Make it Seven For Fletcher

    Fletcher victorious at Barrie Speedway
by Dave Vokey
Milton's #61 John Fletcher once again proved dominance in OSCAAR Super 
Late Model action September 24 at Barrie Speedway. For Fletcher, it was 
his second 50 lap feature victory of the 2006 season at the High Line 
and his 7th feature victory of the OSCAAR season in only 11 events.

#11 Stu Robinson Jr. assumed the early lead from the pole after a brief 
early battle with #89 Drew Spicer, who had won two heat races the 
previous day until inclement weather postponed Saturday night's feature 
until Sunday afternoon. Robinson Jr. was completing laps in the 13.3 
second range at the front, with Spicer running second and #67 Phil 
Bullen in third throughout the early going. The car on the move early 
was the #22 of Glenn Watson, a former Barrie Late Model track champion. 
Watson, would progress from his sixth place starting position to find 
himself running fourth just 6 laps in. Watson, would begin to put 
pressure on Bullen for third when the races first caution flew at lap 13 
for a turn 1 incident involving #27 Roy Passer and #7.3 Ken Hayward, 
himself a former Barrie Speedway competitor. Also collected in the mix 
was #62 Lloyd Ritchie and his familiar " Orange Blossom Special" 
machine. Just after the restart, both Bullen and Watson would duck 
inside of Spicer between 1&2 to move to second and third respectively. 
It was at this point in the race veteran driver Fletcher began to make 
his presence felt at the front, pulling alongside of Watson and passing 
him on the outside of the track. Fletcher was not done there however, as 
he would sneak to the inside of Bullen for second, this time Watson 
would follow him through to regain third, and drop Bullen back to the 
fourth place position. By lap 28, Fletcher had run down front runner 
Robinson Jr. and would pass him one circuit later to overtake the point. 
Fletcher would open up a 2-3 car length advantage at the front when the 
caution flew again at lap 35 as #7t Ed Bowlby would make contact with 
Bullen sending him spinning as the pair exited corner 4. Fletcher, again 
would take off from the pack with a great battle ensuing between 
Robinson Jr. and Watson for second and Bowlby lurking closely in behind 
that pair of drivers. Bowlby, unfortunately would loop it coming out of 
corner 4 ending a strong run to the front that saw him running inside 
the top 5. On lap 42, Watson would make his move on Robinson Jr. getting 
inside him going down the backstretch, moving to second to begin to hunt 
down Fletcher. Fletcher had about a 5 car length lead and was completing 
laps in the 13.4 sec. range, well under the official track record. Over 
the closing laps, Watson would marginally narrow the Fletcher lead but 
was unable to get close enough as Fletcher would capture the victory in 
remarkable fashion to add to an already stellar season for the JNE 
Consulting/ Hype Energy Drink team. Watson would hold on for second, 
with 2 time series champ Robinson Jr finishing third. #89 Drew Spicer 
and #43 T.J Woolsey would round out the top 5. Heat wins would go to 
Spicer with two, Watson and Fletcher.