By T.J. Buffenbarger
OHSWEKEN, Ont. (August 15, 2022) — Paulie Colagiovanni made the trip from Cicero, New York to Ohsweken, Ontario Ontario worthwhile on Monday picking up the feature victory during the 17th Canadian Sprint Car Nationals presented by Burger Barn at the Ohsweken Speedway. The victory was Coalgiovanni’s third of the 2022 season and first career victory at the Canadian Nationals.
Winning the Canadian Nationals has been a goal of Coalgiovanni’s for some time, and he used some local knowledge to get there enlisting in standout Canadian crew chief Kevin Loveys and deployed a new race car built by Jerry Russell for the first time on Monday.
“I think the past couple of years we’ve been coming here we just been struggling with a little bit of setup, but we got Kevin Lovies on our team and this car is just sticking anywhere I want I can put on the bottom the top and the car is phenomenal.”
After winning the dash Colagiovanni started on the pole and dominated the first portion of the 35-lap main event until a caution with 26 laps to go erased Colagiovanni’s advantage and put Friesen, who started, 10th, right on his back bumper.
Friesen worked multiple lines trying to get a run on Colagiovanni but could not make the pass. With five laps to go the leaders entered heavy traffic. Coming to the white flag while splitting a pair of lapped cars, Friesen was able to get up to Colagiovanni’s right rear wheel, making slight contact, with Colagiovanni holding the lead.
Friesen made one last run off turn four on Colagiovanni but could not make the pass as Colagiovanni held on for the victory. Friesen’s teammate Cory Turner, Jordan Thomas, and Mitch Brown rounded out the top five.
Friesen indicated the caution flag was key to having a shot at the win but was happy to point out that the top two had worked early in their sprint car career with the same car owner and working with friends he had grown up racing with.
“I was just trying to stay in clean air, and we got that caution. We got a shot and just hung a little bit off two he was able to shoot back in front but cool two guys that grew up in the Doug Emery school of racing here ran 1-2,” said Friesen. “I must thank James Hill and the whole burger barn team. Just a pleasure to work with these guys a lot of fun. Jamie Turner and his whole family, cool the race with the Turner’s and Friesen’s back together again, which is neat. And big thanks to Jess at home for sending the playbook over and coaching from the from the upper deck.”
Colagiovanni indicated he knew Friesen was there and was up for the challenge.
“I definitely heard him, but I wasn’t sure where he’s going,” said Colagiovani. “My bad for nipping him coming out of four but I was just trying to make the track as wide as possible and I didn’t really know where he was running in one and two. I think I was slowing myself up a little bit on the bottom. But all in all, it was a good race.”
Mike Bowman won the Action Sprint Tour sprint car main event.
17th Canadian Sprint Car Nationals
Ohsweken Speedway
Ohsweken, Ontario
Monday, August 15, 2022
Knights of Thunder Sprint Car Series
Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]
2. 79-Jordan Thomas[5]
3. 5-DJ Christie[1]
4. 14H-Jim Huppunen[3]
5. 17X-Mack DeMan[7]
6. 01K-Mikey Kruchka[6]
7. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[8]
8. 87X-Shone Evans[2]
9. 21-John Burbridge Jr[9]
DNS: 27-Paul Ballantyne
Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 88H-Josh Hansen[3]
2. 52-Stewart Friesen[1]
3. 28-Jordan Poirier[4]
4. 45-Nick Sheridan[2]
5. 84-Tyler Rand[6]
6. 87-Jason Barney[5]
7. 3G-Dale Gosselin[8]
8. 68-Aaron Turkey[7]
9. 46-Kevin Pauls[9]
Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[2]
2. 13-Cory Turner[3]
3. 1 10-Jake Brown[8]
4. 20AU-Brayden Cooley[5]
5. 70-Baily Heard[6]
6. 11-Jamie Turner[7]
7. 9-Liam Martin[4]
8. 15-Ryan Turner[1]
9. 0C-Cole MacDonald[9]
Heat Race #4 (10 Laps)
1. 7NY-Matt Farnham[3]
2. 10-Mitch Brown[2]
3. 0-Glenn Styres[4]
4. 46C-Ryan Coniam[7]
5. 94-Todd Hoddick[6]
6. 1-Holly Porter[1]
7. 90-Travis Cunningham[5]
8. 24-Ben Silliker[8]
DNS: 70M&M-Dave McKnight Jr
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 68-Aaron Turkey[6]
2. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[1]
3. 9-Liam Martin[4]
4. 3G-Dale Gosselin[2]
5. 87X-Shone Evans[10]
6. 21-John Burbridge Jr[7]
7. 46-Kevin Pauls[9]
8. 24-Ben Silliker[5]
9. 90-Travis Cunningham[3]
10. 0C-Cole MacDonald[8]
DNS: 15-Ryan Turner
DNS: 70M&M-Dave McKnight Jr
DNS: 27-Paul Ballantyne
A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[1]
2. 52-Stewart Friesen[10]
3. 13-Cory Turner[7]
4. 79-Jordan Thomas[2]
5. 10-Mitch Brown[9]
6. 45-Nick Sheridan[20]
7. 7NY-Matt Farnham[8]
8. 46C-Ryan Coniam[3]
9. 01K-Mikey Kruchka[22]
10. 28-Jordan Poirier[11]
11. 88H-Josh Hansen[4]
12. 94-Todd Hoddick[18]
13. 84-Tyler Rand[19]
14. 20AU-Brayden Cooley[13]
15. 1 10-Jake Brown[6]
16. 9-Liam Martin[27]
17. 70-Baily Heard[17]
18. 1-Holly Porter[24]
19. 68-Aaron Turkey[25]
20. 14H-Jim Huppunen[16]
21. 87-Jason Barney[23]
22. 17X-Mack DeMan[15]
23. 3G-Dale Gosselin[28]
24. 0-Glenn Styres[12]
25. 5-DJ Christie[14]
26. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[26]
27. 87X-Shone Evans[29]
28. 11-Jamie Turner[21]
29. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[5]
30. 21-John Burbridge Jr[30]
Action Sprint Tour
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. BS39-Brett Stratford[3]
2. 20-Johnny Miller[1]
3. 39-Jonah Mutton[2]
4. 49L-Lucas Smith[9]
5. 94-Ryan Fraser[6]
6. 99-Joshua Hill[4]
7. 7W-Caleb Wood[8]
8. 97-Sheldon Bender[7]
9. 29W-Tyler Ward[5]
10. 14T-Noelle Teal[10]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 08-Steven Beckett[1]
2. 7-Eric Gledhill[4]
3. 71-Mike Bowman[8]
4. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[9]
5. 88-Lance Erskine[6]
6. 74-Rob Neely[7]
7. 16X-Keegan Baker[2]
8. 2-Travis Hofstetter[5]
9. 69K-Ken Hamilton[10]
10. 2M-Steve Murdock[3]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 4-Jesse Costa[1]
2. 19D-Allan Downey[2]
3. 19-Mathieu Bardier[8]
4. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[5]
5. 16R-Seth Roy[7]
6. 9-Luke Stewart[6]
7. MK8-Matt Hill[3]
8. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[4]
DNS: 14-Larry Gledhill
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 12DD-Darren Dryden[5]
2. 52-Matt Billings[6]
3. 3S-Austin Roes[1]
4. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[4]
5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[8]
6. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]
7. 5C-Conor Mahoney[3]
8. 51-Trevor Young[7]
9. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[9]
B-Main (12 Laps)
1. 74-Rob Neely[1]
2. 9-Luke Stewart[2]
3. 99-Joshua Hill[4]
4. MK8-Matt Hill[6]
5. 7W-Caleb Wood[3]
6. 2M-Steve Murdock[16]
7. 2-Travis Hofstetter[11]
8. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[12]
9. 97-Sheldon Bender[9]
10. 16X-Keegan Baker[8]
11. 51-Trevor Young[10]
12. 29W-Tyler Ward[14]
13. 14T-Noelle Teal[15]
14. 69K-Ken Hamilton[18]
15. 77T-Tyeller Powless[5]
16. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[13]
DNS: 5C-Conor Mahoney
DNS: 14-Larry Gledhill
A-Main (25 Laps)
1. 71-Mike Bowman[3]
2. 12DD-Darren Dryden[6]
3. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[2]
4. 52-Matt Billings[4]
5. BS39-Brett Stratford[7]
6. 4-Jesse Costa[10]
7. 74-Rob Neely[21]
8. 19-Mathieu Bardier[1]
9. 7-Eric Gledhill[8]
10. 9-Luke Stewart[22]
11. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[18]
12. 39-Jonah Mutton[14]
13. 08-Steven Beckett[9]
14. 16R-Seth Roy[17]
15. 88-Lance Erskine[20]
16. 94-Ryan Fraser[19]
17. MK8-Matt Hill[24]
18. 3S-Austin Roes[16]
19. 20-Johnny Miller[12]
20. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[15]
21. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[13]
22. 49L-Lucas Smith[5]
23. 19D-Allan Downey[11]
24. 99-Joshua Hill[23]