By Mike Bennett – South Buxton Raceway
When Matt Sorrell won a feature race in just the fifth night of his career, the Dresden native thought the wins would come pretty regularly.
It took over two years for Sorrell to finally make it back to Victory Lane – but what a night to pull off his second career feature win.
The 28-year-old Sorrell passed the veteran Rob Quick, of Cottam, with under three laps to go to win the mid-season championship in the Tirecraft Mini-Mods at South Buxton Raceway on Saturday night.
Sorrell’s first feature win came on June 8, 2013.
“When you win that early, you think you’re going to able to back into Victory Lane,” Sorrell said.
“But the competition out here is pretty hard and we’re racing against a lot of veterans, so it’s tough to get back here (Victory Lane).
“So I’m really excited to be back!” he said.
Sorrell started fifth in the 20-car field and survived some early side-by-side battles with Leamington’s Brandon Windsor, Blenheim’s Trevor Jones and Kyle Hope to move into second with seven laps left in the 25-lap feature.
He closed the gap dramatically with four to go before getting a run on the outside coming out of turn four and passed Quick going into turn one.
Sorrell waved his fist out of the driver’s window after leading the last two laps to clinch the mid-season championship trophy.
“I was fighting the track because (turn) four was a little rough, but I knew the car handled really good up top,” Sorrell said of his pursuit of Quick.
“I got a run going into four and held it to the floor and it stuck around the ‘D’ and cleared him going into one and onto the backstretch.
“I’ve never beaten him under a green flag before, so that was a big accomplishment for us,” he said of passing Quick.
Hope followed Sorrell around Quick to finish second.
Sorrell is racing on alternate nights with his brother Marshall Hereygers, as Saturday was his first time behind the wheel since June 10 when he finished fourth in the feature.
“I’m busy with work so we were going to split the ride and go for the championship,” Sorrell said of his team’s race plans.
However the track changed the rules for 2015, where points go to the individual driver and not the car, which scrubbed their plans to race for the points title as a team.
“So we’re just racing for fun, trying to win some checkered flags,” Sorrell said, as Saturday’s feature was his first flag of the season while Hereygers has won a heat race.
“We’ve had a fast car all year, but a lot of bad luck with transmissions and rear ends,” Sorrell said.
“My brother and I put a lot into this car, Rob (Homewood) gave us a good set up and all of the work paid off tonight.”
Sorrell finished second to Quick in their heat race.
Wallaceburg’s Jason Turkington finished 14th after an eighth-place finish in the ‘B’ main.
Dale Glassford won the Westside Performance Plus UMP Late Models mid-season championship as the Ridgetown driver has own all seven feature races in the class this season.
Wallaceburg’s Mike Lewis finished second after a third-place finish in his heat race earlier in the night.
Leamington’s Joel Dick extended his feature win streak to six straight in the Schinkels Gourmet Meats UMP Modifieds mid-season championship.
Chatham’s Jake Hooker won the Tirecraft Sport Stocks mid-season championship, as the 14-year-old led all 25 laps for his second straight and third feature win of the year.
Wallaceburg’s Willy Vyse finished fourth after a second-place finish in his heat.
Windsor’s Jamie Beaulieu led all 17 laps to win the Autotech Bombers mid-season feature.
South Buxton will host ‘Quad Memorial Night’ this Saturday with four memorial feature races – Gord DeWael late models, Brian Outhouse modifieds, Len Bryden sport stocks and Cory Schives mini-mods.
Racing starts at 6:30 p.m.
In case of rain, the racing program will be rescheduled for Sunday starting at 5 p.m.
Submitted photo: Matt Sorrell, right, holds the checkered flag with his brother Marshall Hereygers, left, holds the Tirecraft Mini-Mods mid-season championship trophy. The half-brothers share the No. 3M ride.
