OHSWEKEN, Ont. – June 30, 2017 – Ohsweken Speedway was a busy place as Friday Night Excitement returned to action with Durnin Motors and Bradshaw Brothers Hot Rod Cruise Night featuring the Southern Ontario Sprints on Friday, June 30, 2017. The track welcomed YouTube star Tanner Fox to compete with the HRW Automotive Mini Stocks for his first ever dirt track race. When the dust settled, it was Dylan Westbrook, Shone Evans, Dave Bailey and Lucas Smith who picked up victories.
Southern Ontario Sprints vs. Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars (20 entries)
Lee Winger and Jim Huppunen started on the front row for the Southern Ontario Sprints vs. Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak Sprint Cars 25-lap A-Feature with Huppunen jumping out to the early lead. The opening two corners saw several drivers fight their cars on a challenging track.
While Huppunen opened an early lead, several fans were watching a charge forward from eighth-starting Dylan Westbrook. On lap six, Westbrook and Ryan Turner battled for the second spot after both drove past Jake Brown when the left side-panel blew off the top-wing on his No.1-10. A caution on lap eight calmed the battle up front, but Westbrook drove to the third spot on lap 10 and one lap later took second from Winger.
A three-wide battle for third ensued between Winger, Turner and Mikey Kruchka while Huppunen and Westbrook raced away into traffic. Kruchka won the battle for third and attempted to regain touch with the leaders.
Huppunen found himself in traffic at lap 16 and Westbrook used the opportunity to eat into the lead. At lap 18, Huppunen’s advantage was erased when the caution flag waved for debris in turn one. Westbrook made the winning pass on the following restart with a slide job in front of Huppunen’s No.14h in turns one and two. Huppunen stayed with the eventual winner, but could not get within striking distance to retake the point. The win was Westbrook’s second weekly victory of the season at Ohsweken.Winger, Huppunen and Westbrook won qualifying heats.
Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Cars (29 entries)
Jesse Costa and Shone Evans started up front for the Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Cars 20-lap main event. Evens jumped to an early advantage while the fourth starter, Mack DeMan, raced into second. The race was slowed quickly, however, when Mike Thorne rolled to a stop at the top of turn four on lap two.
Evans withstood DeMan’s attack on the restart while Costa began to experience problems behind the two leaders. Jesse McDonald raced into third on lap four before Costa came to a stop during a lap eight caution for a spun Davey Boughton.
Following the restart, Josh Shantz took second from DeMan. Three laps later on lap 14, DeMan’s night ended when he suffered damage to the right-front corner of his Lucas Oil No.4 and stopped in turn two. Evans held off Shantz on the restart and again on a green-white-checkered finish to score the victory. McDonald claimed the third spot. Hannah Ferrell, Ryan Hunsinger and Costa won qualifying heats.
Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks (28 entries)
The Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock feature had Nick Liverance and Kacey Huffman on the front row for the 20-lap main event. Before the first lap couple be completed, the race was slowed for a stopped Christopher Hale in turn two.
Sixth-starting Jason Lungaro drove to the lead on the opening lap and Dereck Lemyre claimed second. The early hard charger was point leader Dave Bailey who came from the 17th starting position to second by lap three.
Bailey and Lungaro then waged battle for the top spot with Bailey leading the fifth lap at the start-finish line. Three laps later, Bailey was clear of Lungaro for the lead and on lap 11 held a 1.8-second advantage of Ryan Beagle who took second from Lungaro.
Slower traffic was not an issue for Bailey who navigated flawlessly ahead of Ryan Dinning who recovered from an early lap two spin to race forward to second on lap 14. Dinning did his best to cut into Bailey’s lead once the two cars had a clear track free of traffic to race. Dinning was fast in his No.8 and was eating into Bailey’s lead, but couldn’t get close enough to make a big for the lead before the checkered flag waved on lap 20 to hand Bailey his fourth win of the season.
Earlier in the night, Lungaro, Lemyre and Bailey won qualifying heat races.
HRW Automotive Mini Stocks (36 entries)
The HRW Automotive Mini Stock Feature was the final event to hit the track. Tim Nuell and Dusty DeBoer made up the front row while San Diego, Calif. native Tanner Fox was set to challenge from the rear of the field. DeBoer led the opening lap with five-wide racing taking place throughout the entire field behind him. Guelph driver
Bobby Tolton took the lead on lap three, but before the fourth lap couple be completed a major eight-car wreck took place on the backstretch with Brandon Crumbie’s No.63 finding the outside retaining wall to set off a chain reaction. The red flag was displayed to begin cleaning up the incident. Before the race could be restarted, heavy rain began to fall and washed out the racetrack. The remainder of the race was postponed to Friday, July 7 with the race continuing from lap three.
Jason Dixon, Tolton and Dave Crumbie won qualifying heats earlier in the night while rookie Nick Masi won the B-Main.
Gale’s Auto Aftermarket Bombers (19 entries)
Eric Maas and Brooke Nelson brought the Gale’s Auto Aftermarket Bomber feature to the green flag. Mass took the early lead while Jake Maas raced into the second spot and the 18th starter Lucas Smith claimed the third spot on lap four.
On lap five, Eric Maas No.37x suffered a flat tire, ending his night and handing the lead to Jake. His lead was erased by a lap seven caution. On the restart, Smith drove past Tim Jamieson’s No.177 for second. The race was slowed again on lap nine and again on lap 11 providing Smith the opportunity he needed. On lap 11, he drove to the extreme low side of the track and took the lead and drove to his second victory of the season over Paul Longboat’s No.188 and Jerry Burnham after Jake Maas was shuffled back on the restart. Eric Maas and Gillian Hils won qualifying heats.
UP NEXT AT OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY
Ohsweken Speedway resumes competition next Friday, July 7 for Frankie Turkey Memorial and Media Appreciation Night presented by O’Neil’s Farm Equipment and Case IH. Five divisions of thrilling action are on the card for Friday Night Excitement.
– Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars (20 Laps)
– Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Cars (20 Laps)
– Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks (20 Laps)
– HRW Automotive Mini Stocks (15 Laps)
– Gale’s Auto Aftermarket Bombers (12 Laps)
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