REPEAT AND FIRST TIMER BEAT THE COMPETITION AT MERRITTVILLE
Presented by
COMPETITION SPEED SUPPLY AND SYNERGEN PERFORMANCE OIL
By Alexis De Wolfe
Race fans were treated once again at Merrittville Speedway on June 5, with exciting racing in all classes. The racing was great and the Thorold Blackhawks allowed one lucky fan to walk away with over $1300 in their pocket for the 50/50 draw.
In the street stock feature, 95, Mike Ward of Niagara Falls, Ontario took the checkered, while Ken Sargent in the 25 Lumina won the pro-stock feature, putting him in fifth place in the points. 3 Chad Brachman (the current points leader), won the eventful sportsman feature. In the modified class, Pete Bicknell who is currently tied for first in the points took yet another win.
The street stockers began their feature by coming out of turn two three wide, the leader Ed Rolfe, gets turned around in turn four but with a little bit of rubbing everyone got away cleanly. The 53 car of Tom Maude brought out the first and only caution of the race when he stalled on the back straight-away. 4c, Chris Crawford had the lead on the restart, but with Mike Ward, 95, moving up quickly, he lost the lead on the fourth lap.Behind them 24r Brian Rorison and 8c Lloyd Cichocki battling it out for third place. While they were battling it out, Alex Whelan in the 57k car moved up and got around them before they were aware of what was happening. Whelan almost overtook Crawford, and were side by side across the line but the final verdict was that
Ward was ahead at the checkered. Crawford held onto second, followed by Whelan, Cichocki and Rorison rounded out the top five.
The first caution of the pro-stock feature came out when 22 Eric LaPere broke down on turn two. While 18, Todd Zelichowski, took the green only to retire to the infield, when his car just wouldn't go. Mike Bernard in the 10 car seemed to have problems of his own as he kept going off the ends of the track. Ken Sargent in the 25 car took the lead away from Jeff Dayman,5, on the fourth lap and held onto it for the duration of the race. Tom Walker challenged Shawn Keus for second and took it away from him. The 31 car of Chris Buttigieg having problems with only two laps to go, but narrowly avoids losing control and taking the majority of the pack with him.
The leader was Sargent, followed by Walker, Keus, Ron Reece in the 11 car and 1A, Brian Halliwell. Walker is the current points leader, followed by Halliwell, Keus, Reece and Sargent.
Howard Manges dominated the dwarf feature. Jim Varble, 15, and Dave Russell, 88 get together in the first lap bringing out a caution. This left Varble and Russell in last place for the restart. The 55 of Nol King takes the lead for the restart with Manges knocking on his back door, Manges took the lead on the third lap. The second caution of the race came out on the fifth lap as 17 lost it coming out of turn four. The 53 car of Carl Balanger broke with a loud band and ramble bringing out the third caution on the lap 10.
Manges maintained the lead for the duration of the lap and came to the checkered followed by King, 77, Ray Webber, 6, John Wrobel and Bill Perry in the nine car rounded out the top five.
The Silvr 7 of Ken Walsh took the early lead in the Sportsman feature. The first caution of the eventful race was brought out when Tammy Willard 77 and Dean Hoffman 19h got together in the fence on the fourth corner in the third lap. A second caution came out on the restart with a five car pile up on the front straight-away. The fender bender left Paul Ashton 3A, Bill Willard 77jr. and Randy Chrysler 21k, hung up on each other in the infield. Willard was able to get away on his own after track crews lifted his car up and unhooked him from Chrysler. Ashton's and Chrysler's cars left the track on tow trucks. Shawn Sliter in the 71s car took the lead away from Walsh on the sixth lap. Caution came back out for Dean Hoffman who got himself turned facing the wrong way up in turn four again. Randy Chrysler made his way back from the pits on the caution. The cars got five wide on the front straight-away on lap eight and something had to give. The 47 of Andy Imbeault left the track with a little help from the towing crew. Chad Brachman in the 3 car started moving up to the lead and took it just before the fifteenth lap. With ten to go caution came out yet again for 71s of Sliter and the 71 of John Hagerman as they get themselves lined up on the tires in turn one. The pack got a little over-excited on the restart and nearly took out the pace car.
Brachman held onto the lead for the rest of the race and took the checkered followed by 17c Pete Cosco, 77jr. Bill Willard, 77t Tammy Willard and 19j John McKenney rounded out the top five. Brachman is the current points leader, followed by Bill Willard, Fred Carlton, Randy Chrysler and Greg Panunte.
Don Turner 39, took the early lead in the modified feature. Wayne Conn 8, lost it between turns three and four early in the race and collected z1 of Billy Krull and the 24 of Andy Green. Leaving both the z1 and 24 needing assistance getting off of the track. The next caution brought out on the track was not caused by any of the drivers, a difficulty with the flashing yellow lights suspended above the track forced track officials to halt the race . Their solution was to put trucks into the corners on the infield with flashers on their roofs to signal the drivers for cautions. Turner maintained the lead on the restart but was quickly challenged by Dan Miller in the 22 car. Joe Middlemiss started making his move early in the race, creeping up from the back of the pack, using the unused outside of the track to make his move. Lap 8 found Turner, Pete Bicknell and Fred Cade fighting together for the lead. Bicknell takes the high line and overcomes Turner as Middlemiss moves up into fourth position.
Bicknell took the prized position on the 21st lap, leaving Turner to fight to maintain fourth place. Bicknell took the checkered, followed by 16, Jim Begolo, Middlemiss, 12 Fred Cade, and Scott Wood finished in fifth place in his 38 car.
Merrittville would like to thank the towing staff and Ohsweken Speedway for their help on Saturday night - also thanks to the race teams for their patience and cooperation.
Pit Notes...Chris Wood (younger brother to 38 modified pilot) took the wheel of Pete Bicknell's backup #42 (now the 42W?) and drove an impressive race to place 15th out of a modified field of 22. With no previous racing experience (go-karts as a teenager) Wood drove a clean & smooth race and returned the car without a scratch.
Join us at Merrittville Speedway next week when Davey Automotive presents the Inside Track Motorsport News Empire Super Sprint Spectacular plus a full card. The only cars that won't be on the track are the dwarfs. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and the action starts at 7:30 p.m. For further information contact the speedway at (905) 892-8266 or visit our website at www.merrittvillespeedway.com