Racing up the learning curve
Competing in Sportsman, 358 Modified classes keeps Adam Leslie hopping between rides
Adam Leslie’s learning curve is D-shaped, slightly banked, threeeighths of a mile long, covered in clay.
Whenever he wants to ascend it, the 28-year-old from Port Colborne is never alone in the quest for more knowledge. On some nights at Merrittville Speedway as many as 30 drivers can on the track battling for bragging rights and fighting for position, in the 358 Modified division.
As a novice in Modifieds after five seasons in Sportsman and three in Mod Lites, Leslie needs to be a quick study in the more powerful ride. Except when a race is under caution, the hustle and bustle in the premier class at the Thorold track is full-throttle.
Now in his sixth season racing Sportsman at Merrittville and New Humberstone speedways, the machinist at JTL Machine Ltd. in Port Colborne began adding to his weekend driving duties at the beginning of July when he started racing Modifieds at Merrittville.
He owns both cars, though not the W-16 Wegner spec engine in Modified.
“It was just sort of a deal that fell together for me,” he said of a deal involving Bob Slack, Pete Bicknell, Randy Williamson and Don Spiece.
Leslie is getting used to having an additional 200 horsepower rocketing him along the straightaways and into tricky Turn 4 on the track’s clay racing surface.
Given the choice — and the finances to race in Modifieds full-time — he would graduate to the higher class.
“It’s a little bit more controllable for myself,” he said. “I’m having more fun in Modified now.”
Leslie, who entered last weekend tied for second in Sportsman points at his hometown track and third at Merrittville, currently is 16th in the Modified point standings.
“There is definitely a steep learning curve when I got into Modified. Actually, I’m still learning,” he admitted with a laugh.
Leslie, who has one Sportsman win at Merrittville and none at Humberstone so far this season, finds that speed entering the corners is the “biggest difference” between the two racing classes.
“Other than that, going around the rest of the track is pretty similar,” he said. “It’s just that entry into the corner, you carry so much speed with the Modified.”
Thorold’s Brent Begolo, in Mod Lites and Sportsman; is another hotshoe at Merrittville who regularly does double duty Saturday nights at Merrittville.
Unlike Begolo, whose features bookend the Hoosier Stock main event, Leslie only has time to catch a ride, not his breath, between races.
“I hop from one car and go right into the next car,” he said.
On the Civic Holiday, he completed 84 of the 100-lap Battle of the Big Blocks before completing all 30 circuits in the Sportsman feature.
“I was tired, I was exhausted the whole next day,” he said, recalling the experience. “I must not be fit.”
In the 100-lapper, which was dominated by fellow spec engine racer Ryan Susice, Leslie went to the pit area under his own power.
“I didn’t want to be in the way,” he explained. “They just lapped me, and I just didn’t want to in the way for the rest of the field.”:
In a Modified racing season that is all about seat time and climbing the learning curve, Leslie could say if he picked anything up competing against the likes of Danny (The Doctor) Johnson, Max McLaughlin, Jimmy Phelps and Matt Sheppard.
He was thrilled to have one of the best seats in the house, however.
“These guys have been racing Modifieds for years,” he said. “Just to be able to run with them is kind of neat.
“I don’t know when I will be able to race against that calibre of driver again.
As far as progressing along the learning curve is concerned, Leslie said he couldn’t ask for better teachers.
“Those guys are the best,” he added. “If there is anyone to learn off of, it’s those guys.”