Inside Track Master Quark 8

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lucas oil sportsman cup
036_053_IT_1503_Inside Track Master Quark 8 5/3/2011 12:47 PM Page 52
By all accounts, reigning champion Jay Doerr (middle) is going to be tough to beat in the Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup chase in 2011.
doerr and BalSon lead the Way
the lucas oil Sportsman cup title should be a very competitive tour in 2011
By JaMIe Maudsley for losc
M
any are suspecting that when the
Lucas Oil Sportsman Series presented
by Tirecraft kicks off its seven-event, 2011
championship campaign with the May 20
Tirecraft 100 at Delaware Speedway, the
championship will be a two-horse race.
Last season was an epic three-way dance
for the championship between Jay Doerr,
Kelly ‘The Crowd Pleaser’ Balson, and Dave
Connelly, with Doerr hoisting the hardware
at the year-end banquet. With Connelly departing for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, in 2011 Doerr and Balson seem to have
the inside line on the division championship. That said, there are others who are
looking to join the title fight.
Doerr has to be considered the odds-on
favourite after claiming his first championship in a full-size stock car, in 2010, but
the defending title holder admits it won’t
be easy. “There are a lot of good cars and
teams,” said Doerr. “And I think it will be a
great season for the series. In 2010 we didn’t have a lot of problems, and that’s helpful
when you’re trying to win a championship.”
Balson finished his stellar freshman
L.O.S.C. campaign with a second-place
showing the points standings. He’s eager to
get back to racing in 2011, and another
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championship battle.
“Jay Doerr is going to be tough again; he
doesn’t beat himself,” said Balson. “And
every night last year when he was having a
tough night, he was still able to drive it into
the top-three. I watched him close during
the Great Canadian 200 at Delaware from
the stands.
“He just kept all the fenders on the car
and drove it into the top-five at the end. I
also think Josh Wood is a pretty good
driver, and there were times last year when
he was really fast.”
For Balson, the travelling series offered
many changes to the former weekly competitor. “We also come from running 25-lap
features, and there isn’t time for a lot of patience. The 100 lappers were much different for me, but I enjoy them. You have to
be smart enough to not race a guy side-byside, for lap after lap, on lap 37.”
the Best of the rest
Josh Wood captured a win in the series’
inaugural visit to Sunset Speedway in 2010.
He rode that to a third-place finish in the
standings. Wood has raced for a number of
years on the tour and loves the format, “My
dad and I fund our team out of our own
pockets, and I think the fact that we can do
that says a lot about the series.
“To run a Late Model at a track, you have
to race 20 times, and that can get expensive. I like going to lots of different tracks.”
Followed his consistent 2009 season,
Danielle Prudhomme had a roller coaster
ride in 2010 that didn’t result in a trip to
victory lane. To be fair, there were a number
of times when it wasn’t any of his doing, as
he was caught up in several incidents that
weren’t of his own making. The Thamesford, ON pilot has the driving talent and the
team to make a run at a title. And this could
be the year.
The ‘Tillsonburg Tornado’ Jason Meyer
burst on the L.O.S.C. scene in 2009. And
after a tremendous sophomore season in
2010, he seems ripe to move to the feature
winner category in 2011.
Meyer spoke about chasing the top-five
in points and his first win, “We ran really
well all year, and at the end of the year we
were all set to miss the final race at Flamboro because one of our guys was getting
married.
“Then we were rained out and had the
chance to race on the rain date. A few laps
into the race, we broke an axle, and that
knocked us out of the top-five. But I think
we can be in that top-five in 2011.”
Meyer continued, “As for the series, I
ing, who has made a few NASCAR
Canadian Tire Series starts. Former
SOS driver Kris Root will be back in
action, and will also be joined by
fellow freshmen Tim Burke, and Rob
Anderton. This should bring the
field to 20-plus cars at most, if not
all of the events.
Host facilities include: Delaware,
Mosport, Sunset, Peterborugh,
Sauble and Flamboro speedways.
new Qualifying format
The Lucas Oil Sportsman Cup
will change its qualifying procedure for 2011, introducing a ‘fast
five’ format. Following time trials,
the top five competitors will assemble on the front stretch and
the crowd will see the top-five
qualifiers draw for what they hope
will be the pole position.
Balson spoke about the new format, “I think it will do a number of
things for our series. First off, unless you’re in the know, the fans
have no idea how the fields are
handicapped. This is as transparent
as it gets.
“The top-five come out in front
of the fans, and the fans will know
where each of those drivers will
start. It will also take sandbagging
totally out of the equation. You
have to run fast enough to get in
the top-five, but once you are in the
top-five, you have a one-in-five
chance of sitting on the pole.” •
(Below, l t r) Kelly Balson and Jay Doerr are expected to be
in the title mix, again, this season. (Above) Dan Prudhomme
(#96) and Jason Meyer (#93) battle at Sunset.
Jamie Maudsley for LOSC
think it’s in great shape. Tirecraft
came aboard as a presenting sponsor for the series, and it’s special to
me because I’m a Tirecraft dealer.
We’re also going to get back to
Delaware this year, and that’s where
I started racing, so it’s my home
track. We’re also going to be in action there on two big weekends,
which is a bonus for the series, and
all our marketing partners.”
Second generation drive Matt
Robblee will be making his return
to the tour in 2011 on a full-time
basis after making just a single start
last year.
In that one start, he was impressive, as he fought through brake
problems while racing with Cole
Weber for the lead late in the race.
Robblee finished second in the
points in 2009.
Also returning will be 2008
champion Shawn McGlynn. The
Kitchener, ON driver has struggled to find the raw speed again
that carried him to that championship, but could rediscover it at
any moment.
Another racer, Cole Weber, closed
off the 2010 season in style. He
won the season finale at Flamboro.
He’s hoping that the success can
carry over to 2011.
The series also boasts the largest
number of new teams in several
years, starting with Shannon Hard-
Greg MacPherson
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