SOS: Dempster wins opener at Brighton Speedway

BRIGHTON, ON - The Southern Ontario Sprints fifteenth anniversary tour kicked off Saturday night at Brighton Speedway, and when the dust settled a familiar face was in victory lane. Keith Dempster claimed his fifteenth career SOS feature in spectacular fashion, holding off hard-charging Tyler Rand by less than two feet at the finish line.

Glenn Styres and Keith Dempster made up the front row for the first SOS feature of 2010, and the two teammates swapped the lead twice between a rash of early cautions in the first three laps. Back under green flag conditions for a longer period, Styres opened his lead while Dempster and Rick Wilson fought over the runner-up spot until Wilson clipped one of the infield tire markers and broke his left front suspension and went pitside.

Styres opened his lead once again when the race restarted, but disaster struck for the three time SOS champion when the spud gear on his fuel pump broke with just a handful of laps remaining. The misfortune for Styres handed the lead back to Dempster again, but all eyes were on eighth starter Tyler Rand who had sliced his way through the field using the bottom groove. Rand, the 2009 SOS Rookie of the Year, made his way past Adam West in turns three and four and set his sights on Dempster, who was dealing with heavy traffic.

Rand drew alongside of Dempster as the two headed for the checkered flag, but came up just a few feet short of his first career Sprint Car feature win.

"This is a tough place for lapped traffic," said Dempster from Victory Lane. "We like to come up here and support Brighton Speedway and the fans here. I have to thank the crew - there's about eight of them over there, and they make it easy for us to drive these race cars. These wins are for them."

NOTES
- Rookie driver Brad Lodge made his first career SOS start on Saturday night. Lodge, Doug Banks, Erin Joyce, and Jim Munsie are all eligible for the Rookie of the Year award this season. Munsie scored a career best fifth place finish, and was also the hard charger on the night after gaining nine positions in the feature.

- Tyler Rand arrived at the track late and started the night at the tail of his heat race. Rand blew his engine on test and tune night at Brighton earlier in the month and had just gotten his car back together at 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. The hard work of his team paid off with a career-best second place finish.

- The SOS tour gets back to action for round two on Saturday, June 19 back at Brighton Speedway.

RACE REPORT – SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2010
SOUTHERN ONTARIO SPRINTS
2010 SEASON EVENT #1
Brighton Speedway - Brighton, Ontario

ENTRIES
(Number Name - Hometown)
0 Glenn Styres - Ohsweken
01 Kyle Fraser - White Lake
2 Brad Lodge - Stouffville
5 Keith Dempster - Alton
9 Jim Munsie - Newmarket
10 Bob Crawford - Sutton
11j Chris Jones - Demorestville
15aw April Wilson - Joyceville
30 Adam West - Ridgetown
33j Erin Joyce - Alcove, QC
42w Rick Wilson - Joyceville
45x Doug Banks - Kingston
66 Frank Baranowski - Mount Hope
79 Dick Mahoney - Newmarket
84 Tyler Rand - Consecon
98 Paul Pekkonen - Brockville

HEAT RACES
(top 3 finishers redraw for feature starting positions)

HEAT RACE #1
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 0 Glenn Styres (3)
2. 5 Keith Dempster (2)
3. 42w Rick Wilson (1)
4. 30 Adam West (4)
5. 79 Dick Mahoney (5)
6. 45x Doug Banks (7)
7. 01 Kyle Fraser (6)
8. 2 Brad Lodge (8)

HEAT RACE #2
(8 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 11j Chris Jones (2)
2. 10 Bob Crawford (3)
3. 15aw April Wilson (4)
4. 84 Tyler Rand (8)
5. 98 Paul Pekkonen (5)
6. 66 Frank Baranowski (6)
7. 9 Jim Munsie (7)
8. 33j Erin Joyce (8)

'A' FEATURE
(20 laps)
Finish. Number Name (Starting Position)
1. 5 Keith Dempster (2)
2. 84 Tyler Rand (8)
3. 30 Adam West (7)
4. 10 Bob Crawford (5)
5. 9 Jim Munsie (14)
6. 79 Dick Mahoney (9)
7. 45x Doug Banks (13)
8. 66 Frank Baranowski (11)
9. 2 Brad Lodge (15)
10. 15aw April Wilson (4)
11. 0 Glenn Styres (1)
12. 42w Rick Wilson (3)
13. 98 Paul Pekkonen (10)
14. 01 Kyle Fraser (12)
15. 11j Chris Jones (6)
16. 33j Erin Joyce (16)

Stealth Racewear "Under the Radar" Award - 9 Jim Munsie

UNOFFICIAL TOP 5 IN POINTS AFTER ROUND #1 Rank. Number Name Total 1. 5 Keith Dempster - 171 2. 84 Tyler Rand - 164 3. 30 Adam West - 159 4. 10 Bob Crawford - 156 5. 9 Jim Munsie - 146

NEXT SOS EVENT: Saturday, June 19, 2010 @ Brighton Speedway

From Tommy Goudge