BRIGHTON, ON – It was a warm Saturday night to bring the opening month racing to a close on the 56th season of dirt track racing at Brighton Speedway and the action was hot on the track for Anson Construction and Gord’s Water night. There was a good crowd on hand to watch all the great racing including the first appearance for the Gord’s Water Van-Tastics.
The First feature of the night saw the Quinte Septic Stingers hit the track for the second time this season. Eighteen cars would start the feature event and at the end of the 12-lap affair it was the veteran Stinger driver #95 Jorden Pickell picking up his first checkers of the year. Pickell was followed across the line by #51 Matt French, #26 Chris Sparks, #27 Kendal Hase and #03 Dylan Barker respectively for the top five.
The Brighton Automotive Thunder Stocks would be next to hit the 1/3rd mile clay oval for their 20-lap feature event. It was the #9 of Josh Black that would lead the field to green and get the jump out of the early lead however third starting #19 Cory White would challenge Black early on and the two would have a seesaw battle back and forth for the lead position. The two raced side by side for the opening 9 laps until #03 Justin Ramsay made the move on the two leaders after a restart. Ramsay would not look back as he would go on to lead the next 11 laps and claim the victory. Starting from sixth, 2022 #0 Tyler French would finish second followed by White, #88 Patrick Easton and #17 Jeff Humphries
The Gords Water Van-Tastics were up next, and it was a battle of grocery getters making their way around the dirt track. Del MacGregor in the Soccer Mom Special Toyota Sienna would start at the back but wasted no time getting to the front. Del was assisted by his Passenger / Navigator Wendy Dadson to navigate slower traffic as he wasted no time picking up the checkers in the first Van-Tastic race of the season. MacGregor and Dadson were followed across the line by the Chicken Barn Racing entry of Jack and Rebecca Juby!
The Bainer’s OilGARD Anti Rust Canadian Modified had plenty of action right from the opening lap. Lap one of the even would see a little jingle between #32 Doug O’Blenis and #41 Corey Halbert. The two would be able to continue but would need to go to the rear of the field. This restart would allow #1 Shawn Gregory to take advantage of the high side of the track and move to position one on lap two. Gregory would not go unchallenged as last weeks winner #40 Ron Wadforth would search high and low for the fastest line as he paced Gregory down. And although Wadforth got close a few times he was not fast enough on this night as Gregory would lead the rest of the laps to claim his first victory of 2023. Wadforth would finish second, followed by a nice recovery from O’Blenis to take home third. Rounding out the top 5 was #2 Leslie Mowat and Halbert.
Vanderlaan Building Products Late Models hit the track next, and it would be the #05 James Seymour and #11 of Kyle Sopaz leading the field to green. Seymour would get the early jump and lead the first three laps until caution flew for #73 of Anthony Rinaldi hitting the wall. On the next restart Seymour was not so quick and it was Sopaz that got the jump of the restart and would work his way around the high side to clear Seymore. Two laps later #46 Brandon Mowat would clear Seymour and set his sights on Sopaz, and the racing was tight as they hit lap traffic. #89 Austin King, #5 Steve Baldwin and #3 Nate Rinaldi would all join the battle in the top five, but it was Sopaz who managed to keep the top spot even when challenged during a few late race cautions. These cautions, although making it very tight, did not alter the outcome of the race and the top five did not change with Sopaz picking up his first win of 2023 followed by Mowat, King, Baldwin and Rinaldi.
The last feature of the night was the Bill’s Johns Comp 4 division. It was Carter Rhodes in the #18 putting his mini stock up against the more powerful field of fourteen Comp 4 cars for the evening and he would be lucky enough to start on the poll position. Rhodes would lead the first few laps, but the power of #44 Tommy Bailey and #42 Aiden Fletcher would start to show by lap 5 as they worked their way around Rhodes. Bailey and Fletcher would battle side by side for the 15-lap affair and it was Bailey who narrowly squeaked out the win over Fletcher, Rhodes, #19 Shannon White and #37 Terry Blight.
Photos by Rod Henderson, CanadianRacer.com
1. Side by side racing action on Saturday night at Brighton Speedway, No. 1 Shawn Gregory took the checkered flag ahead of No. 50 Dylan Boyle.
2. Late Model racing at Brighton Speedway on Saturday nights is full of excitement and action as No 11 Kyle Sopaz practically led the 30 lap main event from start to finish.
3. The Gord’s Water Van-Tastics are as entertaining as they are hilarious, with No. 19 veteran Del MacGregor taking his grocery getter to victory lane once again.
Feature Finishes, May 27, 2023
Vanderlaan Building Products Late Models
1 11 Kyle Sopaz
2 46 Brandon Mowat
3 89 Austin King
4 5 Steve Baldwin
5 3 Nate Rinaldi
6 77 Caley Weese
7 33 David Vandertoorn
8 39 Rob Hood
9 5 James Seymour
10 73 Anthony Rinaldi
11 41 Ryan Lambert
Bainer’s OilGARD Anti Rust Canadian Modified
1 1 Shawn Gregory
2 40 Ron Wadforth
3 32 Doug O’Blenis
4 2 Leslie Mowat
5 41 Corey Halbert
6 5 Wally Alderdice
7 50 Dylan Boyle
8 26 Bob Green
9 51 Mike Freeman
10 36 Mitch Rosborough
11 9 Dan Price
Brighton Automotive Thunder Stocks
1 3 Justin Ramsay
2 0 Tyler French
3 19 Cory White
4 88 Patrick Easton
5 9 Josh Black
6 73 Jason Preece
7 11 Cole McKeown SUB ZEKE McKEOWN
8 97 Dave Barrett
9 3 Paul Read
10 23 Doug May
11 74 Mike Lucas
12 17 Jeff Humphry
13 6 Bill OHara
14 79 Chris Hale
15 6 Chris Hackett
16 16 Kaitlyn O’Blenis
17 8 Angie Kirby
18 27 Torri Pope
Bill’s Johns Comp 4
1 44 Tommy Bailey
2 42JR Aidan Fletcher
3 18 Carter Rhodes
4 19 Shannon White
5 20 Cody Sager
6 15 Josh Bogaard
7 55 Zach Humphry
8 77 Curtis Chamberlain
9 1 Scott Simpson
10 97 Robert Jenner
11 91 Jaiden Miller
12 37 Terry Blight
13 34 Bailey Kippen SUB COLE SANDERCOCK
Quinte Septic Stinger Division
1 93 Jorden Pickell
2 51 Matt French
3 26 Chris Sparks
4 27 Kendal Hase
5 3 Dillon Barker
6 30 Ryan Hill
7 67 Alex Patrick
8 9 Zac MacDonald
9 95 Nicole Deveau
10 64 Chris Johnson
11 8 Curtis Sparks
12 44 Rai-Ann Beaudrie
13 29D Cody Easton
14 69 Andrew Whitney
15 66 Ray Davies
16 6 Tom Cole
17 47 Josh Sparks
18 12 Shane Vale
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