Most of the Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Teams in the pits knew that being effective on the bottom would be the key to winning on Sunday at Humberstone, but only Jamie Collard was able to perfect the low line as he scored his first career sprint car win.
Collard, of Buford, Ontario, took the lead from two-time Patriot Champion Chuck Hebing on lap six and ran off and hid in lapped traffic to win the non-stop 25-lap Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot A-main at Humberstone Speedway.
“This is my first career sprint car win and I can’t believe it,” declared the driver of Paul Ballentyne’s Lexton Pub and Grill No. 27. “I came in to tonight just worried about making the show with the quality of cars in the pits.”
Chuck Hebing jumped out in front in his potent Wilkins Recreational Vehicles No. 45 and seemed poised to stay undefeated at Humberstone, but Collard, who started in third, was finding bite on the bottom as Hebing was spinning his wheels on the top of the track.
Collard got by Kyle Moffit on lap three for second but Moffit hung close on the top. Those two reeled in Hebing, who was committed to the outside, allowing Collard opening racetrack to pass for the lead.
Hebing attempted to block on the bottom but realized his car was best suited to run on the top and tried the best he could up there. The 30-time Patriot winner was no match for Collard.
Earlier this year, Collard, a front runner in the TQ Midget ranks, had trouble just qualifying for events in Southern Ontario. Of late though, the team has hit on something that has allowed Jamie to run the inside, the line he knows best.
“I had to run the bottom because that’s all I know how to run,” said Collard in Victory Lane after dealing with lapped traffic for the majority of the feature. “It was tough getting by (the lapped cars) but we got through it.”
Collard became the 12th different winner of the season on the Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot Tour, tying the record for most in a season. He is also perhaps the biggest underdog outsider to score a Patriot win.
In the final five laps, Bryan Howland, the Lucas Oil ASCS Patriot point leader and defending champion, began to reel in Collard in lapped traffic. Howland, who won the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals Four Laps of Fame Dash and started ninth, was persistent to make the top work and came up about five car lengths and maybe one lap short.
Howland had moved from ninth to fourth in two laps, but had not take second from Hebing until lap 18 as both were running similar lines.
Hebing would have to settle for third for the second straight night. “Cobra” won his heat from seventh place and after drawing the pole was the odds-on favorite for the feature. The way his bad luck has been this season though, a pair of thirds this weekend is a welcomed result for the No. 45.
Youngsters Bubba Broderick and Kyle Moffit engaged in a spirited battle for fourth and fifth positions for much of the feature, with Broderick, the winner of National Parts Peddler Heat No. 2 coming home in fourth.
On the final lap, as Collard was taking the Checkered Flag, Bobby Breen went over the banking in turn two and when he came back across got together with Don Adamczyk. Adamczyk would limp home with a broken front end for sixth while Breen spun to the infield and collected Glenn Styres.
Dave Dykstra, Kevin Job and Kevin Loveys all avoided the wreck and would scramble back to the line but be scored in that order as the race had already been brought under yellow flag conditions.
Jared Zimbardi barely made the feature and was able to round out the top-10. The run would hurt “The Juice” in the Championship picture though as Howland now has more than a one A-Main advantage over Zimbardi heading in to the final two races of the season.
Blake Breen would struggle in the feature and finish in 12th but that was just good enough to capture the inaugural King of the Golden Horseshoe Crown. Breen needed to finish five spots ahead of Dave Dykstra, and that is exactly what he did.
A quality contingent of 30 cars made it in to the pit area for the only sprint car race at Humberstone in 2009. The 1/3-mile facility that ran sprints bi-weekly in 2007 and 2008 showed many different faces throughout the night, thanks in large part to Mother Nature.
During a caution period in the second National Parts Peddler Heat Race, a light mist turned in to heavy enough rain which forced a 40 minute delay. When the cars came back out the track was very fast but by the end of the B-Main was extremely slick.
Early in the night, before the rain, Bobby Breen laid down a 13.507 second lap in hot laps which is the official track record.
Lucas Oil ASCS Patriots Results: 8/30/09, Humberstone Speedway, Port Colborne, Ontario.
A-Main (25 Laps)- 1. Jamie Collard (27), 2. Bryan Howland (51), 3. Chuck Hebing (45), 4. Bubba Broderick (5), 5. Kyle Moffit (7), 6. Don Adamczyk (21), 7. Dave Dykstra (5D), 8. Kevin Job (21x), 9. Kevin Loveys (18), 10. Jared Zimbardi (35), 11. Chris Jones (11J), 12. Blake Breen (8), 13. Gordy Button (714), 14. Glenn Styres (0), 15. Bobby Breen (9), 16. Keith Dempster (5k), 17. Chris Muhleisen (10M), 18. Brad Knab (38), 19. Brandan Warner (10b), 20. Derek Jonathan (81), 21. Ryan Hunsinger (77x), 22. Devin Caron (24k).
Lap Leaders- Hebing 1-6, Collard 7-25.
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