YELLOW LIGHTS SHINE AT MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY AS WOOD PICKS UP FOURTH
By Bruce Bonham
THOROLD, ON - June 21 — The sound of grinding metal almost over powered the din of revving engines at Merrittville Speedway Saturday when a total of 21 caution flags flew in the track’s five features producing the worse wreck-fest in recent memory.
Scott Wood survived the carnage and being set back two spots for jumping the Lap 7 restart, to win his fourth feature of the season — expanding his point lead when title chasers Larry Lampman Jr. and Robbie Krull of Lockport, N.Y. suffered race-ending damages.
“I wasn’t too happy being put back like that,” Wood said after the 35-lap dust-up. “I got a run on the low side and took off and they put me back.
“But we were right on our game tonight, the car was really hooked up.”
Wood served his two-position penalty on the next lap when the yellow light came on for Lampman and Todd Gordon’s Turn 3 tangle — also involving Don and Jamie Turner and Richie Vinson. He regained the point by Lap 14 and cruised to victory. Brad Rouse and Boyd MacTavish drove to their best finishes, second and third respectively.
Paul Ashton and Freddy Carleton staged a great battle for fourth between the cautions, with side-by-side racing. Carleton finally got by the Fort Erie veteran with 10 laps to go.
The rambunctious sportsman’s 25 lapper took three yellows flags in the first four circuits and five more cautions before Adam Ferri of Fort Erie broke off Wayne Conn’s five-race blitz, only to be disqualified for an illegal engine.
According to DIRT rules, Ferri, who says he’s on his fourth engine this season this season, keeps his win, but gains no points or purse. His winnings will be deposited in the drivers’ points fund.
Conn, who began the main in 14th, missed the chain-reaction wrecks, worked his way to the leader with three laps left after passing third-place finisher, John McKenney.
Both Tim Jones of Hamburg, N.Y. and 25-year veteran Billy Willard survived collisions in the early going to finish fourth and fifth. Stewart Friesen, winner of opening night and out of action last Saturday because of engine problems was running well before a front flat put him out of contention.
When the green flag flew for the 15-lap street stock main, cars roared into Turn 1 four-wide. Three laps later, Rick Champigny and Peter Reid got together producing mayhem on the front stretch and deleting half the 23-car field.
Reid continued to run the point after the lengthy clean up before Rob Murray took over for his fourth win with three laps to go. Dolf McCready, keeping his title lead alive, was second with Reid ending up third.
Mike Dooley’s wreck was harmful in the points race, with his first DNF of the season after top-5-ing the entire season so far.
Dwarf car invader D.J. Forbes of Syracuse, N.Y. landed in the winners circle after dodging five cautions and getting by Scott Billing 10 laps into the 15 lapper. Troy Van Allen of Bridgeport, N.Y. finished third in the 22-car pack, but was later disqualified, moving Mark Billing to third.
The four cylinder gang needed only a single restart for Glen Leinen to win his second 15-lap main after swapping the point with second place finisher, Doug Erskine, who slid off Turn 4 to the infield, but came back to hold second, Robbie Rounce fought hard for third.
Mark’s brother Jeff didn’t make the starting field, suffering a blown engine last Sunday at Gasport.
Tail Pipes: With day-long un-forecasted rain, ending just before the first heat, it was the smallest crowd, 1,600 fans but the largest car count of 105 racers ... It was also the longest show, ending at 10:35 ... After winning four features four cylinder ace Norm Mark ended up fourth ... Rookie dwarf driver Justin Sharp smacked the front stretch barrier hard wiping out his little car’s front end ... Todd Gordon’s tired crew Dan Lubberis’ 2003 Peterbuilt semi won the 10-truck show and shine competition He ranks No. 2 in Ontario ... Next Saturday with the mods off, Southern Ontario Sprints make their first of two Merrittville starts, returning Canada Day for a 50-lap special.
Modified (35 laps): Scott Wood, Brand Rouse, Boyd MacTavish, Richie Vinson, Fred Carleton, Paul Ashton, Brian Stevens, Jamie Turner, Pete Cosco, Randy Chrysler, Rob Pietz, Todd Gordon, Kenny Winfield, Don Turner, Dwayne Winfield, Larry Lampman, Chris Ricker, Robbie Krull, Rick Richner, Dan Miller.
Heats: 1. Pete Cosco; 2. Larry Lampman; 3. Boyd MacTavish.
Sportsman (25 laps): Adam Ferri, Wayne Conn, John McKenney, Tim Jones, Billy Willard, Darrell Ebersole, Billy Bleich, Darren Zumpe, Don Spiece, Dereck Lemyre, Lee Mallory, Bob Davidson, Stan Zanchin, Brad Malloy, Dean Hoffman, Kelvin Sharpe, Mark Feor, Blair Young, Stewart Friesen, Doug Spiece, Dennis Giancola, Jay Mallory, Mike Ward.
Heats:1. Darrell Ebersole; 2. Tim Jones; 3. Don Spiece.
Street Stocks (15 laps): Rob Murray, Dolf McCready, Peter Reid, Kevin Kocarik, Kirk Wilson, Rick Simons, Billy Bleich, Joe Passero, Terry Larmet, Andrew Robertson, J.T. Miller, Steve Shoop, Jeff Cook, Gerry Deschamps, Rick Champigny, Ed Fargnoli, Ron Kingsbury, Greg Ayres, Mike Dooley, Dave Gifford, Steve Arthurs, Russ Davidson.
Heats:1. J. T. Miller; 2. Ed Fargnoli; 3. Rick Champigny.
Dwarf Cars (15 laps): D. J. Forbes, Scott Billing, Mark Brighton, Mike Brubacker, Dave Russell, Ken Robins, Bill Perry, Ray Webber, Don Fenner, Kellie Mason, John Wrobel, Rob Knapp, Bob Breden, Wally Billing, Jason Corless, Chris Rimmen, Justin Sharp, Derek Breden.
Heats:1. Derek Breden; 2. Chris Rimmen.
Four Cylinder (15 Laps): Glen Leinen, Doug Erskine, Robbie Rounce, Norm Mark, Mike Giberson, Dan Stewart, Craig Erskine, Alex Wheeldon, Dave Bitner, Gord Bates, Trevor Goulding, Larry Erskine, Bob Brown, Mark Swayze, Tom Beales.
Heats:1. Norm Mark; 2. Glen Leinen.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CALL MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY - 905-892-8266 - or check out our Web site: www.merrittvillespeedway.com