the top spot on four occasions, but with just seven laps remaining in the 40 lap event, both frontrunners pitted with flat tires, handing the point to home track hero Dan Demers. Holding station at the front of the pack, Demers ran out the laps, holding off fellow Peterborough rivals Andy McCann, Lance Foster and Brandon Hannah for the victory. Hemmingway recovered from his forced pitstop to salvage a top-five result. In a feature race dedicated to the memory of Tim Timms, a local racer who had passed away just months earlier, 13 Open-Wheeled Modifieds took the green flag in what would develop into a McLean family benefit. Aaron McLean, racing out of Varney Speedway, led the three opening laps before succumbing to pressure from Gary McLean, a former Autumn Colours race winner. Relinquishing the point for only four laps to George Wilson at mid-race, Gary reclaimed the position on lap 30 and held on, running out the remaining 20 tours at the head of the field. “That wasn’t as easy as it might have looked,” admitted McLean. “Those Sault Ste. Marie guys are fast.” Wilson (#53), who runs out of Laird International Raceway, kept close to the race leader, but carrying one hundred pounds of race ballast, was forced to settle for the runner-up spot, edging out 2009 Delaware Speedway champion Jamie Cox for the position. Aaron McLean was a fourth place finisher, with Stephen Richmond rounding out the top five, one lap down. In what was billed as the weekend’s headlining event, the 109 lap Open Late Model feature contest was flagged away with 16-year-old Brandon Watson leading the 25-car field into turn 1 from pole position. Kirk Hooker (#38) the defending race winner slotted in directly behind the Barrie, Ontario-based youngster with former Modified Autumn Colours champion Mark Watson rounding out the top-three early runners. In a race that was slowed by 15 cautions and ran almost two full hours, positions were exchanged on a regular basis. The one constant, however, was #9 Chevrolet of Watson, who went flag to flag for the well deserved Late Model victory. Shaun McWhirter (#31), who had been send to the tail end of the field for his involvement in a lap 57 crash with Dave Morgan, fought his way back through the pack to finish in second place, working around Hooker on a lap 104 restart for the position. Hooker maintained his top-three placing, with Mike Bentley (#99) and Delaware’s Mark Watson rounding out the top-five. In a testament to the popularity of the Mini Stock division, 50 cars arrived at Peterborough Speedway, all in hopes of earning one of the 30 allotted starting positions. Through the heat eliminations, the grid was thinned down, and the field set for their 50-lap feature contest. Grid positions seemed to make little difference, as multiple racing incidents repeatedly scrambled the running order. Surviving to emerge at the front of the field at the checkered flag was Sunset Speedway regular Doug Butler in his #10 ‘Silver Bullet.’ Peterborough’s Bobby Love was next to the line, chased there by the #66 of Mike Smith, with another local driver Tyler Junkin (#41) claiming fourth spot. Varney Speedway’s Tim Tolton (#35), racing out of Guelph (ON) completed the top five finishers. In a repeat performance of Saturday night’s qualifying race, Sunday’s Thunder Car feature also started with a bang – or rather a series of them – as an opening lap, first corner melee dashed the hopes of many serious race contenders. Following a long delay to retrieve, repair and re-align the large field, the event continued, the checkered flag mercifully falling 50 laps later with Dave ‘the Deuce’ Doucette, the former Barrie Speedway champion piloting his #44 Monte Carlo to the class victory. Fellow Barrie competitor Rick Walt, in his Thunder Car rookie season, earned a well-deserved runner-up result with 2009 Sauble Speedway champion Scott McTeer (#69 Monte Carlo) competing the podium positions. Flamboro racers Shawn Chenoweth (#29) and Kevin Albers (#27) battled throughout the contest to round out the top-five finishers. Youthful endurance was one possible factor in Brandon Watson’s success at this Autumn Colours weekend. Chasing Jeff Hanley to the line for a runner-up result in Saturday’s OSCAAR feature, the Stayner (ON) resident scored the win in Sunday’s Late Model feature and then repeated his winning effort, taking the victory in the weekend’s 75-lap Limited Late Model feature race as well. The now familiar red and yellow #9 Chevrolet led Sunset Speedway rivals Jason Witty (#19) and Tony Tiemersma (#7) to the checkers while a pair of 2009 track champions, Gord Shepherd (Barrie Speedway) and Sunset Speedway’s ‘Stompin’ Tom Walters (the defending Autumn Colours champion), completed the lead, five car pack.