By Brent Otchere
OHSWEKEN, Ont. (May 26, 2023) – Oakwood Transport presented Trucker Night at the Races on Friday at Ohsweken Speedway; Josh Hansen, Jesse Costa, Ryan Beagle, and Ashton Dickie took A-Main wins.
Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars
The front row of the grid featured Mike Bowman and Liam Martin to begin the 25 lap 360 Sprint Car A-Main. Martin took the early lead only to see Bowman retake the lead again by the second lap. It didn’t take long for the leaders to start encountering traffic as early as lap six. Dylan Westbrook could be seen navigating through the traffic beautifully, putting himself firmly in the third position after starting seventh.
A red flag was thrown with almost half the race left as Eric Gledhill halted on the exit of turn three. Gledhill’s front end dug into the track, tearing up both the track and suspension components and resulting in an early retirement. The green flag was waved again and Bowman executed the restart to perfection and took the lead. Hansen had other things in mind as he quickly retaliated, pulling off an extraordinary slide job over Bowman going into turn four for the lead.
Bowman had nothing for the leader as Hansen picked up the pace and won the race by over two seconds. Bowman picked up his 360 Sprint Car career-best finish by taking the second position, while Dylan Westbrook secured a third place result for the second week in a row. Martin finished fourth, with Cory Turner rounding out the top five. Hansen leads over Westbrook by 10 points in the overall standings.
Strickland’s Crate Sprint Cars
Brett Stratford started on pole with Lance Erskine next to him for the 20 lap Crate Sprint Car A-Main. Fourth place starter Jesse Costa only took four laps to get around the leaders and assume the lead with Stratford close behind. The yellow flag came out for Steve Murdock’s stopped car on the entrance of turn two, bunching the field back together for a restart. Stratford capitalized on the restart and regained the lead over Costa.
The fight for the win was down to two drivers – Stratford, who was still looking for his first Sprint Car win, and Costa, who was looking for another win to add to his record. Costa proved to be the winner on this night as he out-paced Stratford through traffic and secured the victory. Stratford settled for a bittersweet second, while Mack DeMan finished third, Ryan Fraser fourth, and Larry Gledhill fifth, however DeMan later was disqualified due to a technical infraction. Costa and Stratford are now tied for the division points lead.
Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks
Kyle Wert and Dave Bailey brought the 30 car field to the green flag for the 20 lap Thunder Stock A-Main. Bailey got ahead of Wert on the first lap, but the caution flag quickly appeared when Jamie Goudge hit the backstretch wall and rolled to a stop with suspension damage. Wert wasn’t going down easy; he timed the restart perfectly and outraced Bailey and into the lead. Ryan Beagle came onto the scene to create a three-way fight for the lead between Wert, Bailey and himself.
To make things even more exciting, the three leaders began to encounter traffic just past the halfway mark. Beagle was on a mission to win as he took the lead and pulled away. Wert couldn’t match the leader’s pace and firmly sat in the second position, meanwhile Bailey’s race met an early end with mechanical problems. Beagle cruised to his first Thunder Stock victory of the year. Crossing the finish line next was Wert in second, Donny Lampman third, Mark Fawcett fourth, and Ron Loggie fifth.
Wert holds the lead the division points lead over Beagle by 13 markers.
HRW Automotive Mini Stocks
Paul Longboat started on pole alongside Fabio Olivieri to take the green flag for the 15 lap Mini Stock A-Main. With three laps in last week’s winner Dusty DeBoer took the lead just as the yellow was thrown due to a flat tire and contact for Tristan DaSilva. DeBoer had a good restart and enjoyed his lead once again until the race came to a halt due to a red flag on lap six; the safety crew rushed onto the track to assist an upside down Nick Erskine. The chain reaction crash began with contact between Jason Tolton and Nico Hansen which then collected Erskine and sent him for a series of barrel rolls. All drivers walked away from the wreckage unharmed.
Ashton Dickie fought to take the lead from DeBoer on the restart and, while navigating through traffic, DeBoer collided with Kylie Dixon and crashed out of the race. This allowed Dickie to gain the lead, however Longboat couldn’t react in time and was collected in the melee. With DeBoer and Longboat retired, all eyes were on Dickie and Ryan Hillar for the restart with four laps to go. Both drivers ran hard down to the final lap, but it was Dickie who was victorious after starting in the 28th position. The win – by just 0.029 seconds over Hillar – was the first of Dickie’s Mini Stock career. Jason Tolton crossed the finish line next in third, DaSilva fourth, and Olivieri fifth. DaSilva leads the division by only four points over Hillar.
Up Next at Ohsweken Speedway
Renway Energy presents Friday Night Excitement on Friday, June 3 for the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars, Stickland’s Crate Sprint Cars, Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks, and HRW Automotive Mini Stocks. Visit www.ohswekenspeedway.com for more information.
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Ohsweken Speedway Statistical Report
Friday, May 26, 2023
Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
Oakwood Transport Presents Trucker Night at the Races
Total Entries: 114
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Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars (25 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 88H-Josh Hansen[4]; 2. 71-Mike Bowman[1]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]; 4. 9-Liam Martin[2]; 5. 17X-Cory Turner[3]; 6. 10-Mitch Brown[8]; 7. 87X-Shone Evans[6]; 8. 5-DJ Christie[5]; 9. 15-Ryan Turner[22]; 10. 7NY-Matt Farnham[15]; 11. 70-Baily Heard[9]; 12. 1-Holly Porter[13]; 13. 49L-Lucas Smith[10]; 14. 77T-Jim Huppunen[12]; 15. 12DD-Darren Dryden[11]; 16. 46-Kevin Pauls[21]; 17. 94X-Scott Hall[17]; 18. 81-Derek Jonathan[19]; 19. 21-John Burbridge Jr[23]; 20. (DNF) 7-Eric Gledhill[14]; 21. (DNF) 19D-Allan Downey[25]; 22. (DNF) 11-Jamie Turner[16]; 23. (DNS) 90-Travis Cunningham; 24. (DNS) 0-Glenn Styres; 25. (DNS) 68-Aaron Turkey
Hard Charger – Ryan Turner +13
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 9-Liam Martin[1]; 2. 87X-Shone Evans[6]; 3. 17X-Cory Turner[8]; 4. (DNF) 7NY-Matt Farnham[2]; 5. (DNF) 70-Baily Heard[9]; 6. (DNF) 68-Aaron Turkey[3]; 7. (DNF) 0-Glenn Styres[5]; 8. (DNF) 90-Travis Cunningham[4]; 9. (DNF) 19D-Allan Downey[7]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – 2:00.120
1. 10-Mitch Brown[4]; 2. 5-DJ Christie[3]; 3. 49L-Lucas Smith[2]; 4. 71-Mike Bowman[6]; 5. 1-Holly Porter[7]; 6. 81-Derek Jonathan[1]; 7. 94X-Scott Hall[8]; 8. 21-John Burbridge Jr[5]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 1:57.182
1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]; 2. 88H-Josh Hansen[1]; 3. 12DD-Darren Dryden[2]; 4. 77T-Jim Huppunen[5]; 5. 7-Eric Gledhill[7]; 6. 11-Jamie Turner[8]; 7. 46-Kevin Pauls[3]; 8. (DNF) 15-Ryan Turner[6]
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Strickland’s Crate Sprint Cars (30 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 52-Jesse Costa[4]; 2. BS39-Brett Stratford[1]; DQ. 4-Mack DeMan[19]; 4. 94-Ryan Fraser[3]; 5. 14-Larry Gledhill[7]; 6. 72-Tanner Podwinski[6]; 7. 88-Lance Erskine[2]; 8. 31-Dale Curran[11]; 9. 45-Curtis Gartly[5]; 10. 2S-Al Sleight[9]; 11. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[13]; 12. 51-Trevor Young[10]; 13. 20-Johnny Miller[8]; 14. 3S-Austin Roes[24]; 15. 71C-John Cadman[12]; 16. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[16]; 17. 2-Travis Hofstetter[14]; 18. 99-Joshua Hill[17]; 19. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[30]; 20. 5-Tom Pellezari[22]; 21. 16X-Keegan Baker[15]; 22. 28-Cameron Thomson[20]; 23. MK8-Matt Hill[21]; 24. 420-Victor Bomberry[25]; 25. 97-Sheldon Bender[28]; 26. 70MM-Gabby Darling[26]; 27. 69K-Ken Hamilton[18]; 28. (DNF) 2M-Steve Murdock[23]; 29. (DNF) 29W-Tyler Ward[29]; 30. (DNS) 11W-Braeden Chastney
Hard Charger – Mack DeMan +15
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. BS39-Brett Stratford[6]; 2. 94-Ryan Fraser[2]; 3. 31-Dale Curran[4]; 4. 20-Johnny Miller[10]; 5. 2S-Al Sleight[9]; 6. 4-Mack DeMan[3]; 7. 28-Cameron Thomson[7]; 8. (DNF) 2M-Steve Murdock[8]; 9. (DNF) 97-Sheldon Bender[1]; 10. (DNF) 29W-Tyler Ward[5]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 14-Larry Gledhill[1]; 2. 52-Jesse Costa[4]; 3. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[2]; 4. 71C-John Cadman[6]; 5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[3]; 6. 16X-Keegan Baker[7]; 7. 99-Joshua Hill[9]; 8. 5-Tom Pellezari[8]; 9. 70MM-Gabby Darling[5]; 10. (DNS) 77E-Ashton VanEvery
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 88-Lance Erskine[3]; 2. 51-Trevor Young[1]; 3. 45-Curtis Gartly[5]; 4. 72-Tanner Podwinski[9]; 5. 2-Travis Hofstetter[6]; 6. 69K-Ken Hamilton[4]; 7. MK8-Matt Hill[7]; 8. 420-Victor Bomberry[2]; 9. (DNF) 3S-Austin Roes[8]; 10. (DNF) 11W-Braeden Chastney[10]
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