Qwick Wick Super Stock Series

(Above) Pete Vanderwyst (No. 7) entered the Delaware season finale just two points back in the points. The St. Thomas, ON racer has always gone for wins, and he took the victory and secured the championship in the closer. Photo by Dave Franks

Vanderwyst Seals Title at Delaware Speedway

Story by Bryce Turner

It was a mix of new and old for Pete Vanderwyst in the Qwick Wick Super Stock Series this season, as the veteran driver won the series’ second official championship.

Vanderwyst started the five-race season with a pair of top-five finishes, before an eighth-place result in the Canada Day race at Delaware Speedway, where a right-front spring collapsed to spoil his day. That race made tire management a challenge moving forward.

“We had wrecked a tire at the Delaware race, but we weren’t allowed to replace any tires,” said Vanderwyst. “The tire shortage caused a bunch of issues for a lot of guys.”

The team finished eighth at Sunset Speedway before entering the September 24 finale at Delaware just two points back of Gerrit Tiemersma, with Lane Zardo wedged between them in the standings. Vanderwyst is not much of a points racer, so his strategy of chasing wins didn’t change.

“We set the track record, got the pole, started fifth and we were running second for a bunch of the race,” he said. “We finally got to lead eight laps, then I knew Rick Spencer-Walt had new tires and I had tires that had 140 laps on them already.”

Vanderwyst let Spencer-Walt pass him with the fresher tires and settled into second, with some buffer between him and his championship challengers. He held the position for the remainder of the 50-lap race and, with the math done by his team, he had a hunch that the title was his.

“We didn’t want to rejoice sooner than when they actually acclaimed it, but it was a great feeling,” he said. “Great accomplishment for our whole team and the program that we put together.”

Vanderwyst ran a new car out of the McColl Racing stable, which he says gave him the feel he needed to be successful.

“Starting off building a brand-new car and something that was completely different than what anybody had really been running from the metric side of it,” he said. “Burt McColl, who really designed the car…and all the guys at McColl Racing, got the car to where we needed it to be.”

As for the ‘old,’ Vanderwyst says the lines and feel of Delaware remained the same from his CASCAR and early-2000s Late Model days, despite the new pavement, and facing tough competition in weekly racing at Delaware also helped with his home track advantage. DELAWARE SPEEDWAY

Nic Ramsay led the field to green for the season finale, which was the Friday night headliner in the Great Canadian Race Weekend.

The race saw an early red flag of nearly 45 minutes for an opening lap wreck, where Tate O’Leary’s car came to rest with the back bumper stuck atop the inside frontstretch wall. O’Leary felt sore, so a hole was cut in the roof of his car for an easier exit.

Carson Nagy briefly took the lead on the restart before Ramsay took control of the top spot. Nagy started dropping way back, eventually pitting with a blistered tire. With 26 to go, title contender Lane Zardo bounced off the wall and pitted with a flat tire; he went on to finish 10th.

Ramsay held the lead for two restarts before Vanderwyst took the spot with 20 to go. Spencer-Walt used fresher tires to take the lead with 12 to go, winning the race before later being disqualified for failing post-race total weight inspection.

As a result, Vanderwyst, in addition to the title, was also credited with his first series victory; Ramsay, Shawn Chenoweth, Ryan Dyson and Gerrit Tiemersma rounded out the top-five. IT

Ontario Great Lakes Legends

Story by Bryce Turner

It’s not uncommon for ‘families of four’ go to racetracks, to watch. But for the McNicol-Hatch family, they recently had the rare opportunity to compete as drivers in the same class, on the same night!

It happened September 24 in the penultimate race of the Qwick Wick Great Lakes Legends Series, at Flamboro Speedway. Three of the family members were scheduled to compete, with Kenny McNicol in a Dan Russ car, while running his own program for kids Hailey McNicol and Zach Hatch. When an extra seat opened at Russ’ team, it was Kenny’s wife Jennifer Hatch who filled in.

With Kenny and Jennifer about to enter their 30th year of racing, they got the unique opportunity to race as a family of four. They made up the entire field of a heat race when they previously competed together in Bone Stocks but doing this in Legends cars felt different.

“We did a whole bunch of research, and we can’t find anyone else who’s ever documented doing this,” said Jennifer Hatch.

It was a competitive affair for the family, who trash talked during the car ride to the track, about who was going to win and who was going to crash. Ultimately, it was Jennifer who had the worst run of the day, with a mechanical issue relegating her to a 22nd-place finish.

“I ended with a broken rear gear, so ‘mom’ got the shaft,” she said. “I knew that the rear gear could let go at any point and I wasn’t willing to trash the car, so I was just out to start the race with them and get a few laps in.”

Kenny, who went on to win the series championship, led the family with a third-

(Above) Four members of the McNicol-Hatch clan were in the Great Lakes Legends Series field at

Flamboro. (L to R) Jennifer Hatch, Kenny McNicol, Hailey Hatch & Zach Hatch. Photo Courtesy Jennifer Hatch

(Below) Of the four, Kenny McNicol, who would go on to clinch the GLLS championship,

posted the best result on the night, to secure the family bragging rights. Photo by Peter Anderson

place result. Hailey finished 14th and Zach finished 15th, continuing a tendency of finishing back-to-back in very equal equipment.

“In practice, we’ll tell them to go out and get away from each other and we’ll walk up to the fence and there they are, toe-to-toe,” said Jennifer. “We only had one bad crash this year and it was Hailey spinning and Zach launching over the back of Hailey into the wall, (so even the crash) was with each other.”

While they’re a blended family, Jennifer says outsiders wouldn’t know the difference if spending time with them. The four of them travel together on weekends, enjoy trash talking and clearly the kids are close on track. But there are differences when it comes to driving style.

“Hailey is definitely more of a ‘Hail Mary,’ throw it in, let’s get to the front in a hurry, just like her dad,” said Jennifer. “Zach is very much like me, he is cool and consistent every lap, making really calculated moves and working his way to the front.”

Looking back at the experience, Jennifer is proud of how they made it happen, with Kenny running the program and Hailey and Zach moving up from Bone Stocks last year. Kenny, Hailey and Zach plan to race in Legends next year, while Jennifer could potentially join them again, along the way. IT InsideTrackNews.com 29