By Clayton Johns
OHSWEKEN, Ont. (September 6, 2019) – The final night of the regular season brought plenty of thrilling action and saw the culmination of the season-long point battles in all four weekly divisions. Fans got the chance to meet drivers at the final pre-race autograph session of the season behind the main grandstand while drivers also had the opportunity to sell their merchandise at the racer’s marketplace.
When the dust settled, it was Sam Hafertepe Jr. scoring a win with the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars and Hannah Ferrell claimed victory with the Strickland’s Brantford Chevrolet Crate Sprint Cars. Dave Bailey claimed the checkered flag in the Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock feature and Tristan Da Silva scored the victory in the HRW Automotive Mini Stock division.
Dylan Westbrook’s third-place finish earned him his third straight Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Car championship while 14-year-old Nick Sheridan’s top-five result earned him the championship in the Strickland’s Brantford Chevrolet Crate Sprint Car division. Bailey’s seventh win of the season capped off his fifth straight championship run while Dusty DeBoer earned his first career HRW Automotive Mini Stock championship on the strength of a top-five finish.
Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars
Cory Turner and Sam Hafertepe Jr. brought the 24-car field of Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars to the green flag for the championship-deciding feature. Entering the night, Dylan Westbrook was two points ahead of Mack DeMan and the two drivers started the A-Feature third and eighth, respectively. Hafertepe jumped to the early lead while Westbrook raced past Turner for second in the opening laps until a caution flag slowed the race on lap five when Jake Brown got into the turn two wall.
On the ensuing restart, Hafertepe maintained the lead, but Turner got by Westbrook for second. By the halfway point, Turner, Westbrook and DeMan ran nose to tail tank for second, third and fourth while Hafertepe had checked out. With five laps to go, DeMan drove the outside lane to try and track down Westbrook.
Over the final five laps, Hafertepe continued to cruise and claimed his sixth-career Ohsweken win while Cory Turner was the runner-up on the night after outdueling Westbrook and DeMan in the second half of the race.
“You never know how good you are against these guys who race here every week,” said Hafertepe. “We still have lots to work on. Hats off to Bobby. I only have one crew guy with me and he’s been having a lot of weight on his shoulders. It’s good that we got out of here with a win. I’m really just getting pumped up for next week. It’s been since 2011 since I won and I feel like I should have won twice since then and messed up on my end. This year I feel like we really have a good car and if we make some minor changes after tonight, we’ll be right where we need to be come Canadian Nationals time.”
With two laps to go, DeMan did everything he could to catch Westbrook, but ran out of time and laps as Westbrook held off the No.17x to earn a third-place finish to claim his third-straight Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Car championship.
“All season we’ve been really good. We had a couple of little problems, but made our way through that. We were doing really well in that race and had a good setup. There were a lot of little moves I would have normally made in a regular race, but I knew I had to make sure I didn’t do anything dumb. I saw Mack get pretty close to me, so I had to get back on it.”
Strickland’s Brantford Chevrolet Crate Sprint Cars
Hannah Ferrell and Jesse Costa brought the field to the green flag for the final Strickland’s Brantford Chevrolet Crate Sprint Cars points feature of the season. Ferrell grabbed the early lead, but Costa stayed closed as the leaders worked into lapped traffic by lap five. Ferrell maintained a roughly 15 car-length lead over Costa until lap nine when she got stuck behind a slower car. That allowed Costa to close as he drove the outside lane while Ferrell maintained the bottom groove.
On lap 14, Costa got a great run off turn two and used the momentum to drive around Ferrell in turns three and four to take the lead. Costa’s advtantage only last four laps though before he also has his momentum broken by a lapped car on lap 18, allowing Ferrell to slide back to the lead on the bottom of turn four. Ferrell then drove away from Costa over the final two laps to score her first career Crate Sprint Car win. Jacob Dykstra, Lucas Smith and Nick Sheridan rounded out the top-five. Sheridan’s fifth-place finish allowed the 14-year-old rookie to claim the division championship.
“I cannot believe it,” Sheridan said. “If you had told me at the beginning of the year we would be sitting here as champions I would not have believed it. I can’t believe it and I’m about to cry. Our team’s done so well this year and we got ourselves a championship!”
Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks
Chris Dickie and Mark Bazuin brought the field to the green flag for the 20-lap Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock feature. It was Dickie’s final start in his car. Bazuin jumped out to the early lead with Go Fast Teeple pulling into second. On lap four, it was 14th starting Ryan Dinning making a bid for the lead and the driver of the No.8 drove to the top spot on lap five. Before lap six couple be completed, Dinning’s lead was erased when Rob Hoskins got into the turn four wall.
On the ensuing restart, Dinning and Bazuin raced back to the green flag with Dinning grabbing the point. Bazuin was left to battle with Jeff Roelofs for the second spot and the latter grabbed the spot in the outside lane. That didn’t last long though as Ken Sargent and Ryan Beagle both got past Roelofs on lap nine for second and third, respectively.
At the halfway mark, point leader Dave Bailey made his presence felt as he began challenging Sargent for second. Then on lap 12, it was a three-car battle up front between Dinning, Sargent and Bailey. Dinning held his two competitors off momentarily, but on lap 14, Bailey used the outside lane to take the lead from Dinning. While Bailey held the point, Dinning stayed close and continued to challenge Bailey on his inside.
Over the final two laps, Bailey pulled away to take his seventh feature win of the season and cap off his fifth straight championship season. Sargent edged ahead of his teammate Dinning on the final lap to score the runner-up result.
HRW Automotive Mini Stocks
Jason Tolton and Tim Jamieson brought the HRW Automotive Mini Stock field to the green flag for their final 15-lap points feature of the season. Kyle Wert and Dusty DeBoer entered the race tied for the points lead. Tolton led the opening lap in a drag race with Jamieson to the flag stand, but in turn two the cars touched, sending Jamieson hard into the outside hay bales.
On the ensuing restart, Tolton regained the lead with a flurry of activity behind him. The congestion led to Kyle Wert bouncing off a couple of different cars on lap four and suffering a pair of flat right-side tires. The caution waved on lap five when Wert slowed at the top of turn one. Under the yellow, Tolton went to the pit area, handing the front row to Jeff Elsliger and Tim DeBoer. Tim DeBoer took advantage of the opportunity and drove away with the lead until the caution waved on lap 10 when Wert spun on the backstretch.
On the final restart, Tim DeBoer continued to lead and paced the field until the white flag when he lost a wheel in turn one on the final lap. That allowed championship contender Tristan Da Silva to take the lead and lead the final two turns to score his first career win. Elsliger settled for second while Cole Hardy finished third.
“That was the joyride of a lifetime,” said an excited Da Silva in Mister Transmission Victory Lane.
Dusty DeBoer finished fifth to claim his first career championship. DeBoer ran a smooth final race to outlast Wert, who suffered through plenty of bad luck on the final night and settled for third in the standings despite five wins this season.
“At the start of the year, the first MAVTV night, my car broke and I didin’t get to go out for the Feature and I was in a big hole,” DeBoer said. “The car was good in most conditions this year and we just kept working on the setup and chipping away. This is awesome. I didn’t think I’d be here and it doesn’t get better than this.”
Up Next: 15th annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals Sept. 12-14
Ohsweken Speedway returns to action next weekend for it’s biggest weekend of the season, the 15th annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. The weekend gets started with test and tune night on Thursday, September 12th as tune up for the Burger Barn Night Before the Nationals featuring triple 15-lap Features on Friday, September 13th. Then, more than 60 of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers from across North America will battle for $10,000 USD in the 15th annual Canadian Sprint Car Nationals presented by Arrow Express. Saturday’s event will be broadcast live from start to finish on MAVTV Canada’s All North Racing powered by Pinty’s. For additional event information, including a full schedule of events as well as camping and ticket pricing visit www.ohswekenspeedway.ca.
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Ohsweken Speedway
Ohsweken, ONT
Friday September 6, 2019
Winged 360 Sprint Cars
Heat Race #1:
1. 1-Holly Porter
2. 0-Jim Huppunen
3. 10-Mitch Brown
4. 49-Scott Kreutter
5. 87x-Shone Evans
6. 77x-Alex Hill
7. 21-John Burbridge Jr
Heat Race #2:
1. 13-Cory Turner
2. 10-Jan-Jake Brown
3. 88H-Josh Hansen
4. 27h-Tom Huppunen
5. 5D-Jacob Dykstra
6. 7-Spencer Davis
7. 46-Kevin Pauls
Heat Race #3:
1. 17x-Mack DeMan
2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr
3. 47x-Dylan Westbrook
4. 15-Dan Nanticoke
5. 11-Jamie Turner
6. 68-Aaron Turkey
7. 9b-Scott Burk
8. 45-Curtis Gartley
Feature:
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr
2. 13-Cory Turner
3. 47x-Dylan Westbrook
4. 17x-Mack DeMan
5. 0-Jim Huppunen
6. 10-Mitch Brown
7. 91-Ryan Turner
8. 49-Scott Kruetter
9. 87x-Shone Evans
10. 88H-Josh Hansen
11. 1-Holly Porter
12. 5D-Shane Ross
13. 27h-Tom Huppunen
14. 68-Aaron Turkey
15. 11-Jamie Turner
16. 77x-Alex Hill*
17. 15-Dan Nanticoke
18. 45-Curtis Gartley
19. 21-John Burbridge Jr
20. 7-Caleb Wood
21. 9b-Scott Burk
22. 46-Kevin Pauls
23. 10-Jan-Jake Brown
24. 9-Steve Lyons
Winged Crate Sprint Cars
Heat Race #1:
1. 4-Hannah Farrell
2. 56-Dereck Lemyre
3. 9c-Brian Nanticoke
4. 74-Rob Neely
5. 70-Baily Heard
6. 88-Jesse McDonald
7. 8-Steven Beckett
8. 14-Eric Gledhill
9. LS50-Adrain Stahle
10. 14T-Noelle Teal
Heat Race #2:
1. 5d-Spencer Davis
2. 20-Johnny Miller
3. 24a-AJ Lewis
4. mk8-Matthew Hill
5. 28-Jordan Hill
6. 2-Travis Hofstetter
7. 38-Derek Miller
Heat Race #3:
1. 49h-Jerry Hill
2. 46l-Lucas SMith
3. 39-Shane Stickel
4. 29-vbvvbvbv
5. 5c-Conor Mahoney
6. 1eh-Paul Klager
7. 51-Trevor Young
8. 43-Darren Dryden
9. 5-DJ Christie
Heat Race #4:
1. 52-Jesse Costa
2. 26x-Terry Bkaer
3. 45-Nick Sheridan
4. 19d-Allan Downey
5. 69-Joshua Hill
6. 19-Brandan Murell
7. 3b-Blaine Barrow
8. 12-Brad Herron
9. 29w-Tyler Ward
B-Main #1:
1. 8-Steven Beckett
2. 14-Eric Gledhill
3. 3b-Blaine Barrow
4. 12-Brad Herron
5. 5-DJ Christie
6. 83-Spencer Davis
7. 38-Derek Miller
8. 1eh-Paul Klager
B-Main #2:
1. 88-Jesse McDonald
2. LS50-Adrain Stahle
3. 19-Brandan Murell
4. 43-Darren Dryden
5. 51-Trevor Young
6. 14T-Noelle Teal
A-Main:
1. 4-Hannah Farrell
2. 52-Jesse Costa
3. 5d-Spencer Davis
4. 49L-Lucas Smith
5. 45-Nick Sheridan
6. 56-Dereck Lemyre
7. 26x-Terry Bkaer
8. 49h-Jerry Hill
9. 29-Liam Martin
10. 28-Jordan Hill
11. 24a-AJ Lewis
12. 9c-Brian Nanticoke
13. 14-Eric Gledhill
14. 8-Steven Beckett
15. 74-Rob Neely
16. 19d-Allan Downey
17. 5c-Conor Mahoney
18. 70-Baily Heard
19. LS50-Adrain Stahle
20. 69-Joshua Hill
21. mk8-Matthew Hill
22. 39-Shane Stickel
23. 20-Johnny Miller
24. 88-Jesse McDonald