FIRST TIME WINNERS IN CAA/FORD STUDENT AUTO SKILLS NIGHT AT MERRITTVILLE
By Alexis De Wolfe
Well race fans it was back to the track at Merrittville Speedway after a weekend of foul weather and the Victoria Day Extravaganza being rained out, but the drivers certainly made up for the short break in racing excitement.
The night showcased some of our up and coming pit crews with the 1999 CAA/Ford Student Auto Skills Ontario Quality Care Challenge which took place before the night's events. Students travelled from high schools as far away as Thunder Bay to compete in the event.
Alex Whelan recorded his first feature win of the season in the 57k car in the street stock class. Ron Reece in the 11 Jackson's Auto Body/Welland Starter & Battery Grand Prix collected the checkered flag in the pro-stock feature. Howard Manges took the feature win in the dwarf class in his 0+ '38 Chevy Sedan. The Sportsman feature was won by Paul Ashton but unfortunately post-race inspection found the winner to be runner-up Chad Brachman. The modified class found 42 Pete Bicknell coming around for the checkered in the feature.
The street stockers got off to a hectic start with a pile up in turn four on the first lap. They didn't bring out the caution however and racing continued, with the 97 car of Bruce Colbert in the lead and 63 Phil Rudachuk challenging. The 22 car of Tom Emery lost a wheel up in turn four on the third lap bringing out the first caution of the race. The pace car pulled out to collect the pack, but Dave Gifford in the 34c car seemed to have difficulty slowing down and bounced off a few cars before getting his pace right. Alex Whelan took the lead on the restart and started putting space behind him. Gifford moved up to challenge and tried high and low to get around Whelan but Whelan kept closing the door on him, shutting Gifford out to take the checkered flag. Gifford finished up in the number two spot followed by 3, Chuck Martin , 97 Bruce Colbert, and 8c Lloyd Cichocki rounded out the top five.
Ron Reece took the early lead in the pro-stock feature and maintained it to the checkered, but he was not without competition. Todd Zelichowski in the 18 found himself turned around between turns one and two in the second lap bringing out the first caution. Tom Walker in the 81 car was first to challenge Reece, while Brian Halliwell in the 1a car fought Shawn Keus 7s for the third place position. 31, Chris Buttigieg found himself turned around in the fourth turn a second time bringing out yet another caution. With 3 to go Shawn Keus worked his way up into a position to challenge Walker for second and with a photo finish took the position away from him.
Reece took the checkered, followed by Keus, Walker, Halliwell, and the 88 car of Don Spiece rounded out the top five.
The Dwarf's put on another great show tonight in their 15 lap feature. On the start the 15 car of Jim Varble blew past Mike Rusiecki in the 3 car to take the early lead. However it was not to last as Howard Manges in the 0+ car moved up to take it away from him in turn one on the second lap. 88 Dave Russell moved up from the back of the pack and started closing the gap between himself and Manges. Russell moved into second place on the fifth lap and started the chase for Manges.
Manges managed to hold him off despite his valiant efforts to take the checkered for his first feature win of the '99 season, but he'll be one to look out for. Russell finished up in second followed by Varble, 9 Bill Perry and to round out the top five was Noel King in the 55 car.
The top six finishers in the Sportsman B main were Randy Chrysler in the 21k car, 77t Tammy Willard, 29 Tim Lipsitt, 73 Bob Davidson, 71s Shawn Sliter, and 72 Bill Podwinski. These six cars qualified to run in the Sportsman feature as 31 cars attempted to qualify.
57 Jack McKinney ran away on the green flag, followed by 19 John McKenney, while the back of the pack got together a little bit. 124 Garry Moreash brought out the first caution on lap three when something broke and he couldn't keep it going. Birthday boy 3a Paul Ashton took the lead from McKinney on the restart and held it for the rest of the race despite fierce competition. Rob Pietz in the 69 Pietz Heating and Cooling/Luxaire/UAP NAPA Autoparts car got together with Brad Rouse in the 18 car and the two of them headed for the short cut into the pits, unfortunately Pietz snapped an axle and his tire went screaming through the pits. Luckily the tire didn't hit anyone and came to rest at the fence. Pietz had to be cradled between two tow trucks to get his heavily damaged car off the track.
Fred Carleton in the 96 car started moving up in the pack on the restart until he got turned around in the ninth lap to bring out yet another caution. Chad Brachman in the 3 car jumped up to second on the restart and the battle of the 3's began. Brachman tried high and low but kept having the door slammed shut by Ashton. Tammy and Bill Willard fought for third position. Ashton managed to hold off Brachman for the feature win and Bill held off Tammy for third place position. Greg Panunte in the 99 car rounded out the top five.
The win was awarded to Brachman as Ashton was found to have an illegal carburetor.
Rich Vinson in the 93 car took the early lead, while Joe Middlemiss in the 11j started his trek towards the leader from the back of the pack. Middlemiss caught up to Vinson and challenged him for the lead for most of the 35 laps. Larry Lampman in the 44 car was disqualified for hitting on a catuion, leading to some flared tempers. Ricky Richner moved up to challenge Middlemiss for second, while a caution was brought out on lap 13 with cars turned around in turn three. The pack nearly took out the pace car when they jumped the gun at the restart, luckily he was able to get out of the way. At the halfway mark 16 Jim Begolo had overtaken the lead followed by Middlemiss and Vinson.
With a three lap shootout to the end of the race Bicknell fought neck and neck with Begolo for the lead and Pete Bicknell managed to wrestle the win away from Begolo. The final results were Bicknell in first, Begolo second, Middlemiss third, Richner in fourth and Vinson rounding out the top five.
Join us next weekend when Competition Speed Supply presents the Synergen Performance Oil Summer Slam including a full card and a demolition derby. 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 http://www.merrittvillespeedway