KERRICK WINS FIRST EVER SPRINT FEATURE AT BROCKVILLE
BROCKVILLE-Brockville Ontario Speedway seems to have a way of creating first time winners on the Empire Super Sprints tour. After nine years of effort Stanley, New York’s Bubby Kerrick felt the thrill of victory for the first time on Friday night before a capacity crowd at the fast quarter mile Eastern Ontario oval.
Kerrick won the dash and started on the pole for the 25 lap feature. He grabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag and led every lap enroute to an emotion. He emerged from the red car number 61 with tears welling up in his eyes and thanked everyone including the Brockville fans in a victory speech that moved the crowd to a standing ovation. Don Sharp Jr. was a strong second followed by Bobby Podolak, who won the spring ESS event at the BOS. John Karklin Jr and George Ely rounded out the top 5.
Mark Hitchcock of Kingston claimed his second Modified feature win of the season. He took the outside groove off of turn 4 on the 8th lap and blasted by early leader Cole Dingwall to take the top spot for good. Randy Gaudet could get to within a couple of car lengths of the leader a couple of times but never really threatened as he finished second in front of Bill Gill, Stephane LaFrance and Lee Gill.
The closest finish of the night and perhaps in recent memory came in the 15 lap Novice event. Brian Hutton led almost a full 15 laps, only to have Sheldon Hoogwerf nip him at the finish by less than a bumper length. It was the fourth win of season for the Brockville driver. Roger Bushey, Adam Turner and Billy Code were third through fifth respectively. The race featured the biggest field in recent memory with 30 novice cars taking the green flag.
Cornwall’s Kurtis McPhee further padded his lead atop the Rookie class point standings romping to his 8th win of the year. Don Hall was second followed by Brad Kirkland, Joseph Banks and Brett Hartin.
The Speedway will return to action on Friday Night, August 22nd at 7:30 pm for a full program of Modifieds, Sportsman, Novice and Rookies.
ESS Sprints 25 laps: 1. Bubby Kerrick 2. Don Sharp Jr. 3. Bobby Podolak 4. John Karklin Jr. 5. George Ely 6. Justin Barger 7. Randy Years 8. Lance Yonge 9. Rick Wilson 10. Kyle Wilson 11. Alain Bergeron 12. Dan Kaszubinski 13. Dick Spadaro 14. Brian Dumigan 15. Tim Zimbardi 16. Nick Fratto 17. Jared Zimbardi 18. Tim Kelly 19. Ray Preston 20. Justin Harris
Modifieds 30 laps: 1. Mark Hitchcock 2. Randy Gaudet 3. Bill Gill 4. Stephane LaFrance 5. Lee Gill 6. Jeff Sykes 7. Jeff Marshall 8. Steve Bilow 9. Tom Jock Jr. 10. Adam Moore 11. Brian Rogers 12. Jeff Ciglich 13. Billy Cook 14. Todd Stewart 15. Jamie Martin 16. Cole Dingwall 17. Doug Fuller 18. Chris Herbison
Novice 15 laps 1. Sheldon Hoogwerf 2. Brian Hutton 3. Roger Bushey 4. Adam Turner 5. Billy Code 6. Steve Billings 7. Robin Perrin 8. Barry Baker 9. Charles Barkley 10. Brett Horner.
Rookie 10 laps 1. Kurtis McPhee 2. Don Hall 3. Brad Kirkland 4. Joseph Banks 5. Brett Hartin