By virtue of their victories both Horstman and Smith secured guaranteed starting spots in Saturday’s Canadian Nationals feature.
“We can sleep well. It’s great to be down here in victory lane, we got a lot of pressure off of our backs,” said Horstman. “Definitely looking for a better starting spot tomorrow.”
Smith echoed those same sentiments following his victory in the second feature of the night.
“With the number of cars here this weekend it definitely makes it a little easier to race tomorrow. You don’t have to be under so much pressure and take so many chances,” said Smith in victory lane. “Hopefully we can get a good starting spot tomorrow and give it a go.”
Feature #1
Horstman and Steve Lyons started on the front row for the first 15-lap main event. Horstman took the lead at the start with Dylan Westbrook moving up into the second position. Behind Horstman and Westbrook Lyons had to contend with a challenge from defending Canadian Sprint Car Nationals champion Bryan Howland for third with Howland taking the spot on lap three.
Up front Westbrook challenged Horstman for the lead using the bottom of the track off turn two, but after racing side by side down the backstretch and into turns three and four Horstman held on to the top spot.
“We had that caution I didn’t want to see. Then we got back to second or third spot, caught another one and we made the top line come back in and we sailed back around to take the lead.”
Further back in the field three time Canadian Nationals winner Steve Poirier was making his presence felt driving by Lyons for fourth spot on lap five and disposing of Howland off turn two to take over third spot on lap seven.
After a caution for Stan Zanchin spinning in turn two Horstman and Westbrook exchanged slide jobs for the lead. Horstman and Westbrook crossed lines down the front stretch with Westbrook taking the lead. Horstman and Westbrook continued to cross bath and forth for the lead, allowing Poirier to close in third spot to join the race for the top position.
Just as the race for the leaded started to heat up again the caution appeared with five laps to go when Phil Gressman spun between turns three and four.
After the restart Horstman went back up to the top of the race track and drove around Westbrook for the lead with three laps to go. Horstman then pulled away as Westbrook found himself having to hold off Poirier for the second spot. That race for second allowed Horstman to pull way for the victory. Poirier edged Westbrook on the final lap for the runner up spot. Howland and Jordan Poirier rounded out the top five.
Feature #2:
The second 15-lap feature started with three wide racing for the lead between Brandon Wimmer, Jason Barney, and Smith. Smith ended up going from third to first in the second corner and pulled away from the rest of the field.
As Barney and Wimmer continued to race for second Yan Bilodeau took advantage of the situation to drive by Wimmer for third two and one lap later drove by Barney for second.
As Smith entered slower traffic with five laps to go Bilodeau was able to close within striking distance. Smith was able to use the traffic to his advantage though driving in three wide between a pair of slower cars that boxed in Bilodeau with two laps to go. That was enough or Smith to pull away for the victory over Bilodeau, Jordan Thomas, Ryan Susice, and Jason Barney.
Dave McLeod Shootout
Poirier dominated the 12-lap Dave McLeod Memorial event featuring representatives from the various sanctioning affiliate sanctioning bodies participating in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. Horstman and Mitch Brown race several laps side by side for second before Horstman started to close on Poirier, but that was short lived at Poirier pulled away for the win. Horstman held on for second with Brown taking the final spot on the podium.
Kevin Ward Jr. Young Guns Shootout
Bilodeau completed a sweep of the special events for the province of Quebec winning the Kevin Ward Jr. Young Guns Shootout for the youngest 13 drivers entered in the Nationals. Billodeau had to hold off multiple challenges from Ontraio’s Dylan Westbrook for the victory. Alex Vigneault, Jordan Poirier, and Paulie Colagiovanni rounded out the top five.
Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Cars
Holly Porter started on the front row and led every lap of the feature for the crate sprint cars and the $1,000 top prize for the special 20-lap feature. Porter had to hold off Mack DeMan through multiple restarts for the victory. Jesse McDonald rounded out the podium. Mike Thorne took a challenge after being one of the four fastest qualifiers to start on the tail for a $602 bonus if he won. Thorne made it up to sixth spot.
Burger Barn Night Before the Nationals
Ohsweken Speedway
Ohsweken, Ontario
Friday September 16, 2016
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 55 – Mark Smith, 2. 61 – Parker Evans, 3. 27Z – Stan Zachin, 4. 87 – Jason Barney, 5. 2W – Lee Winger, 6. 15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr, 7. 33K – Kyle Patrick, 8. 90 – Matt Tanner, 9. 31 – John Burbridge Jr, 10. 15AW – April Wilson (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 3G – Brandon Wimmer, 2. 10C – Paulie Colagiovanni, 3. 51 – Bryan Howland, 4. 18 – Ryan Susice, 5. 1Z – Jessica Friesen, 6. 5D – Dave Dykstra, 7. 67R- Pete Richardson, 8. 0C – Cole MacDonald, DQ: 69K – Scott Kruetter (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 9 – Steve Lyons, 2. 79 – Jordan Thomas, 3. 77X – Alex Hill, 4. F55 – Alex Vigneault, 5. 11J – Chris Jones, 6. 42W – Rick Wilson, 7. 91 – Ryan Turner, 8. 0A – Amber Balcaen, 9. 01 – Kyle Fraser. DQ: 36 – Matt Billings (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
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Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 28FM – Steve Poirier, 2. 2 – Kyle Sauder, 3. 14 – Coleman Gulick, 4. 0 – Glen Styres, 5. 10B – Mitch Brown, 6. 16 – Ryan Ruhl, 7. 1-10 – Jake Brown, 8. 17X – Dain Naida, 9. 24 – Devin Caron. (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
Heat Race #5 (8 Laps): 1. 123 – Yan Bilodeau, 2. 17 – Jared Horstman, 3. 6 – Curtis Gartly, 4. 67P – Jordan Poirier, 5. 97 – Cory Turner, 6. 80 – Chris Steele, 7. 5C – Conor Mahoney, 8. 67 – Chris Durand, 9. 10BW – Zach Weigand. DQ: 33 – Brandon Kidd. (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
Heat Race #6 (8 Laps): 1. 47X – Dylan Westbrook, 2. 53 – Shawn Donath, 3. 88C – Chad Miller, 4. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 5. 28 – Phil Gressman, 6. 00 – Dane Lorenc, 7. 90 – Travis Cunningham, 8. 18S – Josh Shantz. DQ: 11R – Chase Ridenour. (First five finishers transferred to one of the two feature events)
Dave McLeod Shootout (12 Laps): 1. 28FM – Steve Poirier, 2. 17 – Jared Horstman, 3. 10B – Mitch Brown, 4. 47X – Dylan Westbrook, 5. 97 – Cory Turner, 6. 87 – Jason Barney, 7. 2 – Kyle Sauder, 8. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 9. 91 – Ryan Turner, 10. 17X – Dain Naida, 11. 11R – Chase Ridenour. DNS: 27H – Tom Huppunen, 01 – Kyle Fraiser, 10C – Jeff Cook.
Kevin Ward Jr. Young Stars Challenge (13 Laps): 1. 123 – Yan Bilodeau, 2. 47X – Dylan Westbrook, 3. F55 – Alex Vigneault, 4. 67P – Jordan Poirier, 5. 10PC – Paulie Colagiovanni, 6. 79 – Jordan Thomas, 7. 00 – Dane Lorenc, 8. 11R – Chase Ridenour, 9. 77X – Alex Hill, 10. 24 – Devin Caron, 11. 18 – Josh Schantz, 12. 0C – Cole MacDonald, 13. 10BW – Zach Weigand.
Feature #1 (15 Laps): 1. 17 – Jared Horstman, 2. 28FM – Steve Poirier, 3. 47X – Dylan Westbrook, 4. 51 – Bryan Howland, 5. 67P – Jordan Poirier, 6. 10B – Mitch Brown, 7. 2M – Dustin Daggett, 8. 97 – Cory Turner, 9. 53 – Shawn Donath, 10. 6 – Chris Gartly, 11. 9 – Steve Lyons, 12. 10PC – Paulie Colagiovanni, 13. 61 – Parker Evans, 14. 28 – Phil Gressman, 15. 27Z – Stan Zanchin.
Feature #2 (15 Laps): 1. 55 – Mark Smith, 2. 123 – Yan Blodeau, 3. 79 – Jordan Thomas, 4. 18- Ryan Susice, 5. 1Z – Jessica Friesen, 6. 87 – Jason Barney, 7. 55 – Alex VIgneault, 8. 2 – Kyle Sauder, 9. 14 – Coleman Gulick, 10. 88C – Chad Miller, 11. 77X – Alex Hill, 12. 3G – Brandon Wimmer, 13. 0 – Glenn Styres, 14. 2W – Lee Winger, 15. 11J – Chris Jones.
Crate Sprint Car Feature (20 Laps): 1. – Holly Porter, 2. 4 – Mack DeMan, 3. 88 – Jesse McDonald, 4. 87ZX – Shone Evans, 5. 43H – Ryan Hunsinger, 6. 55 – Mike Thorne, 7. 49H – Jerry Hill, 8. 12 – Brad Herron, 9. 99 – Jordan Hill, 10. 10G – Ed Green, 11. 68 – Aaron Turkey, 12. 18X – Davey Boughton, 13. 6M – Eric McGlone, 14. 9 – Paul Ballantyne, 15. 41 – Brent Weller, 16. 51X – Trevor Young, 17. 5 – Alex Schuts.