Despite some rough moments while working out the new car bugs, Amanda Balson was able to score a third-place finish in the year-end Knightworks Design OSCAAR Hot Rod standings.

Starting on the front row for the season opener at Sunset Speedway, she led the first 13 laps en route to a runner-up finish. Returning to the Innisfil facility two weeks later, she ran inside the top-five through the opening half until ultimately seeing her feature end early with a 18th-place finish.

The bad luck followed her to Brighton Speedway, as right-side damage relegated her to 13th in the final rundown. She hoped to turn things around at Sauble Speedway, and was inside the top-five for most of the feature. However, she got stuck behind a slow car on a late-race restart, relegating her to 14th. She was then unable to start the feature a week later at Peterborough Speedway, following a mechanical failure in qualifying.

It seemed luck was going to be on her side returning to Sunset, as she won her second qualifying heat to start pole for the feature. However, the mechanical gremlins crept up once again, sending her down pit road on the second lap. She started up front a week later at Delaware Speedway, this time keeping herself within the top-10 all race long to place seventh.

She carried the momentum to Flamboro Speedway with a heat victory, and ran inside the top-five until mechanical problems on Lap 23. She won both her qualifiers a week later at Peterborough, but found herself down pit road in the opening laps with issues.

With confidence in the speed shown behind the wheel of the No. 16 Camaro, hopefully the bad luck and gremlins are in the rearview mirror so 2022 can be filled with success.

The 2021 OSCAAR Hot Rod season is sponsored by Knightworks Design and The Sauble Falls Tent and Trailer Park Campground.

Be sure to keep up with OSCAAR by staying tuned to the series website at http://www.oscaar.ca. Also, make sure to “like” the official OSCAAR Racing Facebook page, while following both the Twitter and Instagram accounts (@OSCAARRacing) to keep up to date on everything you need to know.

By: Ashley McCubbin