BOWMANVILLE – The most prestigious trophy in Ontario Super Late Model Racing was up for grabs this weekend at Sunset Speedway for Mike Beyore and the rest of the OSCAAR tour. The 2014 Don Biederman Memorial pitted the top drivers against each other for 50-lap features on consecutive nights.
Beyore battled from the rear of the field to finish 11th on Saturday night, and seventh on Sunday.
The event started with the only time trial session of the season. Beyore turned in the 10th quickest lap at a time of 13.905 seconds. He battled a hard push, but still managed a top-five starting spot for his heat.
Beyore had some trouble in his heat after contact with Tyler Hawn (No.42) sent him to the rear of the field.
“In the heat I got in to the back of [Tyler] Hawn and turned him,” explained Beyore. “We went to the back and I was on old tires. I wasn’t going to burn what I had left.”
After struggling through the B-Main, Beyore started at the rear of the field. The top-notch field led to plenty of side-by-side racing. Beyore eventually worked his way to 11th and finished one spot shy of a top-ten.
“I was a lot faster than what I finished, but when they’re running side-by-side you can’t get by. There’s no room,” he said. “I had to wait until somebody screwed up to get by. I just waited until I could get what I got.”
Sunday brought a clean slate for Beyore’s No.54 team as he qualified sixth through his heat. That set him up to race with the top pack in the feature.
“The second night I ran as high as fourth or fifth. I faded a little bit at the end,” Beyore explained. “I got a little bit loose, I spun the wheels and screwed up the tires.”
A late race restart allowed a pair of cars to slip underneath Beyore. The No.54 team settled for seventh on night two and came away happy with a successful weekend.
“We came out of there with no damage on the car and the driver survived both nights. I’m happy.”
The level of competition made Beyore’s race to the front on Saturday extremely tiring, said Beyore.
“I drove harder on the Saturday night than Sunday. When we were done the feature, I was done. I was tired.”
After all of the calculations were finished, Beyore had the eighth-best overall finish throughout the two-day event. Kevin Cornelius (No.17) was crowned champion.
Beyore’s next event with the OSCAAR Super Late Models comes at Kawartha Speedway on July 13 for the second half of the Summer Rush event.
Beyore is looking to overcome the tire issue that hampered his efforts in the June 1 event. He is looking to improve on his seventh-place finish to earn his first top-five of the year.
“I’m looking forward to getting back where the speed is and room to move,” said Beyore. “We’ve got some decent laps around there.”
“I know the place, I’ve run well there. I know what I have to do.”
For more information on the July 13 event at Kawartha Speedway, visit www.summerrush.ca.
Follow Mike Beyore’s OSCAAR Super Late Model campaign online all season long on Twitter via @54buck and at www.beyoreracing.ca.
Mike Beyore’s 2014 OSCAAR tour is supported by Stemac, Millenium Crane, CNC Custom Machining, Praxair, MGS Performance, Mayhew Graphics, Vista Engineering Corp., Lesco Industrial Restoration Inc., and Metals Plus.
By Clayton Johns (@cjohnsmedia)
