BROCKVILLE, ON – Some good weather finally enveloped the Leeds Grenville area and the fans at Brockville Ontario Speedway were treated to some great racing action this past Saturday, with Splash Well Drilling on hand as the title sponsor for the evening.
It was the final night of the season for the Surprenant Truck Shop Crate Sprint Cars and Andrew Hennessy, who was making only his fifth start of the year at Brockville, grabbed the lead at the start of the 20-lap event, with points leader Lee Ladouceur and title rival Adam Turner completing the top-three.
Hennessy, Ladouceur and Turner pulled away from the field on this night and left everyone behind, as they settled the race win between themselves. Ladouceur was doing his best to keep Turner behind him in the chase for the title. Hennessy held a steady six-car-length lead through the entire race and was running strong as Ladouceur tried his best to close in.
Hennessy was the class of the field as he pulled away and never let lapped traffic slow him down to take his second win of the season over Ladouceur, who locked up his second straight track title. Turner crossed the line in third, with Bruno Richard and Josh Verne Jr. completing the top-five.
Ryan Arbuthnot made a big move to grab the lead at the start of the 30-lap DIRTcar 358 Modified feature. Arbie started fourth on the grid and made a three-wide pass for the top spot heading down the backstretch on the opening lap to grab the lead over Dylan Evoy and Johnathon Ferguson.
Once in front, Arbuthnot showed how strong he was as he drove away to nearly a straightaway lead as the rest of the field tried to keep pace. Only two cautions slowed the race, one for Evoy, who slid off the track in turn three while battling Ferguson for second. The next caution came on lap 12 as Mike Evans slid off the track in turn one.
When the green flew again, Arbuthnot was in complete control of the race and pulled away over Ferguson, but another driver was coming to the front as Kalen Draper came up to challenge and eventually get by Ferguson for the runner-up position, as he tried to chase down the leader. Over the final half of the race, Arbuthnot was untouchable, scoring his fourth win of the season, putting him well in line to lock up his fourth track title next weekend. Draper crossed in second, with Ferguson, Kyle Dingwall and Tristan Draper rounding out the top-five.
Dylan Moore put on a show at the start of the 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature, leading early over Domonick Merkley and Matt Barbour. Moore was running great around the top side of the speedway and held a steady six-car-length lead as the top-three pulled away from everyone else. Behind them, Jordan Wood was in a battle with some tough competition, including Greg Brinklow, Jessica Power, Gavin Eisele, Bobby Herrington, Shane Stearns, and others, as they tried their best to run down the leaders.
Moore was running a fantastic race and looked like he was well on his way to his first career win but, on lap 19, the caution flew for Nathan Lambert, who slid off the track in turn four. This allowed the field to close in and gave an opportunity for some of the top drivers in the points to make a run at the win, including points leader Herrington. On the restart, Moore continued to show the way as he cleared Merkley for the top spot, but Herrington was on the move and he knew the time to go was now, as he moved to third on lap 22, which was also when the final yellow flew.
On the final restart, Moore once again drove away but Herrington was on the charge, getting by Merkley for second, as he quickly ran down Moore, setting up an epic finish. On the last lap, Herrington and Moore raced side-by-side to turn three. Herrington drove deep in the turn and cleared Moore by just enough, scoring his fourth win of the season. Moore finished a career-best second over Merkley, Barbour and Stearns.
Kyle Massey was the early pace setter at the start of the 15-lap Street Stock feature event, with Mike Schonauer and Jonathan Galipeau giving chase in the early laps. On lap 5, Schonauer was able to take away the top spot, while a five-car battle for second took place as Tommy Lizotte charged forward, moving to third and trying his best to run down the leaders. On lap 9, Lizotte made his way to the top spot and started to stretch out the lead, before Galipeau lost the rear end on his car in front of some other drivers, but thankfully everyone was able to avoid him with minor spins in turn one. Galipeau was towed to the pits, done for the night.
Lizotte continued to lead but Todd Raabe was making a serious bid for the spot, trying the inside and outside lanes repeatedly as Lizotte remained in control. Despite the effort from Raabe, it was Lizotte scoring his second win in as many starts this season. Raabe finished second, which was good enough to lock up his first ever Street Stock title with one race remaining. Schonauer, Vincent Charbonneau and Steve Brady rounded out the top-five.
Damien King led at the start of the 12-lap Novice Sportsman feature, with Blake Smith and Nick Merkley right there with him. Smith made his move to the top spot early, on lap 2, leaving King and Merkley to battle for the runner-up position. Matt Mould brought out the yellow on the same lap as he spun off turn one.
On the restart, Smith, Merkley and new third-place driver Logan Brown made it known that they were the drivers to beat, pulling away from the field, leaving King and Melcolm Banks to battle for a top-five spot. As the laps clicked off, Smith and Merkley had a spirited battle for the lead and it went down to the final lap for the win. Heading into turn three, Merkley charged into the corner on the bottom and pulled alongside Smith, but the former karting star held him off to secure his second win of the year and extend his points lead heading into next week. Merkly crossed in second over Brown, Banks and King.
Track titles are on the line next week in all divisions on Championship Night at The BOS. Racing begins at 7 p.m.
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DIRTcar 358 Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot [4]; 2. 18-Kalen Draper [6]; 3. 44-Johnathon Ferguson [3]; 4. 66-Kyle Dingwall [8]; 5. 17-Tristan Draper [5]; 6. 38J-Jarrett Herbison [10]; 7. 1M-Matt Billings [7]; 8. 64-Terry McClelland [1]; 9. 83-Dylan Evoy [2]; 10. 17M-Gavin MacFarlane [11]; 11. 08-Chris Ferguson [9]; 12. 11-Mike Evans [12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Johnathon Ferguson [3]; 2. R70-Ryan Arbuthnot [4]; 3. 18-Kalen Draper [5]; 4. 66-Kyle Dingwall [6]; 5. 08-Chris Ferguson [1]; 6. 17M-Gavin MacFarlane [2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Dylan Evoy [2]; 2. 17-Tristan Draper [4]; 3. 64-Terry McClelland [1]; 4. 1M-Matt Billings [5]; 5. 38J-Jarrett Herbison [3]; 6. (DNS) 11-Mike Evans
19 entries
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DIRTcar Sportsmans
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 88Z-Bobby Herrington [10]; 2. 35D-Dylan Moore [2]; 3. 98-Domonick Merkley [1]; 4. 16-Matt Barbour [5]; 5. 22S-Shane Stearns [7]; 6. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson [12]; 7. 52-Jessica Power [8]; 8. 18E-Gavin Eisele [11]; 9. 88K-Dylan Kirkland [14]; 10. 32-Tyler Stewart [9]; 11. 11J-Justin Saunders [13]; 12. 18-Jordan Wood [3]; 13. 98D-Paul Donnelly [17]; 14. 20-Nathan Lambert [19]; 15. 707-Greg Brinklow [4]; 16. 23-Michael Dillon [6]; 17. 39-Cory Lambert [18]; 18. (DNS) X41-Xavier Perrin; 19. (DNS) 04-Chris Wilson
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 98-Domonick Merkley [1]; 2. 22S-Shane Stearns [4]; 3. 88Z-Bobby Herrington [5]; 4. 16-Matt Barbour [3]; 5. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson [6]; 6. 39-Cory Lambert [7]; 7. 98D-Paul Donnelly [2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 707-Greg Brinklow [2]; 2. 35D-Dylan Moore [1]; 3. 52-Jessica Power [4]; 4. 23-Michael Dillon [3]; 5. 11J-Justin Saunders [5]; 6. 04-Chris Wilson [6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 18E-Gavin Eisele [5]; 2. 18-Jordan Wood [1]; 3. 32-Tyler Stewart [4]; 4. 20-Nathan Lambert [6]; 5. 88K-Dylan Kirkland [3]; 6. X41-Xavier Perrin [2]
13 entries
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Winged Crate Sprints
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 87-Andrew Hennessy [1]; 2. 51L-Lee Ladouceur [2]; 3. 9-Adam Turner [4]; 4. 72-Bruno Richard [3]; 5. 1V-Josh Verne Jr [6]; 6. 00-Ryan Poole [5]; 7. M52-Marc Surprenant [9]; 8. 4K-Jamie Kay [8]; 9. 85C-Cam MacKinnon [10]; 10. 15-Dan Deyo [7]; 11. 28M-Davey Marcotte [13]; 12. 52J-Brett Horner [11]; 13. 77-Liam Ladouceur [12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Andrew Hennessy [2]; 2. 72-Bruno Richard [4]; 3. 00-Ryan Poole [6]; 4. 15-Dan Deyo [1]; 5. M52-Marc Surprenant [5]; 6. 52J-Brett Horner [3]; 7. 28M-Davey Marcotte [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51L-Lee Ladouceur [2]; 2. 9-Adam Turner [4]; 3. 1V-Josh Verne Jr [6]; 4. 4K-Jamie Kay [1]; 5. 85C-Cam MacKinnon [3]; 6. 77-Liam Ladouceur [5]
7 entries
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Novice Sportsman
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 18B-Blake Smith [3]; 2. 911-Nick Merkley [5]; 3. 9-Logan Brown [4]; 4. M75-Melcolm Banks [6]; 5. 80D-Damien King [1]; 6. 35P-Patrick Kudrinko [7]; 7. 28-Matt Mould [2]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 18B-Blake Smith [3]; 2. 80D-Damien King [1]; 3. 9-Logan Brown [5]; 4. 911-Nick Merkley [7]; 5. 28-Matt Mould [2]; 6. M75-Melcolm Banks [4]; 7. 35P-Patrick Kudrinko [6]
18 entries
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Street Stocks
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 777-Tommy Lizotte [7]; 2. 10-Todd Raabe [6]; 3. 45-Mike Schonauer [5]; 4. 01-Vincent Charbonneau [4]; 5. 11-Steve Brady [11]; 6. 71-Francis Gauthier [2]; 7. 72-Alex Kimberland [9]; 8. 66-Thomas Reid [13]; 9. 64-Jonathan Galipeau [3]; 10. 18C-Kyle Massey [1]; 11. 07M-Charles Marchand [8]; 12. 39-Yanick Beauchemin [12]; 13. (DNS) 04-Christian Beauchemin
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 777-Tommy Lizotte [5]; 2. 45-Mike Schonauer [3]; 3. 71-Francis Gauthier [2]; 4. 04-Christian Beauchemin [6]; 5. 66-Thomas Reid [1]; 6. (DNS) 125-Stephane Philippe
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 10-Todd Raabe [4]; 2. 01-Vincent Charbonneau [3]; 3. 64-Jonathan Galipeau [2]; 4. 11-Steve Brady [1]; 5. (DNS) 0-Tyler French; 6. (DNS) 11X-Martin Thibert
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 18C-Kyle Massey [1]; 2. 07M-Charles Marchand [2]; 3. 72-Alex Kimberland [6]; 4. 39-Yanick Beauchemin [3]; 5. (DNS) 74-Nicolas Gauvreau; 6. (DNS) 01X-Kyle Gregory
- By Tim Baltz
