DELAWARE - Nothing gained, but nothing lost.
That’s what Scott Lindsay can take from last Friday’s racing here at Delaware Speedway Park. The St. Marys racer began the night 23 points behind NASCAR Late Model points leader Ron Sheridan. Today, Lindsay’s still 23 behind his rival from Mt. Brydges.
Lindsay gained two points on Sheridan during the 10-lap heat races, but the Mt. Brydges driver grabbed them back in the 35-lap feature after he finished third and Lindsay was fourth.
Just five races remain on the Delaware schedule, including two this Friday, Aug. 20 at Delaware. The two 25-lappers will establish the summer’s Triple Crown champ at the half-mile oval, and could go a long way in deciding a track champion as well.
Enough car for a second
This past Friday, Lindsay thought he had the fastest Late Model on the track. He said it’s probably a night where he should have finished in second place and possibly cut into Sheridan’s lead by five points.
After the crew made a few “minor suspension changes” to the Lindsay ‘20’ following their heat, the St. Marys driver started eighth in the 16-car feature. Sheridan, meanwhile, started 12th.
Lindsay was up to fifth by Lap 3, and fourth by Lap 12. Approaching the midway mark of the race, the St. Marys racer had moved up to third place, but Sheridan was now in fourth spot and looking to close the gap.
There were no changes among the front-runners for the next 10 laps. Then on Lap 28, Sheridan snuck under Lindsay on corner two and grabbed third.
“I thought the guy in front of me (Hepworth’s Andrew Gresel) was going to spin right around, so I went to the top side and 81 saved it,” Lindsay explained. “That’s when I lost that spot to Sheridan.
“I was a lot faster than Ron, and we probably could have had a win tonight, but it’s so hard to pass down here.”
There were two more late cautions and re-starts, but Lindsay had to settle for fourth behind Southwold’s Jesse Kennedy, Gresel and Sheridan. Kennedy went wire-to-wire for the win after starting on the pole.
“The (crew) guys did a pile of work on the car this week and we had a whole new set-up in it,” Lindsay added. “We’re definitely headed in the right direction, so we’re pretty happy that way.
“We probably should have picked up four or five points on (Sheridan), but what do you do? If we run like this next Friday (Aug. 20), we should be able to wrap up the Triple Crown title. That’s our goal right now; it would be a pretty neat deal.”
Late rally saves Johns
Shawn Johns, of St. Marys, had a rather eventful night in the Demar Aggregates trucks class last Friday. It started with a load of trouble, but ended quite well—probably saving his season.
“We broke our left-rear axle, tie-rod end and linkage in practice, but the (crew) worked really hard and got us back (on the track) even in time for our heat race,” Johns said.
“We finished fourth and got points that we didn’t think we’d even get. It was a strange night, but it ended up fairly well.”
Assisting the Johns ‘00’ team last Friday were Super Stocks driver Matt Humphrys and his crew chief, John Stevens, both of St. Marys.
In the 15-truck feature, Johns started 10th, but got shuffled early and found himself running in 13th place.
Johns was still back in 10th place, after a couple of caution flags, with just 10 laps remaining. That’s when he made his move, passing six trucks and charging all the way up to fourth spot over the next five laps.
The final caution came out on Lap 20 and the St. Marys racer was able to hold off a late challenge from Londoner Gary Adriaensen to keep fourth.
“The truck didn’t seem to want to turn early in the race, but then it started to work,” Johns said. “Late in the race, we gained a lot of ground in a little bit of time.”
Added Humphrys: “To come back from all that is a great night.”
Chad Rijnen, of London, took the checkered flag, with points leader Paul Fothergill, of London, second.
Fothergill also had his fair share of excitement. In a “bad” heat race, Fothergill “lost” both his axle and drive shaft and finished dead last.
“All the (crew) guys pulled together,” Fothergill said. “We managed to scramble and get parts and get back out there. (The truck) was loose, but loose is good.”
With three races left, Fothergill continues to lead in the points standings, with Adriaensen second 22 points back. Mt. Elgin’s Jeff Showler is third, 25 points behind, and Johns fourth 27 points back of the leader.
Track side:
•Scott Lindsay was fourth in his heat race after starting fourth in a seven-car field. Shawn Johns was also fourth in his trucks dash after starting fourth in his nine-truck heat.
•Lindsay said he wanted to thank Mike McColl, of McColl Racing in London, for all his help last week. “He put a lot of time into the car,” Lindsay noted.
•In the Late Model points standings, Ron Sheridan has 1,207 points and Lindsay 1,184 points. Andrew Gresel is a distant third, 111 points behind the leader.
•Along with the Late Models’ two feature races, the Delaware Super Stocks and Vintage Modifieds are also on this Friday’s program. The Vintage Modifieds consist of pre-1948 closed cars.
•The Triple Crown series (a total of six races at Delaware this summer) gives racers another opportunity to earn NASCAR points (if they are NASCAR members) and to accumulate Delaware Speedway points.