15TH ANNUAL AUTUMN COLOURS BIGGEST YET. On Thanksgiving weekend Peterborough Speedway hosted the 15th Annual Lucas Oil™ Autumn Colours Classic! Well over 200 stock cars, representing eight different divisions all showed up for the racing action. Mother Nature showed up as well, as a continuous rain fell on Canada’s fastest 1/3 mile oval from early Saturday morning until late afternoon. The Kawartha Chrysler Jeep Dodge® Peterborough Speedway Clean-Up Crew worked tirelessly to dry the track and within less than two hours, the practice sessions began. The rain held off long enough for every car to get in some warm-up laps, but as the Hurricane Midgets saw the first green flag of the night, the skies opened up again, forcing them off the track before completing a single lap. Again, the Clean-Up Crew along with other staff worked hard to dry the track, but the weather would not cooperate and racing action was delayed until Sunday. Again on Sunday the clouds moved in and looked threatening, but there was no sign of rain when the first green flag of the day dropped at 12:00. Almost 50 Thunder Cars were in attendance at Peterborough Speedway for the Autumn Colours, and they brought some of the most exciting racing of the weekend along with them! Andy Ford, Dan Doucette, Mike Sinopoli, and Todd Davenport all won heat races early in the day. Later, the Thunder Cars ran a ‘B’ Feature, and the #03 car of Rick Walt stole the show and captured the checkered flag, followed by “Daytona” Bob Phinnemore and Jim Remington who finished second and third respectively! As the sun set, the Thunder Cars ran their main feature of the night, and there were two heat winners who finished in the top three for the feature as Doucette took second with Davenport right behind him for third. It was Frank Davey in the #49 machine who stole the show and the checkered flag, winning the main feature for the Thunder Car Division! In the For-Fun Division, over 20 racers hauled their cars to Peterborough Speedway for the Autumn Colours from all across Ontario. As a result of the poor weather on Saturday, the For-Funs were not able to run any heat races, but instead went right into the main event feature around 9:00pm on Sunday night. The extended feature race was a 40 lap battle with only a couple of caution flags at the start of the race. Peterborough Speedway Mini Stock driver Riley Ekins entered a car into the For-Fun Class for the Autumn Colours and gained a comfortable early lead ahead of Doug Mould who sat almost a half lap behind Ekins in second place. With only three laps to go, Ekins car almost stopped heading into turn one, allowing Mould to close the gap between them considerably. Ekins got his car going quickly and was able to hold off Mould and take the checkered flag! After the race, track reporter Glenn Butts asked Ekins why his car seemed to stop at such a crucial moment of the race, to which Ekins replied, “Gas…no Gas! But it’s my job to fill the tank, so I can’t blame anyone else!” The rain delay prevented the Hurricane Midgets from running their heats and feature on Saturday, and also factored into the plans for the Modified Division, forcing them also to skip their qualifying heats and dive right into the 50 lap feature race on Sunday afternoon! The Peterborough Speedway Driver’s-Name-of-the-Weekend award went to the #33 Modified driver, Tim Timms; however, despite the Name-of-the-Weekend award, Timms did not place in the top three for the feature. Instead it was Gary McClean who took the checkered flag followed by second place finisher Mark Watson and Dave McCullogh who wound up third! The OSCAAR Super Late Models always put on a great show at Peterborough Speedway and the final day of the Autumn Colours Classic was some of the best OSCAAR racing Peterborough Speedway has seen in a long time! In the first heat, John Fletcher took the checkered flag with Derrick Tiemersma behind for second and Glenn Watson’s #22 machine finished third. The second heat of the day saw Al Shepstone take the win followed by Lloyd Ritchie and Ian Bourque who finished second and third. The feature was 50 laps of extremely intense racing and when the dust settled, it was Rob Clark who stole the show and took the checkered flag. Rounding out the top three were Watson and Ritchie who finished second and third respectively. Tiemersma finished eighth in the feature, but that was good enough for the overall point’s victory for the 2007 OSCAAR season, and he was presented the award following the race! The Late Models had the longest race of the day, a 107 lap feature that was led by only two drivers for the entire race. Dave Morgan started the race in the poll position, and held the lead until just before lap 20 when he was passed by the #71 machine of Dan McHattie. Despite several caution flags throughout the race, MaHattie never gave up the lead and took the checkered flag! Finishing second was the #84 of Larry Jackson and Morgan held on to finish third followed by Kirk Hooker and Brett Murray who rounded out the top five! The Limited Late Models also took to the track for a 75 lap feature, and got in some heat races first. In the qualifying heats, Danny Robinson, Darin Malcolm, and Dwayne Baker all took checkered flags; however, none of them would finish in the top three for the feature. There were several caution flags and some spectacular collisions in the feature, and after nearly an hour and a half, the checkered flag went to Shaun McWhirter in the #31! Gord Shepherd finished second and Tony Tiemersma took the bronze. Over 60 Mini Stock cars showed up for the 15th Annual Autumn Colours Classic, and as a result, there were 6 qualifying heats before the 50 lap feature. Jeff Smith won the first heat, while Peterborough Speedway native Neil Hannah took the second. Todd Musker, Thayne Hallyburton, and Darragh Moroney all won heats as well. In the final heat of the day for the Mini Stocks, the top three finishers were all Peterborough Speedway racers as Jack Hannah took the checkered flag followed by Scott Jacobs and Paul Hannah! There were also two ‘Last Chance Qualifiers” for the Mini Stocks and the feature was set to be the finale of the weekend. Time became a factor as the cars didn’t get out onto the track for the feature race until 11:35pm and Mother Nature intervened again as a cloud of mist settled over the track. After only eight laps, it was nearly midnight, the track was moist, and most drivers could not see out of their windshields because of the mist. As a result, the race was cut short and Jack Hannah was awarded the victory! During an interview between races, Lucas Oil representative Steve Snowden said that the Autumn Colours was, “The best racing of the year!” and despite the weather, the Peterborough Speedway crew did an excellent job to fit in as much racing as possible on Sunday. The 15th Annual Autumn Colours Classic saw the largest cash purse in the country and was an event that will not soon be forgotten. The Peterborough Speedway staff would like to thank all of the sponsors, including Lucas Oil and the Old Smoke House Catering Co., as well as all the drivers, crew members, and fans who all helped to make the weekend a huge success! The second installment of the Gateway Grass Drags and Radar Runs is next weekend at Peterborough Speedway and the fifth and final 250-laps Enduro Race is on October 20th. For information on all upcoming events at the track, or on how to get involved in the racing action for the 2008 season,