2nd Place Feature Finish in Peterborough Speedway after winning both Heat Races

July 5, 2009 – Race 4 Report - Two Heat WINS to start the Day!

Peterborough Speedway – The Full Throttle Racing team and the INEX Ontario Legends Series returned to Peterborough Speedway for a rare Sunday afternoon race.

The weather was hot and sunny and the stands were packed with race fans, including 25 family and friends of the Full Throttle Race Team who showed up to support the Martin-Coleman Sales, Doug Parmenter Auto Service, Vetteworks of Canada and Mysterious Designs sponsored #36 Ford Coupe.

The #36 Ford was unloaded and was still in showroom condition after spending the previous day at a sponsor’s event which was a ton of fun. We met and chatted with a lot of great people, the food was fantastic and we were very happy to be a part of the day. Thanks Don, Rose and family for having us!

Johnny would take the #36 out for his first practice session and we could see right away that the car was loose. The heat of the track in the early afternoon sun would force us to make a wedge adjustment to try and tighten him up.

Following the second session another small wedge adjustment was done as the car was still on the loose side. With practice over, Johnny would go and draw a starting position of 5th for his first heat race. On the green the #36 would start his charge toward the front. Exiting turn 2 he would be nestled into 3rd and right on the bumper of the #4 of Bill Mason. On lap 2 the #4 and the #36 would slide past the #48 of J.R Pierik and then the battle was on. Johnny would find his way past Mason on the back straight to take lead and driving hard to catch the new leader the #4’s engine would let go and that would be the end of the day for Bill Mason. Johnny would drive the #36 to the checkered with a large gap between him and the second place finisher #48 Pierik.

After a quick photo in the winner’s circle it was time to prep for the second heat. Johnny would start his second heat in the fourth spot, outside of Row 2. With the green flag waving Johnny would have a great start and move the #36 to the inside line and take up the third spot. Johnny would race with the #27 of Bungaro for a couple of laps for second, which allowed the #15 of Rick Cook to pull a full straight ahead of them. The #36 would finally sneak by the #27 for second and then the hunt was on. With 4 laps to go it appeared time would run out for the #36 but Johnny would keep his focus and stay on it and on lap 7 he would be on the bumper of the #15. On the last lap, last corner, Johnny would drive deep and low out of turn 4 for a drag race to the line. The black and white #36 would be the first to arrive at the checkered for his second Heat win of the day. Incredible driving! This would set Johnny up for a good feature starting position, with visions of a hat trick.

The #36 would start inside Row 2, in the third position. With the top 5 driver’s in the series in the first 5 positions it was going to be quite a race. A masterful start to the race Johnny would exit turn two in 2nd, right on the heels of the #79 of Cuthburtson. Johnny would make several attempts to go by Cuthburtson, and the #36 was faster but would have to protect his position as series point leader #88 Bruce Grimes was on his doorstep. The 3 cars would stay the same for several laps but on lap 8 Grimes would find his way past Johnny to take over 2nd. Lap 11 would bring out the first caution of the day as the #27 of Bungaro would find the front straight wall after getting loose exiting turn 4. Johnny would be in 3rd on the restart, which was a great position to be in. Johnny would once again have a awesome start and drive the #36 into 2nd but only for a short while as a couple of cars got together in turn 1 bringing out another yellow caution.

Once they were cleaned up and the pace car was off the track the front 3 cars started their battle for first. The #88 would cruise by the #79 to take the lead and Johnny would lurk in the third position for most of the race. On the final lap the two leaders would get together on the back straight. Johnny sensing something was going to happen moved to the high side and would avoid contact with the spinning #88 of Grimes. Johnny would be safely around turn 4 and with the yellow flag waving he would get absolutely hammered (T-boned) on the driver’s side by an out of control #77 Fernendez. We are still unclear about what caused the #77 to loose control when he exited turn 4 but that’s racing and we were lucky to be able to restart the race.

Johnny would make sure the car was handling okay and he gave his crew chief the thumbs up and it appeared that he would be the new leader for the green-white-checkered finish. This was not the case as the #79 of Cuthbertson, who was involved in the incident, was deemed to have held his line and was given the lead position. Johnny would restart in 2nd. On the green the #36 was so close to beating the #79 down to turn 1, but would not quite have enough to drop to the low line. Cuthbertson would remain in the lead and Johnny would tuck in behind for second. This is the way they would finish.

For the second week in a row the #36 would finish the Feature in second place. This was the best results night of racing in Johnny’s Legends career with two heat wins and a second place finish in the Feature. There is a bit of damage to the #36 but we will have it fixed up for this Sunday’s afternoon race at Kawartha Speedway. We placed and order for a new set of tires as Johnny is burning up the wheels running at the front, with hopes that he can keep the momentum going on his way to capturing the INEX Ontario Legends Series Championship.

As always Thanks to our sponsors Martin-Coleman Sales, Doug Parmenter Auto Service, Vetteworks of Canada and Mysterious Designs and Graphics.