(Editor's note: Thanks to Mosport's Lee Bailie for preparing and forwarding this piece. Watch the next issue of Inside Track for Lee's look ahead to what's going on at Mosport in 2008.)
2007 Mosport Year In Review
Mosport's 2007 season featured many memorable highlights including a new overall lap record, a dramatic finish to the American Le Mans Series race (that saw one of the circuit's all-time favourites - Ron Fellows - race an Arctic White Signature Series Corvette bearing his name), and the start of a new chapter in Canadian stock car racing with the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.
Along the way, fans were treated to a 40th anniversary reunion of Mosport's first F1 race, some exciting wheel-to-wheel motorcycle action, plus some great performances by Canadian racers at Canada's Home of Motorsports. Let's take a brief look back.
Victoria Day SpeedFest - May 18-20
Mosport International Raceway kicked the 2007 major event season off with the Victoria Day SpeedFest. The weekend featured the American GT Inter-Americas Challenge and the Sundown Grand Prix.
It was a good weekend for Edison Lluch Jr., as he won both American GT races. The San Juan, Puerto Rico native powered his Coors Light #1 Corvette to two close wins over Charlie Webster (CJ Webster Ltd #95 Corvette) of Dundas, Ontario.
The three-hour Sundown Grand Prix featured lots of great nose-to-tail racing and jockeying for position. Andrew Danyliw and co-driver Gunter Schmidt (both of Toronto) emerged from this endurance event victorious behind the wheel of the #38 Schmidt Racing Honda Civic.
Father's Day Doubleheader - June 15-17
The Father's Doubleheader featured exciting wheel-to-wheel action and thrilling finishes as the new NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and the Grand Am KONI Challenge took centre stage on Mosport's challenging road course.
In the NASCAR race, Andrew Ranger survived an early miscue to collect his first Series win in the Dickies 200 presented by Canadian Shield Anticrime Response Corporation. The victory helped the Roxton Pond, Quebec native establish an early lead in the points standings that he held throughout the rest of the season on the way to winning his first Series championship.
As the pole sitter, he jumped the start of the race and was penalized with a pass-through penalty which sent him back to the middle of the pack. Despite the setback, Ranger worked his way through the field and took the lead for good on lap 43, just eight laps from the finish. It was a lead that he had to wrestle away from second-place finisher J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge, Ontario. After flirting with a nearly three second lead, Ranger beat Fitzpatrick to the line by 1.694 seconds. Windsor, Ontario's Ron Beauchamp finished third.
On the other half of the twinbill, the Grand Am KONI Challenge served up plenty of close competitive action with Canadians finishing at the top of the podium in both events.
In the Grand Sport (GS) event, Scott Maxwell of Toronto scored a home-track victory, co-driving with Joe Foster in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Supercuts Ford Mustang GT.
Maxwell led the final 15 laps of the two-and-a-half hour race, as the field finished under yellow during the day's only caution period.
A Canadian also made it to the top of the podium in the Street Tuner (ST) race as Billy Johnson passed Trevor Hopwood on the final lap, earning himself and co-driver Karl Thomson of Toronto a victory for Kensai Racing. The final circuit was the only lap Johnson or Thomson led during the 89-lap, two-and-a-half hour race in their No. 76 Compass360.com/Skunk2/Hawk Brakes Acura TSX.
28th Annual International Vintage Racing Festival - June 22-24
The 28th Annual International Vintage Racing Festival, organized by the Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) visited Mosport's famed road course last June 22-24 for a weekend of racing that featured road racing classics from the past 50 years, including vintage production sports and GT cars, all the way up to 1960s and 70s muscle cars and roadsters such as MGs.
The headliner class this year was Formula 1 to mark the 40th anniversary of the first Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix held in 1967 at Mosport as part of the country's centennial celebration.
Among the F1 drivers who enjoyed a successful weekend at Mosport was Peter Gulick, as the McLean, Virginia racer drove his 1982 Williams FW10 to two victories. In the first race on Saturday, he took the checkered flag by a healthy margin, finishing more than a minute ahead of the 1977 McLaren M26 piloted by Jeff Lewis of Newport Beach, California and the Wolf F1 WR3 of Major General Lewis MacKenzie (ret.) of Ottawa, who placed second and third respectively.
In the Sunday feature race, Gulick returned to the top of the podium with a strong performance that saw him cross the finish line more than 15 seconds ahead of Davina Galica of New Milford, Connecticut who came second in a 1972 Brabham BT37. MacKenzie was next as he captured his second third-place result of the weekend.
Parts Canada Superbike Championship Doubleheader - July 13-15
The two most successful riders in Canadian Superbike history, Jordan Szoke and Steve Crevier traded wins during the Parts Canada Superbike Doubleheader Weekend at Mosport International Raceway, last July 13-15.
After Brantford, Ont.'s Szoke took his Canadian Kawasaki Motors Kawasaki ZX-10R to victory in the Sunday morning race, held under sunny skies, Maple Ridge, B.C. native Crevier replied with the win in the wet afternoon race on the Team Toyota Yamaha / Fast Company Yamaha YZF-R1.
The Sunday morning race was rescheduled from Saturday afternoon after weather conditions and time constraints forced series officials to postpone it. Szoke actually finished second on the road to the Suzuki Acceleration Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Clint McBain but inherited the victory when the Cochrane, Alta. racer was penalized four positions for a jump start.
Crevier finished second, just .085 seconds behind the Kawasaki rider.
The back end of the doubleheader started in heavy rain and featured a spectacular lead battle between Crevier and the Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Performance Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Francis Martin. Martin crashed just a few corners from the finish and Crevier picked up the win.
Granby, Que.'s Pascal Picotte placed second on his Team Suzuki / Blackfoot / Picotte Performance Suzuki GSX-R1000, edging the Team Toyota Yamaha / Brooklin Cycle Yamaha YZF-R1 of Kevin Lacombe at the line.
In the Thunder twin races, BMW Motorrad Canada rider Michael Taylor of Toronto took the win in wet conditions on Saturday on his BMW R1200S, while Michael Leon of Beaconsfield, Que. took the victory on his Buell XB9R under sunny skies.
Full Throttle Energy Drink 200 presented by Canadian Shield - August 11
Don Thomson Jr. notched his fifth career stock car win at and second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series victory, as he edged out Mark Dilley by 0.703 seconds in the Full Throttle Energy Drink 200 presented by Canadian Shield Anticrime Response Corporation last August 11 at Mosport Speedway.
Thomson, racing out of Ayr, Ont., started the race in the third position, but took the lead for the first time on lap 10 when he worked past teammate and polesitter J.R. Fitzpatrick. He lost the lead only for brief spans the rest of the way, running first for 181 of the race's 209 laps.
His dominating performance kicked into high gear after a pitstop during the third caution period on lap 89. The car responded to the new right-side tires installed during that stop. Thomson felt the car really changed for the better at that point and became what he expected after he posted the top time in both practice sessions earlier in the day.
Kerry Micks fresh off his win in the previous race in Montreal finished third, while Jason Hathaway and Derek Lynch rounded out the top five.
The Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport - August 23-26
The Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport last August 23-26 featured both wet and dry race conditions, a new outright lap record and another overall win for Penske Motorsports in round nine of the American Le Mans Series.
Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas led the way for Penske, which claimed its second straight LMP2 team championship. Bernhard took the lead with only three minutes left in his Porsche RS Spyder as Allan McNish's Audi R10 TDI became stuck in gear.
McNish and Dindo Capello finished first in LMP1 for the seventh time this season and clinched the P1 team championship for Audi Sport North America. Capello's trip to Mosport became even more noteworthy after he reset the outright lap record by nearly two seconds to 1:05.829 in Saturday qualifying. The old mark, 1:07.169 was set by Frank Biela in an Audi R8 in August 2002.
Ryan Briscoe and Sascha Maassen finished third overall and second in P2 in the other Penske Porsche, followed by the second diesel-powered Audi of Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner. Fifth overall and third in P2 was Andretti Green Racing's Acura ARX of Bryan Herta and Marino Franchitti. The top five cars finished on the lead lap.
In GT1, Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen took their second victory of the season. Hometown favourite Ron Fellows and co-driver Andy Pilgrim finished third. It wasn't the storybook finish for Fellows that fans were hoping for, but the sight of the Mississauga racer zipping around Mosport in his Signature Series Arctic White Corvette C6-R is sure to be a fond memory for his legions of fans, in what might have been his final ALMS race at his home track.
Jaime Melo and Mika Salo took advantage of their track position before the race's first caution period into a one-lap GT2 victory in their No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT.
In SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge action, Eric Curran captured his fourth GT win of 2007. Lawson Aschenbach and Michael Galati rounded out the top three, finishing second and third respectively. In the Touring Car race on Sunday, Adam Pecorari led all but the first lap from the pole to take his first-career Touring Car win at Mosport. Teammate Chip Herr was second and Pierre Kleinubing crossed the line in third.
In the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear event, Australian racer James Davison took advantage of the confusion resulting from pit stops and tire changes caused by a brief early-race downpour to take his first victory of the season. Vancouver native Lorenzo Mandarino finished second while eventual series champion leader Dane Cameron filled out the podium.
Markham Ontario's Daniel Morad ended the 2007 Formula BMW USA season as he began it – a winner. After clinching the overall title on Saturday, with a fourth-place finish in Round 13, the 17-year old added a record sixth win on Sunday.
The curtain rises on Mosport's 2008 season with Victoria Day SpeedFest, May 16-18, 2008.
All Photos credit peterbrand .ca except for the NCATS / Ranger shot, taken by Chris Coughlin (NASCAR)
