November 10th brought out the stars of the CASC-OR to the Toronto Congress Centre for the 2007 Awards Gala. This year the stars shone bright for BARC and as a club we did very well with workers and drivers alike.

The prestigious Elizabeth Dorey Award for Volunteer of the Year was given to a longtime BARC member and individual who has worked for years and years in racing and can always be counted on: Mrs. Mary Lobban. This makes three years in a row for the women of BARC to win the award with Pat McDiarmid taking it home in 2005 and Amy McCleary in 2006.

BARC Race Director Paul Einarson won the worker award from Pits/Starts, the Registration award went to another behind the scenes tireless worker, our own Greg Clement. Up and comer in the club, Brandon Rashleigh won the award for Auxilliary Services.

The John Reid Award went to Tom Leslie and the crowd responded with a standing ovation. Tom has never ceased to be a part of motorsports and his contributions over the years have been second-to-none. We congratulate him on this top honour from CASC-OR.

And then all of the driver awards began and BARC shone even brighter!

Mario Urbano won top spot in Formula Libre, earned the Jonathan De Haas award and won Overall Open Wheel!

In Formula 1200 Randy Smith took the top honours with Guy Bellingham 2nd and Andrew McMurray 3rd.

OFFC saw Kyle Marcelli win Class A and Lew MacKenzie Class B. Kyle also won Top Rookie in the region to a rousing round of applause. Caitlin Johnston was the recipient of the Muriel Knapp Award awarded to the top female in the region.

GT Sprints awards also went to several BARC drivers. GT1 was won by Nick Majors for the 2nd year in a row. No one is more ecstatic than Nick when he reaches the top of the podium! GTA saw John Cosgrove of BARC take 2nd place with his blue #09 Cobra, GTB was won by Brock Gilboe in his #255 Vertex Fabwork BMW. GTD top honours went to BARC member Frank Blanchet with BARC VP Bryan Rashleigh 2nd.

And finally the CCTCC where the Octane Motorsports MINI Cooper JCW of Alain Lauziere took the T Class title after a very successful year.

CASC's own Steven Scala stole the show with his Watercooler Awards. While discussing the award with his water cup at the office, he came up with several unique and utterly hilarious awards for this year's crop of drivers.

Congratulations go out to all of the winners!

Club members made the trip to the new GP Kartways facility in Downsview on October 30th for some good times and good racing! Tom Hyland organized the event which involved more than a dozen BARC members.

Husband and wife team Breanne and Jeff Owen took the track with gusto as Jeff tried valiantly to beat Breanne who was 2nd in the Top 50 for the month of October. Daughter Anne cheered them on from the stands trying several times to give directions to her drivers.

Dave King and son James, Mike Coulter, Kyle Hingley and Dan Hingley filled out the field of BARC competitors.

Tom Hyland won both races and Breanne Owen got the fastest lap of the night and was 2nd in both races. Pat Harrison was 3rd.

Big thanks go out to Tom Hyland for organizing the event!

BARC looks forward to the next 5th Tuesday, January 29th 2008 again at GP Kartways.

-Submitted by: Amy McCleary