By Brent Otchere
Tanner Podwinski and Jacob Dykstra brought the field to the green flag for the Crate Sprint Car A-Main. Dykstra quickly overtook Podwinski, leading the first laps while Jesse Costa began to battle Podwinski for the second position. A few caution flags fell during the race, however Dykstra defended his lead with tremendous car control. Another caution flag fell with four laps left, nullifying Dykstra’s lead. Officials judged Dykstra to have restarted outside the restart zone on the ensuing restart, penalizing him two positions.
Costa inherited the lead for the next restart. Costa had his sights on victory lane, however Dykstra was fired up after his penalty and quickly overtook second and first in just one lap. Dykstra went on to claim his fifth career Ohsweken Crate Sprint Car win – and first since 2022 – while Costa came home second, Steve Murdock third, Podwinski fourth, and Austin Roes fifth.
Strickland’s Crate Sprint Cars (28 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 20 laps – NT
1. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[2]; 2. 52-Jesse Costa[4]; 3. 2M-Steve Murdock[16]; 4. 72-Tanner Podwinski[1]; 5. 3S-Austin Roes[3]; 6. BS39-Brett Stratford[7]; 7. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[9]; 8. 1-Holly Porter[6]; 9. 28T-Cameron Thomson[15]; 10. 53-Logan Shwedyk[5]; 11. 16X-Keegan Baker[14]; 12. 94-Ryan Fraser[18]; 13. 88-Lance Erskine[21]; 14. 2S-Al Sleight[12]; 15. 2-Travis Hofstetter[17]; 16. 44-Connor Ross[13]; 17. 24K-Kiana Teal[24]; 18. 11W-Jeremy May[19]; 19. 26X-Campbell Baker[26]; 20. 78-Darren McLennan[28]; 21. 5-Tom Pellezari[20]; 22. 27-Niko Hansen[25]; 23. 8-Kurtis Connell[27]; 24. (DNF) 24A-AJ Lewis[11]; 25. (DNF) 50LS-Adrian Stahle[8]; 26. (DNF) 14-Larry Gledhill[10]; 27. (DNS) 14B-Broden Weiler; 28. (DNS) 20-Johnny Miller
Hard Charger – Steve Murdock +13
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 53-Logan Shwedyk[1]; 2. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[2]; 3. BS39-Brett Stratford[5]; 4. 44-Connor Ross[3]; 5. 16X-Keegan Baker[6]; 6. 2-Travis Hofstetter[7]; 7. 94-Ryan Fraser[8]; 8. 88-Lance Erskine[9]; 9. 24K-Kiana Teal[4]; 10. 78-Darren McLennan[10]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 3S-Austin Roes[2]; 2. 52-Jesse Costa[1]; 3. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[7]; 4. 14-Larry Gledhill[6]; 5. 2M-Steve Murdock[4]; 6. 28T-Cameron Thomson[8]; 7. 26X-Campbell Baker[9]; 8. (DNF) 20-Johnny Miller[5]; 9. (DQ) 27-Niko Hansen[3]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 2:07.778
1. 72-Tanner Podwinski[3]; 2. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[1]; 3. 1-Holly Porter[5]; 4. 24A-AJ Lewis[6]; 5. 2S-Al Sleight[8]; 6. 11W-Jeremy May[2]; 7. 5-Tom Pellezari[7]; 8. 14B-Broden Weiler[4]; 9. 8-Kurtis Connell[9]