With your first taste of success, you can’t help but crave more. Brandon Watson’s performance during the 2009 season made headlines wherever he turned a wheel. Solid showings at tracks like Delaware, Barrie and Kawartha Speedway’s – as well as selected stops on the ACT Castrol Series – earned the 16 year-old rising star his time in the spotlight.
A dominating effort – winning 2 of 3 features – at Peterborough Speedway’s Autumn Colours Classic and a third place showing in the inaugural American-Canadian Tour Invitational event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway made the motorsports world take notice of the young hot-shoe from Stayner, Ontario. With the 2010 season just around the corner, Watson is set to embark on an entirely new racing adventure.
Tony Blanchard’s Race 101 – a driver development program based in Denver, North Carolina – recently announced that Brandon Watson is 1 of 5 Canadian drivers selected to receive a prestigious scholarship worth $7,500.00 for the upcoming semester. Students in the program attend a variety of workshops on everything from chassis set-up, shock and suspension training to marketing, PR, media, interview and image coaching.
The program’s top 2010 graduate receives a full super late model ride as the 2011 Premier Race 101 Program driver. For more details, see www.race101.net. Brandon and his father Tim will attend the Race 101 opening ceremonies and press conference in Charlotte, North Carolina Friday, January 29th followed by 2 days of classroom and on-track sessions. From there, they’ll test their 2010 Shear Metal Products/Logel’s Auto Parts/Spira Fire Protection/McColl Racing Enterprises/Ken MacKinnon Construction Impala at the legendary Hickory Motor Speedway.
The final stop of Brandon Watson’s mid-winter racing odyssey will take place at New Smyrna Speedway for the 44th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. An open practice session is on the calendar for Thursday, February 4th. The Stayner Collegiate student will wheel his #9 machine in the crate late model division, running 7 of 9 nights against some of the biggest names and brightest stars in North American short track racing.
“We had a great year in 2009 and I hope we can carry that momentum through 2010,” said the quiet teen. “It’s a very ambitious schedule, but we’ll be exposed to so many different scenarios it will be a real benefit to our program. The things we did last year went a long way to getting us noticed and now we just have to keep the ball rolling.”
Follow Brandon’s efforts at New Smyrna Speedway on-line at www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org or at www.brandonwatsonracing.com.
Photo attachment: team supplied // Brandon Watson’s 2010 McColl Racing Enterprises Chevrolet Impala
Prepared by: Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
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