Thanks to Derek Smith of Racepulse.com for sharing some of his images from Saturday, June 22, 2024 at Merrittville Speedway. You can find more of Derek’s work from this event and others here.
Jonathon Howe’s report from the event is below the gallery.
CORY TURNER TOPS SOS, DOUBLE FEATURES DOUBLE THE CHAOS FOR MODIFIEDS AT GARY CUNNINGHAM MEMORIAL
THOROLD, Ontario (June 22nd, 2024) … The Southern Ontario Sprints returned to Merrittville Speedway as Canada’s Oldest Dirt Track held the Gary Cunningham Memorial. Cory Turner of Tilsonburg, Ontario claimed the victory in the touring 360 Sprint Car series. It was a double feature night for the Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds with Shayne Pierce of St. Catharines winning the feature credited to May 18th’s fog out night. While Fred Carleton, also of St. Catharines won the second feature of the night. Port Colborne, Ontario’s Josh Sliter took home the win in the Rona Doidge Modified Lites. Mark Fawcett of Canfield, Ontario continued his winning ways in the Hoosier Stocks. Niagara Falls native Ken Hair won the feature for the Vansickle Pet Valu/PV on the Lane 4 Cylinders.
Feature racing began with the Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modified’s who first contested the previously fogged out feature from May 18th. Dylan Davidson started from pole with Jay Mallory to his outside. Cautions fell early and often, leading to 10 cars retiring from the race. Shayne Pierce who started fifth, used the restarts to his advantage to get to the front before a caution on lap eight when Noah Walker went around, collecting Trevor Wright, Justin Sharp and Darrell Farraway. The final 20 laps of the feature ran green, and Pierce steadily built up an advantage on second place Carelton. With several cars dropping out, lap traffic was manageable, and Pierce was able to breakthrough to win his first feature at Merrittville in the Modifieds. Carleton was second with Davidson finishing third, Pete Bicknell fourth and Gary Lindberg finished fifth.
In the second Modified feature of the night, Kyle Richner and Scott Wood started on the front row, however neither driver would be able to finish the race. Much like the first feature was slowed by multiple yellow flag incidents, this one saw crash damage and mechanical failures lead to 11 cars retiring from the race. Justin Sharp had control of the event for many of the laps run, however after a restart with six laps to go, Sharp’s car sputtered on the back stretch allowing Freddie Carleton to get through to take the lead. Carleton held off Noah Walker on the final restart of the night and picked up another win on the year. Walker crossed the line third but was moved forward to second after Gary Lindberg was penalized for rough driving while passing Walker on the last lap. Luke Carleton and Todd Gordon rounding out the top five finishers.
The Rona Doidge Modified Lites had contested five feature events on the year heading into Saturday night at Merrittville Speedway. Chance Kotar started from pole and lead the race early, trying to follow in the tire tracks of Cohen Corbett and Ryan Anderson and pick up his first career win in 2024. However, veteran Josh Sliter worked his way forward from 10th and after a caution for debris on lap seven, he found himself in the lead. Joe Isabell who started in 12th, also worked his way forward and gave chase to Sliter for much of the race before settling for second. Sliter became the first repeat winner on the year in the Mod Lites. Tyler Winger, Brent Begolo and R.J. Pietz completed the top five.
Cory Turner started from the pole for the Gary Cunningham Memorial race as the Southern Ontario Sprints made their second stop at Merrittville Speedway this Summer. Turner quickly drove off from outside pole sitter Tyeller Powless, setting a blistering pace to the 25-lap feature. The pace was interrupted at the race’s halfway point for a caution when a car slowed with a mechanical failure before limping to the pits. The restart was welcomed by Dylan Westbrook, who had not lost a race on the S.O.S. schedule in 2024 yet, as he was able to gain some track position, and pass his way up to second. Westbrook would run out of time and Turner would hold on to grab the win and the $3000 cheque on the top step of the podium. Liam Martin finished third with Matt Farnham and Ryan Turner finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
In the Hoosier Stocks, it was a three-car battle right down to the end that settled the win. Jason Fontaine and Mark Fawcett battled side by side for multiple laps after a restart on lap 14. While they raced, Dave Bailey caught the lead two cars and began to look for a way around. Fawcett cleared Fontaine, while Bailey drove up to challenge Fontaine. The two raced side by side to the checkered flag for second with Fontaine coming out on top behind Fawcett, who picked up his third feature win at Merrittville in 2024. Kyle Pelrine and Pete Reid also finished in the top five.
The Vansickle Pet Valu/PV on the Lane 4 Cylinder feature saw a few big crashes in the races first half. Ray Cerenzia and Sam Iftody hooked together on the front stretch leading to a big impact into the outside wall. Hana Rothwell, who also wrecked hard in a roll over the week previous, took another big on lap seven when she and another car tangled on the exit of turn 4 for another impact to the outer front stretch wall. On the restart, Ken Hair was tasked with holding off Alex Riley, Josh Dmytrow and Mason Anderson who all took turns attempting to take the lead from Hair in the closing laps. However, no one got alongside and the Niagara Falls driver took the win, his second on the year. Riley was second with Anderson, Dmytrow and Cierra Keus rounding out the top five.
RACE RESULTS –- June 22nd, 2024.
Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds (May 18th) – SHAYNE PIERCE, Fred Carleton, Dylan Davidson, Pete Bicknell, Gary Lindberg, Chad Brachmann, Jay Mallory, Kyle Richner, James Friesen, Justin Sharp, Derek VanMil, Todd Gordon, Ken Winfield, Martin Polhill, Brad Rouse, Noah Walker, Trevor Wright, Darrell Farraway, Brian Page, Bill Gill, Scott Wood, Brandon Gruhl, Luke Carleton
Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds – FRED CARLETON (2), Noah Walker, Gary Lindberg, Luke Carleton, Todd Gordon, Pete Bicknell, Dylan Davidson, Dave Flannigan Jr., James Friesen, Derek VanMil, Brad Rouse, Chad Brachmann, Bill Gill, Jay Mallory, Justin Sharp, Shayne Pierce, Brandon Gruhl, Kyle Richner, Scott Wood, Ken Winfield, Trevor Wright, Paul Gaboury, Martin Polhill, Brian Page, Darrell Farraway
B Feature – Ken Winfield, Bill Gill, Dave Flannigan Jr., Trevor Wright, Derek VanMil, Luke Carleton, Paul Gaboury, Brandon Gruhl, Darrell Farraway, Brian Page
Rona Doidge Modified Lites – JOSH SLITER (2), Joe Isabell, Tyler Winger, Brent Begolo, R.J. Pietz, Sean Iftody, Cohen Corbett, Chris Watson, Ryan Anderson, Greg Zack, Dave Cornish, Anthony Kelly, Ashton Anderson, Cole Hardy, Nick Sarantakos, Tyler Colbert, Ryleigh Sliter, Chance Kotar, Leroy Buscumb, Roger Pardis, Evan Leonard, Tony Kelly
Qualifying Heats – Ryan Anderson, R.J. Pietz, Josh Sliter
Southern Ontario Sprints – CORY TURNER, Dylan Westbrook, Liam Martin, Matt Farnham, Ryan Turner, Tyeller Powless, Mike Bowman, Darren Dryden, D.J. Christie, Josh Hansen, Allan Downey, Todd Hoddick, Dale Curran, Shone Evans, Aaron Turkey, Jamie Turner, Ryan Coniam, Mike Lichty, Ashton VanEvery, Kevin Pauls, Kyle Phillips, Travis Cunningham, Scott Hall
Qualifying Heats – Matt Farnham, Liam Martin, Todd Hoddick
Hoosier Stocks – MARK FAWCETT (3), Jason Fontaine, Dave Bailey, Kyle Pelrine, Pete Reid, Donny Lampman, Chris Crowe, Jim Lampman, Dustin Duga, Rob Murray, Gofast Teeple, Zach Bleich, Kevin Kocarik, George Grosul, Keith Dale, Rob Disher
Qualifying Heats – Jason Fontaine, Rob Murray
Vansickle Pet Valu/PV on the Lane – KEN HAIR (2), Alex Riley, Mason Anderson, Joshua Dmytrow, Cierra Keus, Olivier Larocque, Craig Vlasic, Austyn Werstroh, Mark Deagle, John Lubeck, Sam Iftody, Jay Moulton, Nick Bowman, Richard Hadler, Tina Ronning, John Trivieri, Sierra Robison, Corey Lawton, Hana Rothwell, Randy Always, Ray Cerenzia, Connor Chambers
Qualifying Heats – Braden Keus, Sam Iftody, Mason Anderson
