Brighton Speedway June 7 Results
By Dave Cook, Media Officer

Grand Island names in bold

   Warren Mahoney back in winner’s circle after problem found Takes Southern Ontario Sprints feature at Brighton Speedway.

Brighton Speedway, June 7: Warren Mahoney’s setup problems with his race car came to an end this week and what better way was there to celebrate than by driving to a convincing victory Saturday at Brighton Speedway in the Rapid Rad Southern Ontario Sprints 20-lap feature.

"We have been having problems the whole year with the car and we just this week discovered that the rear-end housing was out of alignment. It was an improperly machined part which we found and fixed." Said the Lefroy, Ontario driver.

Brighton Speedway seems to be producing ‘family affairs’ this season as the father son duo of Rick and Kyle Wilson, of Joyceville, Ontario, dominated the season opener at Brighton last month while Saturday night it was the Mahoney clan’s time to take top honors.

Warren and his father, Dick, who just last week finished 14th in the Hoosier Tire Midwest Master’s Classic at Knoxville, Iowa, kicked off the night with a one-two finish in the first heat race. Warren served notice that his winning ways have returned as he grabbed the lead at the green and never looked back.

In the feature 20-lap race Dick again found himself in runner-up position but this time had a little more to offer despite feeling the affects of last year’s operation to reconstruct his roto-cuff tendons.

"It really started to hurt. It was twice as much work there with my shoulder being the way it is. I kept telling myself there is only six laps left and my car was working well on the low line" he said in a post-race interview.

Dick Mahoney actually passed Warren on lap 15 but a caution came out putting him back behind son Warren at the restart. Warren, however, held him off for the final five laps. "I took his line away after the restart," quipped Warren.

Finishing third was Sanborn, N.Y. driver Curt Sherwood ahead of three rookie drivers in this year’s series, Kyle Patrick of Tilbury, Ontario and Bob Crawford of Sutton, Ontario, Dave Goetz of Kenmore, N.Y.

"I was really happy with tonight’s race. We got a good finish under our belt and we take the car home in one piece," said Curt. His night, however, almost started in disaster. During the pre-race warm-ups his engine stopped seemingly for no reason. The crew figured it may have been an electrical problem and after taking the magneto off and putting it back on, the engine re-fired and they were back in action.

Similar problems plagued Dave Goetz and a new mag was installed. Two other drivers encountered major problems and failed to come to the line for their heat races. Series points leader Jim Porter of Grand Island, N.Y. blew an engine while rookie Al Gaukel of Brantford, Ontario discovered a cracked cylinder head.

Warren Mahoney grabbed the lead on the first lap with pole sitter Sherwood tucking in behind. Tim Phillips of Grand Island, N.Y., who started third, held that position for the first eight laps before his engine let go bringing out a caution on lap eight, just one lap after a caution for debris on the track. Dick Mahoney was running fourth with Glenn Styers of Ohsweken, Ontario running fifth.

At the lap eight restart Warren again took command of the race with Sherwood, Dick Mahoney, Styers, Patrick, Crawford, Goetz, Phil Armishaw of Mount Hope, Ontario and Daryl Turford of Stratford rounding out the field.

Glenn Styers encountered problems on lap 12 and started to slow eventually he pulled off the track at the lap 15 caution. In a post race inspection it was discovered that a torsion bar stop broke. "We had planned to replace the aluminum ones with steel parts but didn’t get the job done," said Styers.

The traditional Dash for Cash was not held due to inclement weather conditions. In fact, the evening was not only cool and overcast, but rains were reported just a short distance from the speedway. The night was so damp that several drivers reported that their visor’s were fogging up before the end of the race. One driver, Daryl Turford, said he couldn’t see toward the end and pulled off because of it.

Results; June 7, Brighton Speedway

Heat One: 1. Tim Phillips, Grand Island, N.Y.; 2. Glenn Styers, Ohsweken, Ontario,; 3. Curt Sherwood, Sanborn, N.Y.; 4. Bob Crawford, Sutton, Ontario; 5. Daryl Turford, Stratford, Ontario DNS Jim Porter, Grand Island, N.Y.

Heat Two: 1. Warren Mahoney, Lefroy, Ontario; 2. Dick Mahoney, Newmarket, Ontario; 3. Kyle Patrick, Tilbury, Ontario; 4.Phil Armishaw, Mount Hope, Ontario; 5. Dave Goetz, Kenmore, N.Y. DNS Al Gaukel, Brantford, Ontario

Next race: SOD Race on June 20 at Ohsweken will feature most of the Southern Ontario Sprints drivers; Next SOS Points race is at Ohsweken Speedway, June 27, 2003.