FIRST TIMERS SHARE VICTORY LANE WITH REPEAT WINNERS AT MERRITTVILLE
Thorold, Ontario...Three first time '97 feature winners visited Victory Lane at Merrittville Speedway June 21st as did two repeat winners in the Loctite Products sponsored CAW Night. For Brian Halliwell it was his first Pro-Stock win of the season while for Dave Colavecchia and Larry Lampman Jr. - both drivers scored their first ever wins in the Mod Stock and Sportsmen Divisions respectively. Pete Bicknell and Paul Reichel both won their second events of the season in the Modified and Street Stock divisions as well.
"As the race wound down...I just tried to stay in line (amongst lap traffic)...around the bottom and out of trouble," relates second generation St. Catharines driver Brian Halliwell in a post race interview about his strategy.
Halliwell took control of the 25 lap Pro-Stock special event at the drop of the green and never really looked back. From the start Halliwell stretched his lead to almost a 1/2 lap with the battle for second spot the one to watch between Ron Reece, Todd Gordon, Bill Bleich and Ken Sargent. Late in the race Reece retired to the pit area while Sargent began to close in on the leader. With the event going caution free Halliwell crossed the finish line 10 car lengths ahead of Ken Sargent while Bill Bleich, Todd Gordon and Dan Shoop closed out the top 5. Jason Harper, Steve Heigl, Jeff Martin, Randy Hollingshead, and Ron Reece closed out the top 10.
"The car was the fastest it's been all season," commented Halliwell optimistically, "it's taken us all year to get here...I don't usually win until late in the season...we hope to be back here (Victory Lane) again."
John Hagerman was first to lead the 35 lap Modified feature before Bill Sheldon took control the next lap. Sheldon's lead was brief though as Harry Sittler took control in turn 3. Caution slowed the race on lap 4 with Sittler out front once more on the restart. Rob Krull became the fourth leader along the back-stretch. After a lap 8 caution Krull resumed top spot with Don Martin challenging the leader for top spot along the back-stretch of lap 15. The challenge was short-lived though as Pete Bicknell became the new runner-up the next time down the back-stretch. Quickly Bicknell closed in on Krull - finding the inside line underneath the leader in turn 2 of lap 20. Bicknell's pace was then slowed on lap 30 and then again on the restart. In the 5 laps to the finish the battle was for second spot. While Rob Krull and Martin Polhill were battling for second Bicknell was able to pull away to almost a 1/4 lap lead at the finish for his second win of the season. Martin Polhill was able to over-take Rob Krull for runner-up while Don Martin and Wayne Conn closed out the top 5. Terry St. Amand, Don Turner, Doug Gordon, Ken Cosgrove and Harvey Hainer rounded out the top 10.
Ken Walsh was first to lead the 20 lap Sportsmen feature and after an early caution on lap 1 Joe Meisel took control along the back-stretch. Another caution on lap 3 slowed Meisel's pace with Walsh able to return to top spot in turn 3 of lap 5. Walsh set the pace until Larry Lampman Jr. took control in the same spot in lap 8. Immediately Lampman opened up a 10 car Lead only to have caution again slow the pace on the next lap. Lampman again pulled away to a 10 car lead on the restart with 3 cautions in the second portion of the event slowing the field several times. The second on lap 17 involved defending points champion Bill Krull who unfortunately had his night end early - dropping from second spot. The final caution occurred on the final lap for an incident involving Tim Jones and Bill Podwinski in turn 4. Lampman resumed control on the restart but another incident delayed the one lap dash to the finish. Front runners Chad Brachman, Pete Cosco and Rob Pietz all came together. Lampman took control on the restart and held on for his first ever Sportsmen victory.
Following Lampman was Garry Moreash, Bill Baker, Rob Pietz, Tim Lipsitt, Pete Cosco, Jack McKinney, Ken Walsh, Paul Ashton and Tim Jones.
Derek VanMil was first to lead the 15 lap Mod Stock feature with the pace slowed on lap 6 after defending point champion Mark Edwards made contact with the front-stretch wall. VanMil set the pace once more with it slowed immediately for another incident on the restart. When racing resumed Dave Colavecchia was the new leader. Through the finish Colavecchia managed to open a 5 car lead on the field in winning his first ever feature. The Welland driver returned to the Mod Stock division this season after several season away. Harry Vanderzanden made a late race move to take the runner-up spot while VanMil settled for third. Kevin Reichel and Tony Royston closed out the top 5 while Shawn Sliter, Kirk Wilson, Jeff Kline, Guy Bougie and Ken Hildreth rounded out the top 10.
Chris Crawford was the first to lead the 12 lap Street Stock feature setting the pace until lap 6. Crawford drifted a little high in turn 2 allowing Paul Reichel to take over the top spot. In the last half of the race Chris Charest closed in to challenge the leader but a flat tire on Charet's car slowed the challenge in turn 4 of lap 11. At the finish Paul Reichel had almost half a lap lead in his second win of the season while Chris Crawford settled for second.
Al Smith, Mike Ward, Dan Gilbert, Roger Beaulieu, Rick Simians, Jeff Dayman, Sam Cooper and Gord Kostyk closed out the top 10. Post race inspection found Al Smith to be illegal with everyone moving up a spot. Tenth place finisher then was Bill King.
The month of June closes with a recently created double-header race card. Saturday June 28 Commisso's Food Markets and Kellogg's presents a full card of racing plus a Celebrity/Media Challenge race headlining Canadian Curling Champion Marilyn Bodogh. Action on Monday June 30th sees the Canada Day Clash featuring the 358 Modified in a 50 lap Slick 50 Shoot-out Series Race plus great racing in all division and FIREWORKS to follow. Monday's card is the rescheduled Victoria Day Show.
For complete information visit our web site at http://www.vaxxine.com/merrittvillespeedway or call the Speedway office at 905-892-8266. Gates open each night at 5:30 with the first heat at 7:30.