By Rich Vleck
ROCHESTER, NY, (June 16, 2013)- Nearly two months have passed since the last Patriot Sprint Tour event in Canada, but the series to the north will return in a big way this weekend with a pair of events that are certain to be highly-contested.
The Patriot Sprint Tour Canada Series will headline action Friday Night at Ohsweken Speedway for a challenge with the weekly Corr-Pak Sprint competitors. On Saturday, many of the teams will travel west to the South Buxton Raceway for the only trip of the year to the D-shaped oval. Both events will pay $2,000-to-win as well as pay out key points towards the $5,000-to-win PST Canada Title.
Steve Poirier, who won the first PST Canada race of the year at Merrittville, looks to expand on his point lead throughout the weekend. In his last trip to Ohsweken, Poirier ended the night sitting in Victory Lane after scoring his record third Canadian Sprint Car Nationals Championship. Poirier has only been to South Buxton once tough, back in his rookie season of 2006.
Justin Barger was second in the Merrittville event and is the defending PST Canada Series Champion. Barger scored the June win at South Buxton last year and will look for a pair of solid performances this weekend.
Glenn Styres, the owner of Ohsweken Speedway who resides just off of turn two, has been on fire to start 2013, scoring the win in all three weekly events he has run this year. Jim Huppunen currently leads the weekly points and is a major name amongst a massive contingent of local contenders.
Scott Kreutter, the current PST America point leader, scored a third place finish last Friday at Ohsweken in his tune-up for this weekend. Jared Zimbardi, who is second in PST points, was the winner at Ohsweken on this weekend last year.
Tommy Wickham, Brad Knab, Steve Collins, Derek Jonathan and Todd Hoddick are a few of the other Americans that figure to factor in this weekend.
Racing action Friday at Ohsweken now kicks off at 7:30 while South Buxton gets going at 7:00 P.M. For more information, visit www.PatriotSprintTour.com.
Patriot History at Ohsweken:
Races: 21
9/25/2004- Rick Wilson
5/6/2005- Kyle Wilson
9/17/2005- Kenny Jacobs (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
7/14/2006- Bryan Howland
9/16/2006- Steve Poirier (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
7/6/2007- Bobby Breen
9/15/2007- Steve Poirier (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
7/3/2008- Dustin Daggett (Northern Summer Nationals)
7/4/2008- Bryan Howland (Northern Summer Nationals)
9/27/2008- Wayne Johnson (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
7/3/2009- Tom Huppunen (Northern Summer Nationals)
8/14/2009- Trevor Lewis
9/19/2009- Shane Stewart (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
7/2/2010- Dustin Daggett (Northern Summer Nationals)
8/20/2010- Dustin Daggett
9/18/2010- Shane Stewart (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
8/19/2011- Jamie Collard (Northern Summer Nationals)
9/17/2011- Sam Hafertepe Jr. (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
6/22/2012- Jared Zimbardi (Northern Summer Nationals)
8/17/2012- Dustin Daggett (Northern Summer Nationals)
9/15/2012- Steve Poirier (Canadian Sprint Car Nationals)
Patriot History at South Buxton:
Races: 3
6/25/2011- Keith Dempster (Northern Summer Nationals)
6/23/2012- Justin Barger (Northern Summer Nationals)
8/18/2012- Dustin Daggett (Northern Summer Nationals)