SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – It was a memorable night of firsts and photo finishes on June 27 when Laird Raceway kicked off its 25th Anniversary season of local stock car racing in front of a record opening night crowd.
The night to remember kicked off with a bang, during qualifying, when Shanna Harten (#22 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) set a new track record in the Northland Auto Body Four Cylinders circling the 1/3 mile asphalt oval in a time of 17.398. Chase Wilson set the mark to beat in the Service Rental and Sales Super Late Models of 14.288, JP Delpaggio was tops in the NAPA Reyco Modifieds at 15.352 while Owen Brown bested the Lakeway Automotive Factory Stocks with a time of 16.063.
That was just the start of the night for Brown.
Brown (#12Y – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) started 10th on the grid and methodically picked his way to the front on the high-side of the track en-route to his first career feature win. Brad Bibeau (#80 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) and Dale Ducker (#4 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) rounded out the top three.
LAKEWAY AUTOMOTIVE FACTORY STOCKS FEATURE: 1. 12 Owen Brown 2. 80 Brad Bibeau 3. 57 Rick Ellis 4. 08 Daniel Bibeau 5. 4 Dale Tucker 6. 51 Jamie Fox 7. 88 Rob Wagner 8. 77X Ed Lapish 9. 29 Xavier Carter 10. 15 Andrew Givens // Heat 1 Winner – #08 Daniel Bibeau // Heat 2 Winner – #08 Daniel Bibeau
Fellow fast qualifier and new track record holder Shanna Harten (#22) capped off her night with a photo finish. Harten along with fellow Sooite and veteran Four Cylinder competitor Tyler Praysner (#38) crossed the line after their 20-lap feature side-by-side.
Review by track officials deemed Harten the winner while the margin of victory was mere hundredths of a second. Christopher Viotto (#24 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) capped off the top three.
NORTHLAND AUTO BODY FOUR CYLINDER FEATURE: 1. 22 Shanna Harten 2. 38 Tyler Praysner 3. 24 Christopher Viotto 4. 17 Shaun Desjardins 5. 21 Brent Fewchuk 6. 16 Dyllen Sherrard 7. 4 Kayla Tucker 8. 46 Ryder Byrnes 9. 6 Wayne Devon 10. 42 Jack Lannigan 11. 7 Gianni Viotto12. 8 // Heat 1 Winner – 7 Gianni Viotto // Heat 2 Winner- #38 Tyler Praysner
2023 Defending Track Champion Chase Wilson (#77 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) started off the new year the way he ended off last season – in victory lane.
Working his way from the 5th row of the feature, Wilson led through the latter half of the 30-lap Main event ahead of Dustin Jackson (#61 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) and Jay Palumbo (#90 – Goulais River, ON) to the finish.
SERVICE RENTAL AND SALES SUPER LATE MODELS FEATURE: 1. 77 Chase Wilson 2. 61 Dustin Jackson 3. 90 Jay Palumbo 4. 01 John Ross 5. 826 Jordan Parniak 6. 21M Cody MacLean 7. 46 Kaden Cudlak 8. 20 Mike Hearty 9. 21J Jacob Heimonen 10. 51 Jeremy Van Hoek 11. 47 Jordan Sims // Heat 1 Winner – #21J Jacob Heimonen
Jerry Ross (#01 – Echo Bay, ON) made a late race pass in the NAPA Reyco Modified feature to take the lead away from Jason Herrington (#78 – Thessalon, ON) and capture the opening night checker flag. JP Delpaggio finished in the 3rd position.
NAPA REYCO MODIFIEDS FEATURE: 1. 01 Jerry Ross 2. 78 Jason Herrington 3. 22 JP Delpaggio 4. 20 Matt Lewis 5. 7 Terrence Devon DNS – 84 Mark Laakso and 15 Chris Miller // Heat 1 Winner – #78 Jason Herrington // Heat 2 Winner – #78 Jason Herrington
Dylan Connolly (#86 – Sault Ste. Marie, ON) capped off the night with the win in the AIM Enduro Feature event while at intermission Taryn McCoy was top in the ladies ‘Powder Puff’ school bus race and Chuck Siddall won the Lawn Mower main event.
Action returns to Laird Raceway this coming Thursday, July 4th for another full 5-in-1 show. Time trials are set for 6 PM with green flag racing set for 7:15 PM. General grandstand admission is $20 while Children and Youth (17 & Under) and Seniors (75+) are absolutely FREE. Pit admission is $30 (all ages).
Laird Raceway is conveniently located 20 minutes east of Sault Ste. Marie in Laird Township at the Laird Fairgrounds. For further information visit their website at www.lairdraceway.com or visit the track Facebook page (lairdraceway). Laird Raceway is proud to be home of Contingency Connections $100,000 Racer Rewards Program.
