THOROLD, ONTARIO (September 18, 2020) … Jordan Poirier from St. Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Quebec picked up the win in the 360 Sprint Cars at Merrittville Speedway on Friday night.
For Poirier, it is win number two of the season at the Thorold, Ontario speedplant. Allan Downey from Waterloo, Ontario who got his start in the sport through iRacing picked up his first career win with the Action Sprint Tour in his sophomore season. Multi-time track champion Dave Bailey from Hagersville, Ontario won the main event for the Hoosier Stocks after starting from the 12th position.
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Holly Porter and Jordan Poirier brought the field of 360 Sprint Cars to the green flag for their 25-lap A-Main with Poirier taking the lead as Mitch Brown moved into second after passing Porter on lap two. Chris Jones landed on his side on the backstretch to bring out the red flag on lap three. Jones climbed out on his own power. Poirier would take off on the restart with Mitch Brown, Ryan Turner, Holly Porter, and Liam Martin raced in the top five. Shone Evans went around in turn two to bring out the caution on lap eight. Poirier would once again take off on the restart as Liam Martin battled hard with Cory Turner for the fourth position. Josh Hansen, Jake Brown, and Jamie Turner all got together in turn two on lap 10 to bring out the caution. Ryan Turner was able to take over second on the restart and would go after Poirier. Liam Martin would race his way back to the podium as Poirier continued to lead over Ryan Turner. Mitch Brown was able to regain the third spot just one lap later. Poirier would hit lap traffic, allowing Ryan Turner to close in. Turner would take the lead, but Poirier would regain the lead just one corner later. Poirier would go on to score the win.
The Action Sprint Tour saw Dereck Lemyre and Jacob Dykstra lead the field of 23 entries to the green flag for their 20-lap A-Main and the yellow flag would immediately fly as qualifying heat winner Brian Nanticoke ran into the back of Nick Sheridan and went around with Lucas Smith getting collected. Dykstra would take the lead away from Lemyre on the restart. Dykstra would suffer a broken front axel as he made hard contact with the turn four berm. Dykstra climbed out of the car under his own power. Lemyre would re-inherit the lead on the restart over Darren Dryden and Rob Neely, with Nick Sheridan running in fourth and took over third on lap three. The red flag would come out as Lance Erskine flipped in turn two. Erskine was alright and climbed out of his car on his own. Nick Sheridan would challenge Dryden for second as Lemyre would continue to show the way. Lemyre would hit lap traffic just before the halfway point. The caution would wave once again as Trevor Young and Tyler Ward came together on the entry of turn one. Lemyre would go on the top side of the speedway on the restart, giving the lead to Darren Dryden with Allan Downey moving into second place. Downey would take over the lead with four laps remaining. The yellow lights would come on with only one lap remaining as Tyler Ward stopped on the top side of turn one. Dryden would look underneath Downey on the last lap, but Downey used the outside to get the lead back to get his first career win.
Mike Thorne and Kyle Wert brought the Hoosier Stocks to the green flag for their 20-lap feature event with Wert showing the way early. Thorne would regain the lead as Christopher Hale would challenge Wert for second place. The yellow lights would turn on as Rob Murray and Logan Shwedyk got tangled together on the front straightaway. Thorne and Hale would take off on the restart as Dave Bailey moved into third place and would go after Hale for the second position on lap eight. The lead trio would pull away from Wert and Ryan Beagle, who raced in the top five at the halfway point. Bailey would take over second on lap 11 and would challenge Thorne for the lead. Ken Sargent, who started 21st on the grid, worked his way into the top five on lap 14 and would battle with Ryan Beagle. The top five would all challenge for the lead and Bailey would take the lead away coming to the white flag. Bailey would drive on to the win over Thorne, Hale, Sargent, and Kyle Wert would complete the top five.
THOROLD, ONTARIO (September 19, 2020) … “The Real Deal” Chris Steele from St. Catharines, Ontario won the A-Main in the 360 Sprint Cars at the Merrittville Speedway Saturday night.
2018 S&W Service Centre 358 Modified track champion and reigning Super DIRTcar Series champion Mat Williamson from St. Catharines, Ontario won the main event for the Modifieds. Reigning Hoosier Stock Champion Rob Murray from St. Catharines, Ontario won the main event for the Hoosier Stocks. Former divisional champion Jeffrey May from Mt. Hope, Ontario picked up another win in the RONA/Doidge Builders Mod Lites. Fabio Olivieri from Ancaster, Ontario scored the win in the Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning Mini Stocks.
Mat Williamson started on the pole and lead every single lap in the 35-lap feature in the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds. Williamson stretched out to an early lead over Pete Bicknell who at one point was eating into the lead. Bicknell was never able to get closer than nine-tenths of a second. The race ran caution-free and Williamson notched another victory at his home track with Bicknell finishing in the runner-up position. Reigning track champion Gary Lindberg finished in third and was followed to the line by Scott and Austin Wood.
The 360 Sprints saw action at Merrittville Speedway for the 2nd night in a row. Tonight’s feature started with Chris Steele from St. Catharine’s, Ontario on pole with Brantford, Ontario’s Mitch Brown on the outside of the front row. Steele would control much of the race, lapping almost half the field. However, Steele would face a challenge late from Jim Huppunen. As the two sliced and diced through lap traffic, it came down to the last corner where Huppunen made a bold move on the outside to pull alongside Steele in turns three and four. Off turn four, Steele used the bottom lane to clear Huppunen and take the checkers. Mitch Brown, Cory Turner, and Ryan Turner would complete the top five finishers respectively.
Steve Shaw and Kyle Wert lead a 22-car field of Hoosier Stocks to green. Shaw took the lead early while Chris Hale, Mike Thorne, Ken Sargent and Rob Murray raced hard in the top 5. Dave Bailey, who started 18th after not finishing his heat race, battled his way up into the top 5, taking advantage of multiple yellow flags. Murray took the lead in the second half of the race and Bailey got as high as second. A late caution set up another classic battle between Murray and Bailey at Merrittville, but on the restart, Murray would drive away from the field to win. Chris Hale crossed the line in second, with Steve Shaw, Ken Sargent, and Dave Bailey completing the top five.
In Rona Doidge Building Centres Modified Lites action, Josh Sliter and Brent Begolo started from the front row. Sean Iftody spun after starting 5th, which jumbled up the field. Jeffery May who started alongside Iftody quickly worked his way up through the field and into the lead. May captured the win, while Tyler Winger got by Begolo late to finish 2nd. Begolo would settle for 3rd while RJ Pietz and Josh Sliter rounded out the top 5.
Lastly, Fabio Olivieri survived a wreck-filled Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinder feature. The race saw many of the top contenders involved in incidents including Austyn Werstroh who while battling for the lead, started a crash that involved 6 other cars and destroyed Werstroh’s 71 ride. Alex Riley and Leroy Buscomb also came together while battling for the lead, and another multi-car incident occurred when Dylan Llord and Kenny Hair came together while battling in the top 3. When the wrecking finally stopped, it was Fabio Olivieri taking the win over Riley, Hair, Buscomb and Matthew Moore.
Special thanks to Hoosier Tire Canada for their top five bonus program, giving extra bonus money to the top five Hoosier Stocks with Hoosier Racing Tires on all four wheels.
GForceTV will have the action from tonight on the channel Monday night, September 21st at 7 pm. After Monday, fans can watch it anytime along with all the races from Merrittville in 2020 just by heading to www.gforcetv.net
Merrittville Speedway returns to action on Saturday, September 26th for a full Bobcat of Hamilton Weekly Racing Series program staring the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds, Rick’s Delivery DIRTcar Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks, RONA/Doidge Building Centre Mod Lites, Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinders, and the James’ Auto V6. Showtime is at 7 pm.
Fans can register for the lottery draw for admission tickets to the racing program by following the directions on the Merrittville Speedway Facebook and Twitter page. Fans can email donspiece.merrittvillespeedway@gmail.com between 5-9 pm on MONDAY, September 21st for the September 26 program. The emails must include names, phone numbers, and hometowns for each person in your group.
Fans are encouraged to keep up to date with all the schedules and if any changes are needed by following Merrittville on social media including Facebook (facebook.com/MerrittvilleSpeedway), Twitter (@Merrittville), and now on Instagram (@merrittvillespeedway). For results, point standings, and more, check out www.merrittvillespeedway.com
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