By Alex Nieten
OHSWEKEN, ON (May 15, 2025) – Even when David Gravel looks like he might be out of contention for victory, he’s not.
The defending World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion lined up fifth for Thursday’s 35-lap Feature at Ohsweken Speedway, and on the opening circuit he slipped a spot to sixth.
The Big Game Motorsports No. 2 cruised around the 3/8 mile in that position for the first several circuits, unable to crack the top five. Finally, the time came for a pivotal restart.
The Watertown, CT native blasted into third when the green lights flashed again, and then only six laps later he took over the runner-up spot from early leader Dylan Westbrook. The hunt of Conner Morrell began as the Series rookie was out front in search of his first win. Gravel wasn’t about to let Morrell pull off a major upset.
Gravel rolled the bottom to perfection in the second half of the race and motored by Morrell on Lap 27, and that was the end of that battle. He built up more than a four-second advantage on his way to sweeping the Federated Auto Parts Showdown at Ohsweken.
“I had a good restart there starting sixth, that was our whole race there going sixth to third on the start,” Gravel said. “It just gave me some more clear track to work with. The guys continue to give me great race cars every time we hit the racetrack. Cody (Jacobs) is on his game. Zach (Patterson) is on his game. Pete (Stephens) is on his game.”
Victories on Wednesday and Thursday made it three clean weekend sweeps this year for Tod Quiring’s team as Gravel also topped two in a row at Volusia Speedway Park (March 2-3) and Cotton Bowl Speedway (March 21-22). He joins Donny Schatz (four), Jason Sides (three), and Tony Stewart (two) as a multi-time Ohsweken winner with The Greatest Show on Dirt. His eight wins this season are more than double the second most. It was also a noteworthy night for Big Game Motorsports as their 117th World of Outlaws win as a team equaled them for fifth all-time with Roth Motorsports.
Gravel admitted it didn’t come easily as Morrell had speed behind the wheel of the Bill Rose Racing No. 28M. After having a run in with the Bradenton, FL native early in the year, the champion was complimentary of the rookie’s efforts of Thursday night.
“He did a great job. Hats off to him,” Gravel said. “I chewed his ass earlier in the year for driving a little wild, and he did a great job tonight as a race car driver. Hats off to him. He showed speed here on and off. He almost had a win here tonight on an extremely tricky track. They obviously got his car pretty good and just faded a little bit late, and we came on there at the end.”
Morrell held on for second as he claimed his first career World of Outlaws podium and posted the best finish of any of the seven Series rookies this year so far. The 21-year-old was emotional after coming so close to becoming a winner with The Greatest Show on Dirt.
The car kind of went away, and the driver kind of went away. I should’ve had it, but it is what it is, and I’ll try again at Cornwall,” Morrell said. “It’s tough being out here on a limited budget with three engines and limited equipment, but it is what it is. We’re going to keep pushing on.”
The final step of the podium belonged to Canada’s own Dylan Westbrook. The Scotland, ON native made the home fans proud by leading the first 14 circuits before posting a career best finish with the World of Outlaws.
“We were just a little loose there in the last half after that caution and started to fade a little bit,” Westbrook said. “I tried to move my line a little bit, but they just had their cars a bit better and could roll the middle more and just kind of park on the bottom to get the grip coming out. Still really happy, and it’s definitely my best Outlaw finish, got to lead some laps, and I’m really happy to do it here at my hometown track.”
Sheldon Haudenschild and Chris Windom completed the top five.
Donny Schatz rolled from 23rd to 10th in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 15 to grab the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Garet Williamson earned his first career Simpson Quick Time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
Heat Races belonged to Garet Williamson (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Sheldon Haudenschild (Real American Beer Heat Two), David Gravel (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Chris Windom (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).
The #SPATechnique #1 Redraw went to Dylan Westbrook.
Westbrook also topped the Toyota Dash.
Joe Trenca won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Giovanni Scelzi.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars close out their trip to Canada with a visit to Long Sault, ON’s Cornwall Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 18 for the PartSource World of Outlaws Invasion. Tickets will be available at the track.
For the remaining 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[5]; 2. 28M-Conner Morrell[6]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[1]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 5. 7S-Chris Windom[2]; 6. 28-Jordan Poirier[15]; 7. 23-Garet Williamson[4]; 8. 6-Zach Hampton[17]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 10. 15-Donny Schatz[23]; 11. 52-Stewart Friesen[13]; 12. 17X-Cory Turner[3]; 13. 1S-Logan Schuchart[19]; 14. 41-Carson Macedo[12]; 15. 2C-Cole Macedo[14]; 16. 17B-Bill Balog[10]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; 18. 15T-Ryan Turner[16]; 19. 79-Jordan Thomas[22]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee[18]; 21. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[9]; 22. 77X-Alex Hill[24]; 23. 98-Joe Trenca[21]; 24. 22-Jonathan Preston[20]
MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 98-Joe Trenca[3]; 2. 79-Jordan Thomas[4]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 4. 77X-Alex Hill[5]; 5. 5-DJ Christie[8]; 6. 22M-Dan McCarron[2]; 7. 28F-Davie Franek[9]; 8. 77T-Tyeller Powless[10]; 9. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 10. 7-Eric Gledhill[11]; 11. 88H-Josh Hansen[14]; 12. 0-Glenn Styres[6]; 13. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[12]; 14. 46-Kevin Pauls[15]; 15. 45-Nick Sheridan[13]; 16. 28K-Tate O’Leary[16]; 17. 94-Todd Hoddick[17]
Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[1]; 2. 7S-Chris Windom[3]; 3. 17X-Cory Turner[2]; 4. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 5. 2-David Gravel[6]; 6. 28M-Conner Morrell[4]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[8]; 8. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Garet Williamson[1]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[2]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 4. 52-Stewart Friesen[4]; 5. 6-Zach Hampton[5]; 6. 98-Joe Trenca[6]; 7. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 8. 77T-Tyeller Powless[9]; 9. 45-Nick Sheridan[8]; 10. 94-Todd Hoddick[10]
Real American Beer Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 28M-Conner Morrell[2]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 4. 2C-Cole Macedo[5]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[4]; 6. 79-Jordan Thomas[6]; 7. 5-DJ Christie[7]; 8. 7-Eric Gledhill[9]; 9. 88H-Josh Hansen[8]
WIX Filters Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 17X-Cory Turner[2]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]; 4. 28-Jordan Poirier[6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]; 6. 77X-Alex Hill[7]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 8. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[8]; 9. 46-Kevin Pauls[9]
The Greatest Show on Dirt Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 7S-Chris Windom[1]; 2. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[6]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 4. 15T-Ryan Turner[4]; 5. 22-Jonathan Preston[3]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[8]; 7. 28F-Davie Franek[7]; 8. 22M-Dan McCarron[5]; 9. 28K-Tate O’Leary[9]
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 23-Garet Williamson, 00:13.091[12]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:13.157[22]; 3. 2-David Gravel, 00:13.219[2]; 4. 7S-Chris Windom, 00:13.255[21]; 5. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 00:13.382[4]; 6. 28M-Conner Morrell, 00:13.383[34]; 7. 17X-Cory Turner, 00:13.385[3]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:13.415[33]; 9. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:13.465[28]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:13.469[25]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:13.509[24]; 12. 22-Jonathan Preston, 00:13.564[27]; 13. 52-Stewart Friesen, 00:13.578[23]; 14. 99-Skylar Gee, 00:13.594[29]; 15. 83-Michael Kofoid, 00:13.610[18]; 16. 15T-Ryan Turner, 00:13.686[7]; 17. 6-Zach Hampton, 00:13.701[35]; 18. 2C-Cole Macedo, 00:13.721[17]; 19. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:13.745[30]; 20. 22M-Dan McCarron, 00:13.780[6]; 21. 98-Joe Trenca, 00:13.797[1]; 22. 79-Jordan Thomas, 00:13.824[32]; 23. 28-Jordan Poirier, 00:13.851[36]; 24. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:13.856[13]; 25. 10V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 00:13.951[37]; 26. 5-DJ Christie, 00:14.007[5]; 27. 77X-Alex Hill, 00:14.126[8]; 28. 28F-Davie Franek, 00:14.146[9]; 29. 45-Nick Sheridan, 00:14.151[16]; 30. 88H-Josh Hansen, 00:14.199[10]; 31. 77E-Ashton VanEvery, 00:14.223[26]; 32. 0-Glenn Styres, 00:14.236[31]; 33. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 00:14.390[11]; 34. 7-Eric Gledhill, 00:14.476[15]; 35. 46-Kevin Pauls, 00:15.121[14]; 36. 28K-Tate O’Leary, 00:15.989[19]; 37. 94-Todd Hoddick, 01:00.000[20]