Raabe Doubles Up In 2009 DIRTcar Sportsman Championship At Cornwall
*Rick Young Photo Attachment // Cornwall, ONT – July 5, 2009 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRTcar Racing Northeast PR Director
Around this same time last year Chris Raabe was celebrating his first career feature race victory in the Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series. Three months later he was officially crowned Mr. DIRTcar Champion at the age of 17.
Only four shows have reached the record book this season, and now Raabe, a seasoned veteran of the weekly open-wheel wars, has already captured his second checkered flag on tour and his latest triumph Sunday in the Benson Auto Parts 50 at Cornwall elevated him back into familiar territory --- first-place in the latest Mr. DIRTcar point standings.
The ‘Teenage Tornado’ settled into the top-three by the halfway mark, moved in to shadow leader Guy Ouellette with 30 laps scored, then dove under the fast Frenchman to forge the only lead change with 13 laps still remaining. A late race scare in traffic nearly thwarted Raabe’s best effort, yet the talented traveler from Napanee, Ontario held on for a three car-length margin over hard-charging Brandon Sweet in the tour’s first trip to Cornwall since 1996.
“Hats off to everyone here (on the team), they’re the real winners. I just get in the car and drive it, not a whole lot to it,” downplayed Raabe, the modest teenager who is now staring history right in the eye with a second-straight Mr. DIRTcar title clearly in sight. “The guys worked really hard on the car, we were a little bit off at the start but got better as the night went on.”
Qualifying fifth fastest in time trials to help sort out the 30-car field, Raabe finished second in his heat behind Sweet before drawing sixth to start outside row three and right alongside Sweet in the 50-lap finale.
Ouellette grabbed the pole in his own pre-race pick and shot out early before the first yellow waved just as the opening circuit ended. When the dust finally cleared, Canadian chauffeur Sheldon Hoogwerf and Central New Yorker Eric Giguere were among the casualties although each were able to rejoin the rear without losing a lap.
Ouellette jumped out front back under green flag conditions and was chased by Western New York invader Jipp Ortiz, fresh off his win the night before stateside at Can-Am Motorsports Park in LaFargeville. Raabe stormed into third with a handful of laps complete, although he traded spots with fourth-place runner Shane Pecore to leave him just ahead of Sweet while fast time trailer Sammy Reakes IV crept up to challenge in the early stages.
Quebecois driver Steve Bernier had slowed in turn four to force a second caution period on lap seven, and it wasn’t until fellow Canadian Todd Ferguson looped his mount exiting turn three that yellow lights would fall again on lap 21.
The top-five positions remained intact at the halfway mark forcing the nearest challengers to zero in on the #07 of Ouellette, #0 of Oritz and #01 of Raabe as the tight quarter-miler blackened with each passing lap. Raabe finally overtook Ortiz for second on lap 28, yet three yellows in three laps only delayed his rise to the front as Ouellette made his car as wide as can be knowing a change was about to come.
Pulling up to the leader’s bumper seemingly lap after lap, Raabe finally made it alongside Ouellette on the back chute, then pulled off a perfect slide for life exiting turn four before emerging as the new front-runner with three miles of racing still to go. Knowing Raabe had found the hot set-up with laps clicking off at a 15-second clip, Sweet followed suit and bullied his way into second with eight laps left and 23 cars riding around to contend with.
Raabe suddenly drew a gasp from the capacity crowd as he made contact with American Mark Chiddy on the front straightway attempting to put him a lap down just as the white flag was in the air. Raabe slowed his Scott Industrial Services no. 01 Kingston RV Centre-Tyroute Communications/TEO machine sideways for a brief moment, regrouping just in time to shut the door on a fast-closing Sweet en route to his sixth DIRTcar win of the season.
“I was off that (front) wall more times than I could count, we’re gonna have to start putting on a heavier right side bar, that’s for sure,” smiled Raabe, who retook the series points from sixth-place finisher Reakes by a count of 307-301 through the initial four tour events.
“The track was a little choppy at the start of the night, but everyone here working on it did a great job getting it back into shape. It was real racy, certainly had lots of bite through the middle and was just a good track tonight,” noted Raabe, whose first series win this year came at Can-Am in April, with Black Rock (9th) and Brewerton (21st) his only other finishes in tour competition.
While Raabe visited victory lane at Cornwall last season, Sweet was just as excited with his runner-up tally as it highlighted his first-ever trip to Ron Morin’s plush facility as well as his initial top-five feature race run on tour this year.
“It's definitely awesome to come out here for the first time and run this good,” remarked Sweet, who finished 18th in the final overall 2008 Mr. DIRTcar title hunt. “But first off, I want to congratulate Chris, he’s a good runner and we’ve been running with him since go-karts.”
“I’d also like to thank all my sponsors, its been a great year so far, hopefully we can keep it going,” added Sweet, who has registered four feature wins in ’09 aboard the no. 24 Clarence Henry Coach-Powis Excavating/Bicknell entry, split evenly between Can-Am and Thunder Alley Speedpark at two apiece.
On this day a member of the touring trio comprised of top Frenchmen representing autodromes Granby and Drummond, Ouellette was in line for his first win of the season until Raabe forced the St-Hyacinthe, Quebec driver out of his groove before crossing the line in the show position. A climb up the victory lane podium was met by track PR master Brian Mulligan, who served as translator for Ouellette in his first-ever post-race appearance trackside.
“This is my first time to Cornwall and I really enjoyed the experience,” opened Ouellette after keeping his R Tuning-J.Anctil Rona/TEO mount at the head of the class all night until developing a push as the laps dwindled. “I’d like to thank all the spectators for coming out to support this event. It was a real pleasure to run with guys the caliber of Chris and Brandon, hopefully I’ll get to do it again sometime very soon.”
The Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Series takes nearly a two-week break before getting the green light for round number five at Cayuga County Fair Speedway on Saturday, July 18 as part of DIRTcar All-Star Weekend, July 17-19.
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