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Randy Hall Crowned 2006 BRP CanAm Series Champion St. Catharines, ONT...Randy Hall's march to the 2006 BRP CanAm Series championship began on a sunny day at Black Rock Speedway on April 15 and ended in the rain and mud at McKean County Raceway on October 1. It was not the way anyone wanted to end the record breaking year for the Series, but God had other priorities and the management team at McKean County Raceway had another rain-out. On April 15 at Black Rock Speedway a flash came out of Olean, NY for the 2006 BRP CanAm Series opener. At the end of that day it was obvious that the Olean Flash, Randy Hall, could use his IMCA Modified experience to full advantage in the new, to him, BRP CanAm Late Model Series. Hall drove his Duggan & Duggan General Contractors / Follman Rental Properties / Southeastern Transmissions Steve's Machine powered CRS Monte Carlo from 21st starting position to a 3rd place finish in his first ever BRP CanAm Late Model start. The race results story read ".Randy Hall established himself as a contender for both Rookie of the Year and Champion." Today he has a beautiful six foot trophy and $4000 as reward for earning both of those honors. Hall, 35, demonstrated championship caliber consistency with eight top ten finishes in the ten events that made up the 2006 Series. His lone victory came at Genesee Speedway in August. His only DNF was after a crash while leading at Ransomville in September. From his Olean home Hall shares, "We won some other races and a couple of other championships this year, but by far the most important are the BRP CanAm Series championship and the BRP CanAm event win at Genesee. Those were the team goals for 2006. Of course, we wanted more wins, but we had to get at least one. Without that win, we most likely would not have won the championship. We really enjoyed racing the Series. Racing at new tracks with the best of the best makes us better. When you can win against those guys it is a real accomplishment. I congratulate Jon [Rivers] and his team. They are a class act. The rain really worked in my favor. Who knows what would have happened if we had run the final event. This trophy is without a doubt the nicest and most important that we have from all our years of racing. The money is already spent! Thanks to Nancy Bicknell and all of the Series Marketing Partners for making this Series possible. Clearly this Series is the best thing that has happened for us racers in a very long time. Racing at the DIRT MotorSports tracks [Cayuga County Fair Speedway and Canandaigua Speedway] with those packed grandstands with World of Outlaws and DIRT Modified guys was really neat." Jon Rivers finished just 37 points behind Hall and wanted nothing more than the last shot for the championship that the McKean race would have offered. Rivers had reduced his deficit to Hall from 77 points to 37 points in the last two events and believes he had a legitimate shot at the championship. Rivers' top ten record of eight matched Hall's and he won twice [Merrittville and Woodhull]. The difference was that Rivers' lone DNF came early at Canandaigua where he was credited with 20th finishing position while Hall's DNF was on the next to last lap in a high attrition race where he was credited with 13th. River's of Basom, NY is quick to credit his car builder, engine builder, sponsors, and team for making his great year possible. "Without Bob Mullen and Justin Chaddock we could not have accomplished any of this. Bob's Pro Speed Rocket drove like a dream. Chaddock Performance gave us lots of horsepower. Others that have helped support this team are BDK Construction, ABW Electric, Kerry Ball Motorsports, US Chrome, Prentice Auto Parts, and Darrell's Auto Service. My wife, our kids and the guys who help out at the shop and track have all been absolutely great. The only person who let us down was Mother Nature. We are going to Black Rock on Saturday and we will be back next year to get that big trophy. Thanks to all that have made the BRP CanAm Series possible for us racers. Congratulations to Randy, I really wanted to race him at Black Rock with points or without points just to see how the final outcome might have been. Now we all have to wait until next year. Larry Knowles capped his great 2006 racing season with a third place finish in the final point standings. Knowles was locked into third with or without the final race at McKean. "We wanted to race. We were there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We lost a race date and spent three days away from home and work, but that is the way it goes sometimes. Overall I am delighted with our Series accomplishments. We set two goals before the season started. First, we wanted to finish in the top five in the points. Second, we wanted to win a Series race. We achieved third in points and we won at the Bully Hill Series race at Black Rock. Even better, we were very competitive every race. This Close car that Joel [Smith] built is great. Ron Woodward and Bill Campbell work together on our engine program and we have plenty of power. We will be looking for more in 2007, but that is just the nature of racers," shared Knowles from his trailer after finishing second in the non-point BRP CanAm Late Model / Super Stock Challenge at Black Rock Speedway. Paul Grigsby was quietly consistent all season with his Beck Development / Barden Homes powered Shaw Grand Prix with Billy Campbell GM fire under the hood. Grigsby earned six top ten finishes in the ten events that made up the Series. Grigsby's best finish was fifth at the very fast Canandaigua Speedway. The New York State Corrections Officer plans to "correct" his race program for 2007 with an all new Shaw car from Ed Carley. "There has been lots of interest in this year's car, but nobody has come up with money yet. Ed knows our plans and we are in his queue for a 2007," reports the big red head from his East Concord, NY home. [Note: Interest in Grigsby's 2006 hot rod was accelerated after his outstanding performance in the Black Rock Speedway Late Model / Super Stock Challenge event.] Jeremy Wonderling finished fifth in the season long point
contest. The second generation Scio, NY race car driver's season was
the direct opposite of Grigsby's. There is nothing quiet about this
big red head's racing exploits. Wonderling showed up at the Series
opener at Black Rock with Mr. Excitement painted boldly on his new
Shaw Grand Prix. He lived up to the billing with a victory that day
and continued to stir up excitement all season long concluding with
a $2000 victory in the Black Rock Speedway Late Model / Super Stock
Challenge. In between those book-end wins was a barn burner victory
in the June Series race at Ransomville. In all the excitement there
were three DNFs and valuable points were lost. For the next five
months all of the excitement will be in the Wonderling family race
car shop as Jeremy, his brothers, and his dad prepare for the 2007
racing season. Bill Campbell will soon have a shop full of
Wonderling motors that need to be rebuilt for 2007. "Mr. Excitement
broke a lot of stuff this summer. The kid raced a lot of races and
won about a dozen [actually 11], but he is sure exciting if he isn't
wrecked or out with motor problems. He loaned backup motors to his
brothers and [Jim] Schuyler. They will all be here for rebuilds with
those F/A Products - Clevite Engine Builder Awards," A total of 89 drivers raced in 2006 BRP CanAm Series events. The average car count for the season was 36. A season high of 43 drivers entered the show at the Cayuga County Fair Speedway when the Series shared billing with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. A complete listing of the 2007 point standings and race results is available at www.BRPCanAmSeries.com 2006 BRP CanAm Series Final Points [top 15]: 1. RANDY HALL - 954, 2. Jon Rivers - 917, 3. Larry Knowles - 866, 4. Paul Grigsby - 787, 5. Jeremy Wonderling - 774, 6. TJ Shaw - 771, 7. Tim Schram - 770, 8. Jeff Chesebro - 734, 9. Steve Dixon - 693, 10. Rich Michael - 671, 11. Neil Patterson - 670, 12. Bruce Miller - 657, 13. Rick Baker - 628, 14. Jim Johnson - 611, 15. Junior Peters - 604 Marketing Partners for the 2006 BRP CanAm Series include: Bicknell Racing Products, Bob Mullen's Pro Speed, Brad Penn Racing Oil, Can & Bottle Return of Delevan, Clevite Engine Parts, Cool Edge Web Designs, Cousin's Designs, Cutler- Hammer Corporation, DANA Corporation, DART Machinery / DART Heads, DIRT MotorSports, DSE1 Race Engines, East Coast Speed.com, Ed Carley Motorsports, F/A Products, Hoosier Tire of Canada, LEAF Racewear, Lias Tire- American Racer, Maynard Electric of Hornell, Signs Plus of Kanona, Southeastern Transmissions, Suzuki Motorcycle & ATV Dealers of NY & PA, the Young Family, and the host tracks. |