THOROLD, ON – Niagara On The Lake, ON racer James Friesen won the 358 Modified feature at Merrittville Speedway on Saturday night. Elsewhere on the Thorold dirt oval, St. Catharines, ON resident Cody McPherson picked up the win in the DIRTcar Sportsman main.
In Stocks action, Dave Bailey of Hagersville, ON went to victory lane for the fourth time this season, while Port Colborne, ON’s Josh Sliter scored his fourth Modified Lites win. In the 4 Cylinders feature, Ken Hair of Niagara Falls, ON also earned his fourth victory of 2024.
The 358 Modified feature began with Darrell Farraway on the pole, who jumped to an early lead. After building his lead to a healthy margin over Dylan Davidson, Farraway caught the tail end of the field, where Brandon Gruhl fought hard to stay on the lead lap. This caused Farraway to fall back into the clutches of Davidson, who was able to take the lead on lap 17, with Gruhl still on the tail end of the field jamming up the leaders.
Farraway tried to retake the lead one lap later but spun after driving too deep in turn three to bring out the race’s first caution. On the restart, James Friesen took over the top spot from Davidson before another caution, on lap 24. Friesen survived another restart on lap 27 to drive off to his first Modified Feature win, on his birthday no less.
Gary Lindberg drove up to second, but ran out of time to steal the win; however, his strong finish has unofficially put him in position to claim the 358 Modified track title at Merrittville Speedway. Brad Rouse was third, with Justin Sharp finishing fourth, and Pete Bicknell rounding out the top-five.
Doug Walsh Jr. and Nigel Pendykoski led the field to green in DIRTcar Sportsman. Walsh, who picked up a heat win earlier in the night, had considerable pace to start the event. On lap 14, Dan McKay spun while running fifth, placing Cody McPherson to Walsh’s outside for the restart. McPherson took the lead and never looked back. Taylor Vanderzanden and Billy Bleich Jr. were also able to slip past Walsh to finish second and third. Mitch Dumont completed the top-five finishers.
The Modified Lites began with calamity when the inside lane stacked up from the second row back, ending Ryan Anderson’s night. Anthony Kelly led early, followed by Jamie Gilbert, who grabbed the top spot after another early caution. On lap seven, championship leader Josh Sliter took the top spot, before being tasked with multiple late restarts after a string of yellow flags from lap 16 forward.
While Tyler Winger showed great pace, he never got the green flag laps he needed to be able to pull off the pass and Sliter picked up win number four and extended his lead over Brent Begolo in the track championship. Winger finished second, with R.J. Pietz, Begolo and Leroy Buscumb rounding out the top-five.
Polesitter GoFast Teeple jumped out to an early lead with great pace to start the Stock feature race. Mitch Petta spun on lap six, erasing Teeple’s early advantage and allowing Dave Bailey to jump to the top spot when the green flag returned. Teeple’s great run ended on lap 16 with a flat tire, which brought the car to a stop on the frontstretch. Bailey held off Kyle Pelrine on the restart to pick up his fourth win of 2024 at Merrittville Speedway. Zach Bleich finished in third, with Mark Fawcett and Evan Curtis finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 4 Cylinder feature, Ray Cerenzia jumped out to the lead from the outside of the front row. A restart on lap four allowed Randy Alway to take the top spot, but his lead was short-lived as Olivier Larocque moved to the top spot. Larocque’s lead would also be short-lived, as championship hopeful Ken Hair took the top spot just after halfway in the race.
Hair entered 18 points back of leader Alex Riley for the championship, who struggled in the heats and had to start 18th after winning the B-Main. Riley rallied to finish eight, but Hair scored the victory, narrowing the championship point battle drastically with one race to go. Larocque finished second to Hair, while Mason Anderson, Alway and Cerenzia completed the top-five finishers.
- By Jonathon Howe
