Norris Breaks Through for First 2010 Victory

For the first time since the Ontario Pro Challenge series kicked off its season back in May, a driver other than reigning champion Dennis Thomson grabbed the checkered flag in a feature race. Thomson laid down a streak of four straight feature wins to begin his title defense, but last Saturday (July 17) at Sunset Speedway, series veteran Tim Norris (#88 ApprencticeSearch.com / Lucas Oil Dodge Intrepid) was able to fend off his challenges to score his first win of the year. The racing was hard-fought, as Dario Valente (#71 Apartments International Monte Carlo) capitalized on a heat race win and his subsequent main event pole position to finish second, holding back Thomson ($02 Thomson Signs Ford Mustang) during the final laps of the race.

Rookie Jason Podewis (#7 Monte Carlo) turned in his best effort of the season as the top freshman of the night, running third for a time before losing the spot to a charging Thomson. Podewis would maintain his position in fourth, which brought him a nice points haul and advanced him to 16th overall in the championship standings and sixth in the rookie race. There is still a lot of racing to be had and Podewis is now finding a competitive comfort level in his ride, which will keep him in the hunt for the rookie title. Tim Forbes (#04 Midhurst Roofing Ford Mustang) completed the top-five.

The heat race wins went to Valente, Norris and rookie Patrick Freel (#77 Dodge Intrepid). As previously detailed, Valente would leverage his qualifying victory to finish second overall, while Norris drove up through the field for the win. Freel had issues and would finish up in 14th.

Thomson now leads the points by 36 markers over Norris, with Forbes in hot pursuit. The leading rookie is Owen Smith (#40 Ford Taurus), who sits ninth in the standings, just four points ahead of Rick Seeley (#16). Smith was eighth at Sunset while Seeley took 11th.

The series will be on the road again this weekend, running a track perfectly suited for the ¾ scale hot rods. The Ontario Pro Challenge drivers will be heading to the banked ¼-mile Varney Speedway on Saturday night (July 24) to give the fans a taste of some their unique door-to-door competition.