Kish Crowned 2005 BRP CanAm Champion

 

St. Catharines, ONT…Darren Kish is the 2005 BRP CanAm Series Champion.  Kish, 30, has been a solid supporter of the Series since its inception in 2003. Kish served notice that he was a championship contender with his win in the 2005 Series opener at Little Valley Speedway on May 29.  He led the point chase all season long.

 

“This BRP CanAm championship is very special to me and my family.  Mom and Dad attend all the races, and Mandy [his wife] comes whenever it works with Chase [18 month old son].  My brother, Jeff, is with me not only at the track, but in the garage every night.  Jeff and Al Stevens serve as my pit crew.  Those double header weekends are very difficult for us, but nobody makes us do it.  Bringing this CanAm championship to Canada is very special for all of us.  Bob Dixon has been a great champion and an asset to the Series.  It is an honor to be on the BRP CanAm championship list with Bob.  [Dixon won the Series championship in both 2003 and 2004.]  Racing with the caliber of the Series racers is a genuine treat.  They are a great bunch of guys who you have faith in. You can race hard and know that they respect both you and their equipment.  We started the year with the Championship as a goal.  We were lucky and worked hard both in the shop and at the track; of course, the others worked as hard.  Our luckiest night was the rain out at Merrittville.  We broke a piston in the heat and would not have been able to race.  We were really happy that the show was rescheduled.  That was a critical night.  That is where lady luck smiled on us.  Of course, I have a lot of people to thank including my family who are always there for this race program.  Our sponsors, Atkinson’s Delivery, Ed Carley Motorsports, Crescent Home Hardware, DSE1 Race Engines, Frank’s Sunny Italy, Primal Custom Decals, and Thruway Muffler, all help us keep our program capable of running up front.  This Series is a tough program.  Winning races and the championship is really great,” reports the normally very quiet Kish.    

 

The fast young Canadian’s march to the Championship was aided when he won event number two of the 2005 Series at McKean County Raceway.  When the Series moved across the border to the Humberstone Raceway for event number three, Kish lead all thirty laps for his first Series win ever in his home country.

 

Three wins in the first three 2005 BRP CanAm Series events set the stage for what some thought should be renamed the “Kish Series”.  Nobody expected, but a few hoped, that Kish and his fleet Ed Carley built Larry Shaw Taurus with DSE1 power would not win again.  He did not, but it was not for lack of effort.

 

Event number four of the Series was at Genesee Speedway.  Kish does not like the rough and tumble action that Genesee often produces.  On this night, Kish displayed the same type of patient precision that he uses daily on the job as an electrician for Procon Niagara to overcome a difficult 16^th starting position.  He escaped without a scratch on his immaculate race car and a surprising third place finish.

 

Event number five of the Series was a return match at the McKean County Raceway.  Kish started ninth in the star studded field, but encountered trouble early and used a first lap caution period for a pit stop which was worthy of a Nextel Cup performance.  The pit stop, orchestrated by Darren’s brother and car chief, Jeff, required installing new belts on the front of the DSE1 engine.  Much to the disappointment of the Pennsylvania partisan grandstand, Kish and his electric blue missile returned to the race on the lead lap.  A few laps later, another caution and another pit stop allowed Jeff to check his work.  Again, when Tony VanPelt waved the green for the restart, Kish was at the tail of the field, still on the lead lap.

 

While Kish was racing in and out of the pits and clinging to the back of the lead lap, AJ Young was racing at the front and doing everything in his power to win his first ever BRP CanAm Series race.  Kish’s car faltered again and he lost a lap before Young accomplished his mission and drove his mom and dad’s Intrepid Bullit to Victory Circle for a very emotional win. 

 

Young’s win coupled with Kish’s twelfth place finish set the stage for a point battle that would rage for awhile and continue for the balance of the season.

 

Events five and six of the Series were staged at Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ontario, Canada just twenty minutes from Kish’s home in Port Colborne.  Kish, a many time street stock and DIRT pro stock winner at Merrittville, used his home track knowledge to finish second and fourth in those shows and maintain his position at the top of the point standings.

 

The night following the Merrittville double header, the BRP CanAm racers were off to Genesee Speedway for the F/A Products – Clevite Engine Parts sponsored seventh event of the Series which offered all the racers that entered a 100 point bonus.  Surprisingly, Todd Rice, who had moved to second in the point standings after Young’s car stumbled at Merrittville, opted to skip the Genesee show.  AJ Young and Tim Schram put on a clinic on how to race within the tight confines of the Genesee Speedway.  For 32 of the 40 lap contes,t they raced in the top two spots without contact with anyone or anything.  Kish had a flat tire during an early race caution, but pitted and returned on the lead lap.  While Young and Schram were racing at the front of the pack, Jon Rivers and Kish were coming to the front in spectacular and daring fashion.  Rivers was hoping to duplicate his Genesee victory of event #4 and Kish was thinking that he had a good chance for his first ever Genesee win.  On lap 33, Rivers slipped by Schram for second.  Kish was past Schram on the next lap.  Rivers got a little room on the inside of Young as they negotiated turn four of lap 37.  For an instant, Kish had a little daylight on the inside of Rivers.  Three wide at Genesee generally does not work and it did not work on this night!  Young’s car wound up on top of the wall with River’s car resting against it.  Kish had made contact and was black flagged for forcing Rivers and Young into the wall.  Kish absolutely does not agree that he played such a role, but the damage was done.  Young’s car had suffered over $3000 in damage and was cradled onto its trailer for the long ride back to Scio.  Kish was both animate and polite with his protest, but was credited with last place money and points.

 

Next on the schedule was Ransomville Speedway.  Kish was anxious to return were he had won a Series race in 2004.  Young and his team worked 36 hours straight after their car was returned from Ed Carley’s shop with a new frame from the firewall forward and were happy to learn in mid afternoon that Ransomville Speedway management had cancelled their event due to rain.  Young’s guys went to bed for some much needed sleep.  The Kish team performed more maintenance in preparation for the next night’s contest at Woodhull Raceway.

 

Woodhull Raceway has a special place in the Young family’s racing heritage since AJ’s dad, Dick, raced and won at the little Steuben County [NY] bull ring during his days as teammate to Monroe Puffer in the 1960s and early 1970s.  Kish had never seen Woodhull until he arrived late in the afternoon for Series event number nine.  There was no story book finish for Kish or Young.  Kish climbed from 18^th at the start to finish 8^th.  Young crashed out while racing for third on the next to last lap.  Kish now had only a very slim mathematical chance at not winning the BRP CanAm Series title.  Young had to start looking behind him on the points tally as Schram and Rice were within striking distance.

 

Next up was the Series’ first ever trip to Dean Hoag’s Black Rock Speedway for event number ten.  Kish was involved in a heat race crash.  He was extremely cautious in his B-Main, so cautious that he did not qualify and was forced to use a provisional starting position.  Kish was focused on winning the point championship and not the race.  Kish’s 11^th place finish reflected his focus.

 

The night after Black Rock, the Series contenders headed west on Interstate 86 for Series event number eleven at Little Valley Speedway.  Kish followed first time Series winner Bill Holmes to John Powell’s checkered flag and locked up the 2005 Championship with a return to Black Rock still on the schedule.  Rice finished third and closed the gap behind Young and second in the point contest to a mere 56 points.

 

Black Rock Speedway was the site of 2005 BRP CanAm season finale.  For the first time in six months, Darren Kish was able to enter a race with only one objective.  His objective was to race for the win.  $4005 in point money, the Series  trophy, and the goal that he had set last winter were already his.  Now it was just the pure and simple fun of racing.  Kish muscled past Rice at the checker to claim runner-up honors while Jeff Chesebro headed for Victory Lane for the third time in 2005.

 

AJ Young watched helplessly from the pits as his car had failed early.  AJ’s mother calculated the points as Rice fell from the lead position and then to third and her boy edged Rice by a mere nine points.  Series officials, Bruce Thompson and Gary Montgomery, did their own calculations and it was Kish – 1086, Young – 906, and Rice - 897.

 

Kish’s resume now reflects two championships and 37 A-Main wins in his 12 years of circle track competition.  His BRP CanAm race win total is five with victories at Bradford [PA] Speedway in 2003 and Ransomville [NY] Speedway in 2004 combined with 2005 race wins at Humberstone, Little Valley, and McKean County. His other championship trophy was earned as the 2000 DIRT Pro Stock Champion at Merrittville Speedway. 

 

Next week, look for a complete run down of the 77 drivers who earned points in the 2005 BRP CanAm Series and a peek at early planning for the 2006 BRP CanAm Series.