THREE NEW POINT CHAMPIONS The point’s season ended at Peterborough Speedway on Saturday, September 29th with one of the most exciting nights of racing in its history! Coming into the night, both the Peterborough Hyundai Mini Stocks and Late Models still did not have a clear cut point’s winner, so drivers put everything on the line fighting for every point available! For the Mini Stocks, Jack Hannah trailed point’s leader Robert Kerr by less than a dozen points, and in the Late Models, Guelph native Tim Tolton still had a fighting chance to catch Don Hart atop the point’s standings. This made for an excellent finish to the 40th season of racing at Peterborough Speedway! In the For Fun Division, rookie driver Bernie Vanderzwet already had top spot locked up, but other drivers were battling for the spots below him. Wyatt Harvey, having won the last two features in the For Fun Division, was looking for the three-peat on Saturday, and started the night out right with a checkered flag victory in the first heat. Vanderzwet went on to win the second heat, with Harvey finishing third and Wayne Dewdney squished in between them for a second place finish. In the feature; however, Harvey finished fifth, Dewdney fourth, and Vanderzwet second, opening the door for Donna Anderson, also known as the ‘Wild Child’ to take the checkered flag for her third feature win of the season! The Peterborough Hyundai Mini Stocks had nearly 20 cars in attendance, and as mentioned, Jack Hannah and Robert Kerr were looking to do battle for the top spot in the point’s standings. In the first of four heat races, Andrew Swindells emerged victorious, while Mike Nelson took the checkered flag in the second heat with Hannah finishing right behind him in second, and Kerr in third. Chris McPherson won the third heat and the battle between Hannah and Kerr continued in the final heat of the night. The two were side-by-side for most of the race, until Kerr poured it on near the end and took the win with Hannah behind him for his second 2nd place finish of the night. After Hannah’s two second place finishes in the heats, and Kerr’s win and a 3rd place finish, only a handful of points separated the two heading into the feature. Both drivers knew that there was much more at stake in the feature than a checkered flag – the entire point’s race would be determined by the finishing order! Hannah could not afford anything less than a first place finish, and he came out ready to perform. Hannah sat in first place within the first few laps and Kerr was back in the middle of the 17 car feature race. Knowing he had to make ground to remain point’s leader, Kerr made several passes before being involved in a small collision that brought out the caution flag on lap seven of the 20-lap race. When green flag racing resumed, Hannah remained as the leader of the pack, and for being involved in the collision, Kerr was at the very back with 13 laps to go! As Hannah increased his lead to a quarter of a lap, Kerr steadily maneuvered his way through the pack and as Hannah won the checkered flag, Kerr had moved into third! The third place finish was just enough for Kerr to hang on to the point’s lead and emerge as this season overall winner in the Peterborough Hyundai Mini Stock Division! The Ontario Legend Series wrapped up its season of racing at Peterborough Speedway as well, with Bruce Grimes in a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack in the point’s standings. Grimes needed only to finish both heat races and the feature in order to finish atop the standings in the Legend Series, but being a fan of the track at Peterborough Speedway Grimes set out to win, and did so in the first heat! In the second heat, the #4 car of ‘Wavin’ Willie’ Bill Mason narrowly beat Kevin Foisy to take the checkered flag. The real battle in the Legend Series was for second spot between the #24 of Andy Warbutton and the #79 of Adam Cuthbertson. Heading into the night, Cuthbertson was only 12 points behind Warbutton, and was looking to steal the second spot on the final night of racing! In the first heat, Warbutton finished third while Cuthbertson was right behind in fourth. The two were neck-and-neck again in the third Legend heat, and it was Cuthbertson who took the checkered flag with Warbutton right behind him for a second place finish. The battle for second spot was intense in the feature, as Cuthbertson and Warbutton both fought to move through the pack of 17 Legend cars. While attempting to make a pass, Warbutton became involved with three other cars on lap-17 and was unable to finish the race as his car was too banged up! This opened the door for Cuthbertson who took advantage and finished second in the feature, moving him to second in the point’s race in the very last race of the Legend season! As a result of his heat win, Bruce Grimes needed only to start the feature race; however, he quickly jumped into the lead and never looked back winning both the feature race and the overall point’s race for the 2007 Ontario Legend Series season! In the Late Model Division, over twenty cars turned out at Peterborough Speedway; so they ran not two, but three sets of heat races! Ryan Kimball won the first heat, followed closely by Dwayne Baker. Danny Robinson had his car running great winning both of his heats and finishing fourth in the feature! Tim Tolton, trying to catch Don Hart in the point’s race, won his first heat of the night, with Hart finishing fourth. The 20-car Late Model feature was not kind to Tolton, as he had some car troubles, was forced to pit after the first lap, and would not be able to get the car back onto the track. Nick Oram started the race at the front of the pack, and despite a number of caution flags, did not give any ground up to the rest of the pack. Oram seemed poised for victory until lap 23 of the 25 lap race when John Baker Jr. started to make some ground on Oram. As they rounded the final turn of the race, Baker had moved to the outside in an attempt to overtake Oram and only a half-car length separated the two! Oram held on for a narrow victory while Baker settled for second. Don Hart, relieved by Tolton’s early exit from the race, cruised through the feature and finished at the top of the Late Model point’s standings! In the end, it was Bernie Vanderzwet winning the For Fun Division, Robert Kerr for the Mini Stocks, Bruce Grimes for the Ontario Legends, and finally, Don ‘The Hit Man’ Hart emerged as the victor in the Late Model point’s standings for Peterborough Speedway’s 40th Anniversary Season! Speaking of anniversaries, next weekend marks the 15th Annual Autumn Colours Classic at Peterborough Speedway. This weekend logn event will feature nearly 300 cars in eight different divisions competing for nearly $50,000 in cash prizes. The Autumn Colours is the largest event of it’s kind in the province, with the largest one-weekend cash purse in the country! Camping spots are available, as well as day and weekend passes. For all the information on what is sure to be the greatest weekend of Stock Car Racing in the area, check out the website at www.peterboroughspeedway.com or call the office at 705-743-5880!