Champions Celebrate a Strong Peterborough Speedway Regular Season
Every local racer starts the year with a goal of earning a track championship. Saturday, September 2nd Peterborough Speedway hosted its 2023 regular season finale that saw titles awarded in its weekly divisions.
Driving a racecar was a brand-new experience for Avery Kirkpatrick. Her first year participating in the Kingsway Auto Centre Junior Late Model division saw the 8-year-old record a pair of feature event victories and her 3rd place effort at the Championship Clash saw her earn the 2023 Rookie Junior Late Model Peterborough Speedway track championship by a 63- point cushion over Praxton Sellers, with Gracelynn MacInnes finishing 3rd.
Fans saw a different side of Miles Tyson during the 2023 season than they had during previous years. With a background that had also included Mini Stock and Legend Cars, the talented racer turned heads in the Jiffy Lube Super Stock field at Canada’s Toughest 3rd Mile Oval from the opening green flag. He logged a pair of main event wins and took the track championship by a slim 4-point margin over Mark Gordon in a title fight that wasn’t decided until the last lap of the Championship Clash. Brandon Feeney was 3rd in the final standings.
Every lap by Peterborough Speedway Kingsway Auto Centre Pro Junior Late Model racer Lucas Cousineau is a family reunion. The feature race starting field at the Saturday, September 2nd feature event also included his cousins Chase, Cole and Carson. Even with members of his extended family on the front row, Lucas took the green flag as the division’s point leader and locked-up the overall crown with his 3rd place finish. He finished the year a handful of points ahead of Chase, with Cole and Landon Sellers tied for 3rd, only 13 points behind.
The name Ryan Kimball is well-known to the Peterborough Speedway fan base. From a home base of nearby Norwood, Ontario he showed his racing chops from early in his career. Starting in the Thunder Car/Super Stock ranks, his 2023 KOD Disposal Late Model track championship joins his 2014 crown and a 2001 Thunder Car title with important career wins in the Autumn Colours Classic. His fierce late-season battles with multi-time track champion Dan McHattie left both drivers smiling and helped pave the way to the Late Model title. The driver of the No. 16 machine finished 55 points ahead of Daniel Montanari, with McHattie – who made one fewer regular season start – 65 points in arrears.
Additional 2023 titleholders will be covered in the next track press release.
Peterborough Speedway staff and officials would like to acknowledge the contributions of Jeremy Kelly to the recently completed regular season. Following the second of his back-to-back Mini Stock championships, the hometown racer stepped away from the driver’s seat and did some valuable promotional work for the track through FILMkelly, his video production company. The projects were very popular with fans, drivers and race teams and proved to be a valuable marketing tool for the venue.
Peterborough Speedway will now switch its 2023 focus to the running of the 30th anniversary APC Autumn Colours Classic, presented by Motorama. Action gets underway Friday, October 6th and continues through the Thanksgiving Weekend. Full event details can be found at www.peterboroughspeedway.com or on the track’s social media platforms.