THOROLD, ON – Ryan Turner has been close to a win in the Gary Cunningham Memorial race a few times, and finally broke through in Saturday night Southern Ontario Sprints competition at Merrittville Speedway.
Ryan Turner and Baily Heard started the 25 lap A-Main on the front row. The two raced hard for the lead until Darren Dryden spun and was collected by Kevin Pauls. Dryden got the worst of the exchange and was unable to continue. The restart was helpful for Dylan Westbrook, who started the A-Main in row 11 due to a flat tire in his heat race. The two time SOS champ immediately gained four spots when the green flag reappeared, and steadily marched forward to eventually finish eighth.
Heard held the lead until Turner got past him just before the halfway mark of the 25 lap race. Merrittville Modified standout Mike Bowman got past Heard for the second spot a few laps later. DJ Christie and row five starter Matt Farnham were making moves as well. Bowman tried his best to catch the leader, but Turner stayed up front to take the $3,000 victory while Bowman settled for the runner-up spot. Christie and Farnham took fourth and fifth after Heard got a bit too high and ended up sliding backwards along the outside wall to finish fifth.
Josh Hansen, Mitch Brown, Westbrook, Travis Cunningham, and 22nd starter Cory Turner rounded out the top ten. A total of 24 cars were entered for the night, but Lucas Smith crashed in his heat race and was unable to start the A-Main. More than $14,000 in purse money and contingency awards was handed out thanks to the generosity of sponsors on Saturday.
Dylan Westbrook now has a 12 point advantage in the Tammy 10 Media SOS Championship standings heading into the next SOS event on Sunday, July 2 at Humberstone Speedway. Visit www.humberstonespeedway.ca and www.southernontariosprints.ca for more information.
Southern Ontario Sprints Race Report
Saturday, June 24, 2023
Merrittville Speedway
Thorold, Ontario, Canada
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 15T-Ryan Turner[1]; 2. 71-Mike Bowman[6]; 3. 5-DJ Christie[3]; 4. 7NY-Matt Farnham[9]; 5. 70-Baily Heard[2]; 6. 88H-Josh Hansen[4]; 7. 10-Mitch Brown[8]; 8. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[21]; 9. 90-Travis Cunningham[14]; 10. 17-Cory Turner[22]; 11. 87-Shone Evans[11]; 12. 19D-Allan Downey[10]; 13. 9-Liam Martin[15]; 14. 21-Kyle Phillips[17]; 15. 77T-Tyeller Powless[18]; 16. 45-Nick Sheridan[7]; 17. 11-Jamie Turner[12]; 18. 68-Aaron Turkey[13]; 19. 46-Kevin Pauls[20]; 20. 21B-John Burbridge Jr[16]; 21. 15-Mike Ferrell[19]; 22. (DNF) 27-Paul Ballantyne[23]; 23. (DNF) 12DD-Darren Dryden[5]; 24. (DNS) 49L-Lucas Smith
A-Main Lap Leaders – Ryan Turner 1-3, 12-25; Bailey Heard 4-11
Margin of Victory – 1.531 seconds
Awards:
Hard Charger (Trailer Pros Canada $150) – Dylan Westbrook (+13)
Quick Time (Ackland Insurance $100) – Dylan Westbrook
Fastest A-Main Lap (Southern Ontario Dirt Show $50) – Ryan Turner
Fastest A-Main Lap by Driver Outside Top 10 (Daryl Turford $50) – Jamie Turner
Last Car on Lead Lap (Daryl Turford $50) – Nick Sheridan
13th Place (Rosemary Cunningham Missing Gary for 13 Years $200) – Liam Martin
21st Place (Burbridge Racing $50) – Mike Ferrell
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 71-Mike Bowman[1]; 2. 5-DJ Christie[3]; 3. 45-Nick Sheridan[5]; 4. 87-Shone Evans[2]; 5. 11-Jamie Turner[6]; 6. 21B-John Burbridge Jr[7]; 7. 15-Mike Ferrell[8]; 8. (DNF) 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – 2:08.240
1. 15T-Ryan Turner[4]; 2. 12DD-Darren Dryden[2]; 3. 68-Aaron Turkey[1]; 4. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]; 5. 90-Travis Cunningham[5]; 6. 21-Kyle Phillips[7]; 7. 17-Cory Turner[6]; 8. 27-Paul Ballantyne[8]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 2:07.379
1. 88H-Josh Hansen[2]; 2. 19D-Allan Downey[1]; 3. 70-Baily Heard[4]; 4. 10-Mitch Brown[3]; 5. 9-Liam Martin[5]; 6. 77T-Tyeller Powless[6]; 7. 46-Kevin Pauls[8]; 8. (DNF) 49L-Lucas Smith[7]
SOS Media
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