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For the first time this season, Sebastian Bourdais would finish on the podium – not once, but twice. In both Honda Indy Toronto events, Bourdais was able to place on the podium with a third and a second.

For the Sunday event, Bourdais was able to escape the trouble in the final restart to seal the deal.

“It’s been quite an interesting end of the race,” he said. “It was a lot of basically just go with the flow and don’t make any mistakes. Everybody was going pretty hard.”

Bourdais also was faced with the addition of challenge of having no ‘push to passes’ as his button malfunctioned.

With having a good finish, it sets up a good base moving forward to other street courses this year.

“I think we got a workable base to begin with now,” Bourdais said. “It’s not perfect. Dixie is obviously gone, so we got work to do. We’ll keep at it.”

Bourdais added he is surprised, but pleased with the direction that they’re heading in.

“Tom came with kind of an idea and we just went more and more towards that direction,” Bourdais explained. “It just clicked for the first qualifying. Oh, okay, now we got grip. Now I can push. It was a pretty big eye opener. Then we just kept working at it all weekend. I think we were maybe a little weaker at the race yesterday.

“Again, we made small changes for warmup and the race, and the car was better again. That’s what it takes. Once you get closer, baby steps.”

The solid finishes for Boudais also show the growth of his team as they continue to grow.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “I think I’ve proved in a championship-winning car with a top team I can do it. Done it a few times. Hopefully people haven’t forgotten.

“At the end of the day it’s a whole different challenge when you have to start from scratch with a team, just bring people onboard to try to build something and get the right chemistry. It’s a completely different challenge.

“I really thought at the end of last year we were going to have an awesome season. Like I said yesterday, we just didn’t adapt very quickly to the new tires. Finally I think we understand something and it’s the turnaround for our season.”

For Scott Dixon, the Honda Indy Toronto is an event that he has always wanted to win. However, the victory had escaped him in each of his previous trips. He had four finishes within the top five, however also had two finishes outside of the top 20 to match that.

His luck all changed this past weekend as he was able to pick up not one win, but a pair of victories for the Honda Indy Toronto sweep.

“I love this place,” Dixon commented afterwards. “The town is a lot of fun. The fans are knowledgable and love what we do. It’s great to see the excitement they had here all weekend.”

Dixon was quick throughout the whole weekend, totally dominating the second of the two races in leading 81 of the 85 laps. If there was any snag to the weekend, it was the standing start.

“The concrete patch in one was very slippery, so I hit that and slid off,” Dixon said of the start. “I think I actually got into Helio (Castroneves) a little bit. Hopefully didn’t wreck his car or anything. Everybody got away cleanly. I was very surprised about that. I was expecting to hear full-course caution after the standing start.”

Dixon added that the middle part of the race went good as the car ran great and they had solid pit stops.

“Every time we did a pit stop, it seemed we would pick up three or four seconds,” Dixon commented. “Getting close to the finish of the race, you expect a lot of cautions. They started to come. We were in the right place at the right time. It worked out perfectly.”

With the pair of wins, Dixon picks up a $100,000 bonus from SONAX for the sweep. Though more importantly, Dixon closes the gap in points.

Dixon didn’t get off to the start that he would’ve hoped this year, with no wins and only five top fives in the first 11 races of the season. It seemed that the Ganassi cars were off at the beginning part of the year, opening the door for other teams to pick up wins. The first win for Ganassi was Dixon last weekend at Pocono Raceway.

“We’re here for the points,” Dixon said. “It’s been a helluva swing over a seven-day period. We were 92 points out an now we’re like 27 out. It’s ncie to put a little pressure on Helio, and hopefully we can keep that going.”

From the win at Pocono to the pair of wins in Toronto, Dixon has moved from seventh to second in points and put himself into championship contention.

“I think it’s still going to be a tough battle,” Dixon said. “I like the look of the tracks we have coming up. I think we are in the hunt. I think some tracks we’ll be a slight disadvantage to the Chevys, some we might have an advantage. This weekend was a bit of an eye opener for our team at least. Some of the other Hondas were not up maybe where they should have been.”

Now that Dixon has turned the corner, the question is being asked – what was causing them to be off this year till now?

“I think it’s a combination of things,” Dixon said. “Everybody has had a lot of sit-down time with Chip, which is always interesting, gets you a little refocused. People were kind of lacking confidence.”

Moving forward, the confidence is now there, espically going to Mid-Ohio, which is a track that Dixon has won at before.

“I’m confident in the fact that we’ve had cars that have worked there in the past,” Dixon said. “Areas where we’ve developed, Barber, the car was the best. We had to fight our way. Didn’t do my job as well as I should have in qualifying and just came up short. But, yeah, I think we’re all confident going into Mid-Ohio and hopefully that plays true.”

15-year-old Sheldon Creed would grab the lead on lap three by P.J. Jones and never look back as he would dominate the rest of the way, capturing his first career Stadium Super Truck Victory in Toronto.

“Getting my first SST win, I have been searching for this for a while,” Creed said. “Starting third I knew I needed to get away fast. It just wanted to run away from the pack, I did not want to get into the whole bumping and rubbing. I knew if I got in front of P.J. he was going to give it to me today, and he did.”

Creed and Jones battled each other hard for the lead for a couple of laps, till contact would send them both around. With the huge lead on third place, both drivers were able to keep their positions. However, Jones’ truck suffered heavy front end damage, causing him to hit pit road for repairs. Jones would finish sixth.

“I looked in the mirror, and I was waiting for it, and he finally hit me we both ended up spinning out,” Creed continued. “P.J. and I were so checked out it ended up working out good. On the restart, he was right there again bumping me and pushing me all the way down the straightaway.

“My strong part of the track was the jumps. It is where I could catch them every lap and just send those things. My weakest point was the back, so I knew if I was going to pass him it was going to have to be in front, and I made it happen!”

Robby Gordon would finish second to Creed despite going for a spin in the early going of the eight lap event.

“As you can see, these trucks aren’t easy to drive,” Gordon said afterwards. “We can lower them down and make it easier, but I think when you leave them up like that, it puts it more in the driver’s hands and in their control.

“I want to thank Charlie Johnstone and everybody from Honda Indy Toronto, all these Canadian fans for the support.”

Davey Hamilton would round out the podium, making up for Saturday’s disappointment of a mechanical failure sending him to pit road early.

“After yesterday, I was a little embarrassed,” Hamilton said. “I’ve never done anything like this before. Robby came forward with this opportunity and I thought, ‘What the heck? I’ve done everything else so I might as well try this’. So last night I went to bed and thought it over and knew I was going to do better today.

“I had a lot of fun. Robby has a great thing going on with this series. You got to follow this thing because he has stuff going here.”

Rob MacCachren would finish fourth, followed by Justin Lofton. Lofton was running up in second during the middle part of the race, though lost some spots due to losing power in the final laps.

Paul Tracy would finish seventh out of the seven trucks after making heavy contact with the front stretch wall after one of the jumps. Tracy had made contact with the turn seven wall a couple laps prior while running inside the top three.

“It was really fun racing with Paul,” Gordon said of Tracy. “I know his truck is broken here on the front straightaway but what you guys didn’t see is he hit the wall back around turn seven a ton. I thought he was done and next thing I look and he’s right beside me. I couldn’t believe he kept going. He ran two more laps like that and I was thinking how he could not be worried about the suspension. Finally it broke off of the start-finish jump. But he did a really good job. I was really impressed with PT and Davey, but all these guys.

The Inaugural season of SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks continues September 1, in Crandon, Wisc., at the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway with Round No. 9 to be part of the 44th Annual World Championship of Off-Road weekend.

Keep up with all the latest news and results on SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks at http://www.stadiumsupertrucks.com

On Friday at the Honda Indy Toronto, an announcement was made with regards to the future of the Firestone Indy Lights. INDYCAR announced they’ve entered into an agreement with Andersen Promotions to license and operate the Firestone Indy Lights in 2014.

“This is a positive move for our sport,” Derrick Walker, president of competition and operations for INDYCAR, said. “A strong and relevant training system is important to develop the next generation of INDYCAR drivers.”

Indy Lights has served an important purpose in developing drivers throughout the years. Charlie Kimball, James Hinchcliffe and Tristan Vautier are just three of the drivers who’ve graduated from Indy Lights to the IZOD IndyCar Series. Many IndyCar teams run drivers in the Indy Lights to further develop their programs.

“The history of Firestone Indy Lights is so impressive with dozens of drivers graduating to IZOD IndyCar Series careers over the years,” Dan Andersen said. “I am honored to be given the opportunity to step in and steer the course for the future.”

The move makes sense as Andersen Promotions already manages the other series that are part of the MAZDA Road to Indy – the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by MAZDA and the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Drivers who want to race in the IZOD IndyCar Series are highly encouraged to use the stepping ladder system to gain experience.

“Firestone Indy Lights will be more closely aligned with its developmental series already operated by Andersen Promotions and will be positioned for growth to continue to meet the goal of preparing up-and-coming race drivers for the rigors of the IZOD IndyCar Series,” Walker said. “Today’s announcement will create more consistency as drivers and teams advance from USF2000 to Pro Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights, all under the leadership of Andersen Promotions.”

Indy Lights graduate James Hinchcliffe says the continuity and consistency will be a benefit

“I think that’s a strong business move and a strong marketing move, and hopefully, ultimately will help attract young drivers and help graduate them up through the ranks,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Dan, I raced against him in Star Mazda, and I see what he’s done with the series now and it’s been very positive. I think this is great news for Indy Lights.”

Andersen Promotions has shown success with the USF2000 Series as there’s close racing with a total of 30 cars.

“Our model for operating developmental programs appears to be well-received by teams and drivers, and I am fortunate to have a strong staff in place,” Andersen said. “We believe in the Mazda Road to Indy, and are grateful that INDYCAR has chosen to continue its support for years to come.”

Those sentiments are echoed by 2012 Indy Lights Champion Tristan Vautier

“It’s a very good thing,” Vautier commented. “I think Andersen has done an outstanding job in USF2000 and Pro Mazda. These ladder series are the reason America is the place for young drivers to be. I’m happy that it will continue to be the case for Firestone Indy Lights.”

The key to Dan Andersen’s leadership is he knows the owner’s perspective, the promoter’s perspective and the driver’s perspectives from experience.  He also listens to input from the owners.

“Dan has the passion for the Mazda Road to Indy,” JF Thormann, Executive Vice President and COO of Andretti Autosport, said. “He really listens to the team owners. With Dan’s leadership, I’ve liked what I’ve seen and heard so far.”

Lately, the Indy Lights have been lacking and with only nine cars in the series, people are looking for improvement. Hopefully Dan can deliver on that.

It has already been announced that the Indy Lights will run 12 races a year, with 10 dates run alongside the IndyCar Series. INDYCAR added they will work with the television partners to ensure continued coverage.

Andersen Promotions has already taken step one in launching a new stand-alone website for the Indy Lights – http://www.indylights.com.

“I don’t think there is any place that we want to win more than here,” Andrew Gresel said in victory lane.

Coming home to his home track of Sauble Speedway, there was one goal on the mind of the rookie – score the feature victory and get his first career OSCAAR Super Late Model win. He did just that.

Gresel would lead all 50 laps behind the wheel of his No. 81 CUSW/Sauble Falls/McRobert Fuels Super Late Model to score his first career OSCAAR Super Late Model win at Sauble Speedway on Saturday night.

Lloyd Ritchie would drive his No. 62 Standing Arrows Smoke Shop Super Late Model to victory lane in the first heat ahead of Derrike Tiemersma, Sean Cronan, Brent McLean, Todd Campbell and Brandon Vanderwel.

Gresel’s night wouldn’t start off that well as he would go for a spin in the first heat on the first lap after contact with Glenn Watson. Kevin Cornelius would pick up the heat victory behind of the wheel of his No. 17 Halton Crushed Stone/Triplecrete/Alliston Transmission/McColl Racing Enterprises Super Late Model, ahead of Brandon Watson, Gresel, Glenn Watson, Tyler Hawn and Shane Gowan.

There’d be a scary moment in the third heat when Vanderwel would climb the frontstretch wall on the last lap after contact with Campbell. Vanderwel would get out of the car alright, though the car sustained heavy front and back end damage. Ritchie would go for the daily double ahead of Tiemersma, Vanderwel, Campbell, McLean, Doug Wilson and Cronan.

Gresel would bounce back from strong in the final heat as he would pick up the win ahead of Hawn, Glenn Watson, Cornelius, Brandon Watson and Gowan.

In the feature, Gresel would start on pole virtue of the draw and spotter Joe Crisholm Jr. pulling first. Tiemersma would start second, followed by Cornelius, Ritchie, Hawn, Glenn Watson, Brandon Watson, Campbell, McLean, Cronan, Gowan and Wilson.

Tiemersma would stay alongside Gresel for a lap, however Gresel would pull ahead on lap two. Tiemersma would then battle side-by-side with Cornelius for second and was able to hold off Cornelius to keep the spot. Behind them, Ritchie and Glenn Watson battled for third, with Glenn Watson grabbing the spot on lap five. The top six then ran single-file while the battled raged for seventh between Campbell and Brandon Watson, with Brandon Watson able to take the position solely on lap seven.

On lap 7, Ritchie and Brandon Watson battled for sixth. Watson was able to clear Ritchie the next lap for the position while Gowan pulled off the track.

The only caution of the feature would come out on lap 20 when Tyler Hawn would lay down oil in turn one, spinning out. After a lengthy clean-up with 30 laps to go, it’d be Gresel leading Tiemersma, Cornelius, Glenn Watson, Brandon Watson, Ritchie, Campbell, Cronan and McLean to the restart.

On the restart, Gresel would once again pull ahead of Tiemersma while Cornelius and Glenn Watson battled for third. Cornelius would clear Watson the next lap to keep the third position. Brandon Watson would then slip past his uncle on lap 32 to move up to fourth while McLean pulled his car behind the wall.

Andrew Gresel would pull away from the field and take the victory. This marks the fourth straight top 10 for Gresel and third top five of the season.

Derrike Tiemersma would finish second to keep his streak of solid finishes going as he has yet to finish outside the top five in a feature so far this year.

Kevin Cornelius would finish third for his third straight podium finish and his fifth top seven finish so far this year.

Brandon Watson would finish fourth for his worst finish this year as he was on the podium in each of the four races ran before Sauble.

Glenn Watson would round out the top five, marking a solid finish after his wreck at Sunset Speedway during the Don Biederman Memorial.

Lloyd Ritchie finished sixth, followed by Todd Campbell, Sean Cronan, Doug Wilson and Brent McLean.

Tyler Hawn finished 11^th, followed by Shane Gowan and Brandon Vanderwel.

The OSCAARs will be at Flamboro Speedway this coming weekend as they make their first trip there since October 2009.

After scoring the pole on the draw, David McCullough wouldn’t look back as he would score his first career OSCAAR Modified victory at Sauble Speedway. The driver of the No. 39M Oke’s Auto and Hosie D’s Donuts Modified becomes the fourth different straight winner and fifth overall different winner this season.

Matt Barton would win the first heat ahead of Brian McLean, Dave Osbourne, Davey Terry, Darryn Wright and Shane Stickel.

Gary McLean would win the second heat ahead of McCullough, Brent McLean, Mike Westwood and Branden Bullen.

After a disappointing weekend at Sunset Speedway two weeks ago, Davey Terry would win the third heat ahead of Barton, Brian McLean, Stickel and Osbourne.

Brent McLean would win the final heat ahead of Gary McLean, McCullough, Bullen, Westwood and Bobby Tolton.

When it came time for the feature, David McCullough would start on the pole, followed by Gary McLean, Brent McLean, Matt Barton, Dave Osbourne, Davey Terry, Mike Westwood, Branden Bullen, Shane Stickel, Darryn Wright, Bobby Tolton and Michael Ford.

Gary McLean would grab the lead on the start ahead of McCullough, Brent McLean, Osbourne and Westwood. Stickel would slip by Westwood for fifth on lap five. Westwood would drop back to eighth on lap six after being passed by Barton and Terry.

Meanwhile, Tolton would pull off the track due to his car losing ignition. Ford ended up in the backstretch grass a couple laps later after getting loose off of turn two, bringing out the caution. With 23 laps to go, it’d be Gary McLean leading McCullough, Brent McLean, Osbourne, Stickel, Barton, Terry, Westwood, Bullen and Wright.

On the restart, McCullough would get a good jump on Gary McLean to grab the lead. Behind them, Barton would get into Osbourne, however Osbourne would make the save and keep going. Though the caution would fly a lap later for Westwood spinning around. With going back a lap, Gary McLean would restart as the leader ahead of McCullough, Brent McLean, Osbourne, Barton, Stickel, Terry, Bullen, Wright and Westwood.

On the restart, McCullough would once again grab the lead while Brent McLean would get underneath Gary McLean for second. The uncle and nephew combination would make contact, though both kept it going with Gary holding on to second. Meanwhile, Osbourne would continue to run fourth ahead of Barton and Terry.

McCullough would escape from the field, however Gary McLean would catch back up to him with 13 laps to go. At the same time, Stickle would run into problems, pulling his newly wrapped car off the track.

Gary McLean would stay close to McCullough the final 10 laps, however wasn’t able to find a way by. As a result, David McCullough picks up OSCAAR Modified feature win no. 1 ahead of defending series champion Gary McLean, points leader Brent McLean, Dave Osbourne and Davey Terry.

Matt Barton would finish sixth, followed by Mike Westwood, Branden Bullen, Shane Stickel and Darryn Wright.

Michael Ford finished 11^th, followed by Bobby Tolton and Brian McLean.

It was like yesterday was on replay as Scott Dixon would dominate to win the Honda Indy Toronto Race 2. It marks his third straight win after winning last weekend at Pocono and yesterday’s Toronto race. Last year, Ryan Hunter-Reay won three in a row on the way to winning the championship.

Dixon took the lead early, held it through the pit stop cycles and on the final restart to take home the victory. With sweeping the weekend, Dixon scores a $100,000 bonus for the sweep courtesy of SONAX.

“Once again, I want to thank everyone for coming out today,” Dixon, who led 81 of the 85 laps, said in victory lane. “Toronto fans are something special. A little hotter today. The race was a little faster pace today, so we were definitely trying to hang on there.”

Dixon earned his 32^nd career IndyCar victory, gaining sole possession of eventh place on the all-time list. He also becomes the winningest active driver with his victory today.

The race went green all the way till lap 64 when James Jakes made contact in turn five with the wall after clipping the curb.

On the restart, Dixon was able to hold on to the lead, spreading it to 6.2879 seconds before a caution came out on lap 81 with four laps to go. Ed Carpenter brought the caution out after hitting the wall at the exit of turn five.

On the restart with 2 laps to go, Ryan Hunter-Reay would try to make it three-wide going into turn one, resulting in contact with Will Power after the corner. Hunter-Reay would catch the outside wall hard, collecting Takuma Sato, while Power would go off in one of the run-off areas. As a result, the race ended under caution.

“Will was coming out from the bottom. I had a good run going on the outside, I was right next to him and he just – he was sliding across the patch,” Hunter-Reay said afterwards. “I talked to him, and he just said he got loose on the bottom and he just drove right up into us. There’s two lanes going through, everybody kind of respects that and….I don’t think he drove us on purpose, but we were taken out of the race.”

“It was a disappointing end for the Verizon team,” Power said. “We worked so hard all day and had a good run throughout most of the race. Then for it to come to an end like it did on the last restart is such a heartbreak. We will just work ahead and work for a better result at Mid-Ohio.”

Helio Catroneves would finish second to hold on to the points lead as he scores his 12^th top 10 in 13 races this season.

“The car was better today,” Castroneves said. “They were in a different league, Scott and Ganassi guys. I was pushing. Whatever he is taking for breakfast, I want it. Scott, tell me what you’re having for breakfast. Let’s be realistic: The guy was leading the whole race, 13 seconds ahead.

Sebastian Bourdais would finish third despite his push-to-pass button malfunctioning for his second consecutive podium finish after finishing second yesterday.

“It was really hard, and it was from seventh place,” he said. “I thought I was a sitting duck. Things just turned our way. I had a really good car on the restart. I was hooked up. I knew as soon as Ryan (Hunter-Reay) passed me, I had to get him back. I went for it, and it worked out.”

After suffering front wing damage to contact on the opening lap with Will Power, Dario Franchitti would come back to finish fourth. EJ Viso would round out the top five.

Charlie Kimball finished sixth, followed by Mike Conway, Justin Wilson, Marco Andretti and Alex Tagliani. The 10^th place finish for Tagliani marks his first top 10 of 2013.

Hometown hero James Hinchcliffe wouldn’t take the initial green flag after the throttle sticking on pit road. Hinchcliffe’s crew would get the problem fixed, sending him out on track three laps down. The mayor of Hinchtown would finish 21^st as a result.

“The throttle stuck (on the start) – it’s pretty simple,” Hinchcliffe said. “I was just going through the routine of the standing start, and as soon as I put my thumb on the throttle, it stuck 100 percent, and that was about a minute before they gave the command (to start engines).

“It sucks for everyone that came out today. I was hoping for better in my hometown. But we weren’t going to give up – I wanted to go out, finish the race and get any point we could.”