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Former driver honoured at Laird

It was a night to honour a former competitor that many of the drivers knew very well. Friday night saw Laird International Raceway honour former driver Chris Jones, who was tragically killed in a work-related motor-vehicle accident in June.

It was a night to honour a former competitor that many of the drivers knew very well.

Friday night saw Laird International Raceway honour former driver Chris Jones, who was tragically killed in a work-related motor-vehicle accident in June.

Jones was a regular at Laird for many years, competing in the Factory Stock Division.

“To see something like this put on in his memory is very deserving, no question,” said veteran driver Rick Ellis of having a night in honour of Jones.

“Everything that’s been said about him is true,” Ellis also said. “When Chris was running well, he was happy and even when he was having problems, he was still happy. He was always looking to help people and he was just an extremely outgoing man and fun to be around. He loved racing. He didn’t have to be winning all of the time.”

In honour of Jones, the Factory Stock Division ran a 63-lap feature race, which was split in two with a break after lap 30 and a 10-minute break prior to the final 33 laps. The break saw the cars parked on the front stretch while drivers were allowed to have one crew member come out and service the car prior to the final 30 laps.

Jarritt Varcoe led the race through 30 laps after passing race leader Keenan Spurway on lap 23. The top six drivers were then inverted with J.P. DelPaggio and Ron Raynor in the front row on the restart and Varcoe moving back to sixth alongside Spurway in row three.

The final laps saw DelPaggio, Varcoe and Spurway battle for the lead with DelPaggio holding off a strong push by Varcoe in the final laps to win the feature. Spurway held onto third.

DelPaggio was presented with a trophy following the win by members of Jones’ family.

“It makes it 10-times more special,” DelPaggio said in his post-race interview on the track of winning the first Chris Jones Memorial. “(Jones) was an amazing man and I’m very honoured that I got to do this.”

The track also raised money for the Jones’ family. Between what was raised by the track and donations from local businesses, nearly $6,500 was raised.

The Modified Division ran a 50-lap feature with Mav MacDonald Jr. leading at the 25-lap break. In similar fashion to the Factory Stock race, the group were able to re-fuel after the opening half of the race and veteran driver Nick Kozak, making his first appearance of the season at LIR would eventually win the feature narrowly over MacDonald with Dennis Uhlman finishing third.

The length of the night saw the postponement of a pair of feature races. The Super Late Models and Factory Fours were scheduled to run 25-lap features but will now run double features next week.

Action continues as two more race nights are scheduled. Next week’s action will return to the traditional Thursday night program on Sept. 3 while the season championship is scheduled for Sept. 10.

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HEAT RACE

Heat One
Factory Four: Brent Fewchuk
Factory Stock: Jake Irwin
Modified: Keith King
Super Late Model: Keith King

Heat Two
Factory Stock:  J.P. DelPaggio

****
AUSSIE PURSUIT

Factory Four: John Carter
Factory Stock: J.P. DelPaggio
Modified: Dustin Jackson

****
QUALIFYING

Factory Four: Jacob Heimonen (17.820)
Factory Stock: Keenan Spurway (15.702)
Modified: Mav MacDonald Jr. (14.637)
Super Late Model: Rob Hiiemaa (14.031)


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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