From Tommy Goudge
THOROLD, Ont. (September 10, 2022) – Ryan Turner claimed the A-Main win in the final Southern Ontario Sprints points race of the season Saturday night at Merrittville Speedway. Ryan’s brother Cory Turner took a fourth place finish on Saturday to clinch the 2022 Southern Ontario Sprints championship.
Kyle Phillips entered the event with a one point lead over Cory Turner in the championship standings, while several others still had title chances as well. Phillips added two points to his advantage by winning his heat race, and the two started side-by-side in row three for the A-Main.
Teammates Ryan Turner and Liam Martin started the 25 lap A-Main on the front row, and Martin took the lead and opened a big gap on the field. A yellow flag negated Martin’s advantage on lap six, however. Turner gave chase after the restart and began to close in again as the leaders negotiated traffic.
The traffic brought Martin back within striking distance and Turner made the winning move with six laps remaining. Mitch Brown subsequently got past Martin and began to run Turner down, but ran out of time. Ryan Turner took the win, followed by Mitch Brown, Liam Martin, Cory Turner, and Jim Huppunen. Jake Brown took sixth from row six, with Jamie Turner, Glenn Styres, Kyle Phillips, and Shone Evans rounding out the top ten. The championship was Cory Turner’s second Southern Ontario Sprints title; he claimed his first in 2018.
The SOS club wishes to thank everyone for their donations to Sprint Car driver Paul Pekkonen on Saturday night. A total of $1406.60 was raised to help defray Paul’s medical costs; he was seriously injured while working in his shop last week.
Southern Ontario Sprints
Merrittville Speedway
Thorold, Ontario
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Heat Race #Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 21 Kyle Phillips, Grand Island, New York [1]
2. 15N Ryan Turner, Dunnville [3]
3. 11 Jamie Turner, Caistor Centre [2]
4. 0 Glenn Styres, Ohsweken [5]
5. 94 Todd Hoddick, Cheektowaga, New York [4]
6. 110 Jake Brown, Brantford [7]
7. 70 Baily Heard, Niagara Falls [6]
8. 68 Aaron Turkey, Ohsweken [8]
Heat Race #Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – 1:53.468
1. 9 Liam Martin, Binbrook [4]
2. 10B Mitch Brown, Brantford [1]
3. 13 Cory Turner, Tillsonburg [3]
4. 14H Jim Huppunen, Welland [7]
5. 87X Shone Evans, Scotland [5]
6. 90 Travis Cunningham, Grimsby [6]
7. 25 Warren Mahoney, Lefroy [2]
Feature:
1. 15N Ryan Turner [1]
2. 10B Mitch Brown [4]
3. 9 Liam Martin [2]
4. 13 Cory Turner [5]
5. 14H Jim Huppunen [7]
6. 110 Jake Brown [12]
7. 11 Jamie Turner [3]
8. 0 Glenn Styres [8]
9. 21 Kyle Phillips [6]
10. 87X Shone Evans [9]
11. 94 Todd Hoddick [10]
12. 90 Travis Cunningham [11]
13. 68 Aaron Turkey [15]
14. 70 Baily Heard [13]
15. 25 Warren Mahoney [14]
A-Main Lap Leaders – Liam Martin 1-18; Ryan Turner 19-25
Margin of Victory – 2.395 seconds
Hard Charger – Jake Brown +6