“On Top Finish” for Top Sportsman Team
The Ingersoll Ontario based Top Sportsman team of Rob Gray & Bill Wilson have claimed Eastern Canada’s 2013 Napa Auto Parts presented Quick 32 Sportsman Series championship following a dramatic winning weekend at Grand Bend Motorplex….
Not only did the veteran Top Sportsman team of Wilson & Gray win their first event in the Quick 32 Sportsman Series presented by NAPA Auto Parts over the “Thunder by the Beach” Weekend at the Grand Bend Motorplex – on September 1st –they picked up enough points during the race to win their first championship in the series history.
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Running a 2002 Cavalier with a nitrous-assisted 706-cubic inch big-block Chevy engine, Rob Gray, of Ingersoll, Ontario, who shares the driving duties with Bill Wilson, qualified number two on the Top Sportsman ladder with a 6.876-second, 200.04-mph run just behind number one qualifier Kevin Wicke with a 6.761, 204.22. .
Going into this event, Wilson & Gray were just behind Wicke, of Stratford, Ontario, in the points chase for the season, and the outcome of this final of six events for 2013 would determine the champion.
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Both Gray and Wicke advanced to the second round, but Wicke was eliminated by Darrin Grubb of Pine River Ontario, while Gray eliminated Tom Orr of Shawville, Quebec, Luc Angers of Laval, Quebec, and Mike Beska of Waterloo, Ontario to meet up with Grubb in the Top Sportsman final.
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The final was close, but Gray cut a better light and won the race with a 6.88, 187.50 over Grubb’s 7.08, 186.72..
This allowed Gray to advance to the event final to race against the top eliminator of the Top Dragster side, which was Jim Rubino of Buffalo, New York with this small-block Chevy-powered Mike Bos dragster.
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In the event final, Gray’s teammate Bill Wilson, also of Ingersoll, drove the Cavalier to victory, which was the team’s first in Quick 32 Sportsman Series competition, along with their third Top Sportsman win on the season.
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Rubino qualified 16th in the field of Top Dragsters with a 6.791, 193.50, but marched through the field winning rounds. He took out Michael Kalin of Niagara Falls, New York in the first round, Troy Waterstraat of Romulus, Michigan in the second round, Tony Positano of Toronto, Ontario in the semi-final, and Brody Vandergeld of Cambridge, Ontario in the final Top Dragster race.
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Number one qualifier on the Top Dragster side was Scott Wildgust of Wartburg, Ontario with a 5.940, 233.10.
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Wilson & Gray finished the season with 1136 points, and Wicke finished with 1059. Top Sportsman driver Spencer Hyde of Stratford, Ontario placed third with 991 points, fourth was Top Dragster driver Melanie Simmons Salemi of Orillia, Ontario with 971 points, and another Top Dragster driver Jeff Moser of Waterloo, Ontario, placed fifth with 962 points. .
Rounding out the top ten are Tony Positano, Top Sportsman driver Dan Flanigan of Buffalo, New York, Bill White of Gadshill, Ontario and his Top Dragster, Tom Orr, and Top Dragster driver Sam Christian of Amherst, New York.
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Posted by: Tim Miller
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Photos by: Brad Turk
