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PATRICK SCORES SOS WIN AT SOUTH BUXTON RACEWAY

By Mike Bennett - South Buxton Raceway

The threat of severe weather was all around South Buxton Raceway earlier Saturday.

But no one saw a tornado coming – especially not Keith Dempster and Glenn Styres.

The Ohsweken Speedway teammates were locked in a great battle for the lead but suddenly found themselves getting swept up by the ‘Tilbury Tornado.’

Kyle Patrick lived up to his nickname by stormed around the leaders through turns three and four on lap 17 and went on to pick up his second career Southern Ontario Sprints feature victory on his home track.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been up here with the checkered flag in my hands for a feature … it feels really, really good to do it here,� said Patrick, whose only other SOS win at South Buxton came on June 18, 2005.

Patrick started in the sixth position and ran fifth for 10 laps before he found a groove on the high side to get past both Brantford’s Mitch Brown and Lefroy’s Warren Mahoney to move into third.

Meanwhile, Dempster and Styres battled door-to-door for the lead for several laps, allowing Patrick to close the gap to make it a three-car battle for the lead.

On lap 16, Patrick got a great run on the high side of the backstretch and carried his momentum into turn three and blew past both the second-place Styres and then the leader Dempster as they exited turn four.

The race’s only caution waved two laps later and after the restart, Patrick drove away from the pack and was still pulling away when the checkered flag waved seven laps later.

“We’ve been getting ready for this deal since last weekend,� said Patrick.

“We’re good here, but we just run the bottom of the race track and that turns into a follow-the-leader-deal … you have to wait for luck.

“(But) a quick race like this on a tight track, you have to make your own luck.

“We knew if we were going to get this done, we’d have to do it on the high side,� Patrick said.

Dempster held on to finish second over Styres, who won the July 5 feature at South Buxton.

Brantford’s Mitch Brown, who entered the night with a three-point lead over Styres, finished fourth while Port Stanley’s Chris Durand rounded out the top five.

Patrick, the 2003 SOS rookie of the year, is only running a handful of races in the series this year. He finished fourth at Ohsweken and South Buxton on back-to-back nights July 4-5 in his only other SOS appearances this season.

He runs the weekly Corr-Pak series at Ohsweken, where he is fourth in points with three heat race wins and a ‘B’ main victory along with a pair of second-place ‘A’ main finishes.

“If we’re going to get a win this year, I couldn’t be happier that we’re doing it in front of this crowd at our home track,� Patrick said.

“We’ve got a lot of family and friends here … we’re probably gonna burn this place down tonight.�

South Buxton Raceway
Saturday, Aug. 2 Results
Includes car number, drivers’ hometown and feature race starting position.
Southern Ontario Sprints
Feature (25 laps)

1. Kyle Patrick (33K) Tilbury S6
2. Keith Dempster (5) Alton S2
3. Glenn Styres (0) Ohsweken S3
4. Mitch Brown (10B) Brantford S5
5. Chris Durand (67) Port Stanley S7
6. Shawn Sliter (71S) Port Colborne S11
7. Warren Mahoney (25) Lefroy S1
8. Justin Martin (7M) Rodney S9
9. Adam West (30) Ridgetown S10
10. Brad Lodge (2) Stouffeville S12
11. Bob Crawford (10C) Sutton S14
12. Frank Baranowski (66) Hamilton S4
13. Mike Ferrell (15) London S13
14. Scott Sherk (43) Port Colborne S8

Lap Leaders – Dempster 1-11; Styres 12; Dempster 13-16; Patrick 17-25.

First Heat

1. Styres; 2. Baranowski; 3. Dempster; 4. Durand; 5. Martin; 6. Sliter; 7. Ferrell.

Second Heat

1. Brown; 2. Patrick; 3. Mahoney; 4. Sherk; 5. West; 6. Lodge; 7. Crawford.

The Southern Ontario Sprints 2014 season is proudly presented by Speedway Motors, Wiseco Pistons, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants, The National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, Imagefactor.ca Motorsport Designs and Photography, Kreitz Oval Track Parts, Canadian Motorsports Expo, Sanderson’s Tire and Automotive, and OnDirtRacingNews.com.

Find the Southern Ontario Sprints online at www.southernontariosprints.com.
For live updates, race results and more, follow the SOS on Twitter @SOSsprints.
Find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SouthernOntarioSprints.

Photos courtesy of James MacDonald / www.ApexOnePhoto.com   Find the Southern Ontario Sprints online at www.southernontariosprints.com.
For live updates, race results and more, follow the SOS on Twitter @SOSsprints.
Find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SouthernOntarioSprints.

Photos courtesy of James MacDonald / ApexOnePhoto.com.

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