Humberstone Hosts Awards Banquet; Drivers, Crews Honored For 2017 Achievements

Story By: STEVE PETTY / HUMBERSTONE SPEEDWAY – NIAGARA FALLS, ONT – The Humberstone Speedway hosted their 2017 Awards Banquet at the Americana Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario on Saturday evening. Track announcers Steven Petty and Fran Buschardt served as the Masters of Ceremonies for the gala.

Port Colborne, Ontario’s Chad Chevalier earned the Humberstone track championship in the PC Works DIRTcar Sportsman. Chevalier also earned the Race of Champions Sportsman Series Championship in 2017. Chevalier defeated 2016 track titlist Brad Rouse by 29 points to earn the title. Jay Mallory, Cody McPherson, and Adam Leslie completed the top five in points. Chevalier, Rouse, McPherson, and James Michael Friesen visited victory lane. Chevalier won the BEI Lightning Series tour event while Chevalier and Rouse won the RoC Sportsman Series stops. McPherson won the Sportsman Super DIRTcar Series event.

Chad Homan from Macedon, NY won his first Maple Leaf Foods RUSH Late Model Championship. Behind his seven wins, Homan out-raced Sam Pennacchio, Rob Pietz, Jeff Dayman, and Mike Greene to win the championship. Homan, Pennacchio, Pietz, and Kyle Sopaz were the only four drivers to find themselves in victory lane.

Dave Bailey from Hagersville, Ontario won the JC Auto Street Stock Championship in 2017, to back up his 2016 performance. Bailey also earned his second consecutive Tri-Track title by winning the track championships at Ohsweken and Merrittville and was also the 2017 Duel on the Dirt Series Champion! Bailey beat out Billy Bleich Jr, Ryan Dinning, Kyle Pelrine and Jason Fontaine for his second straight Humberstone track title. Bailey, Bleich, Dinning, Fontaine, Jim Lampman, and Ken Sargent visited victory lane this season.

Cole Hardy from St. Catharines, Ontario earned his first career Cosco Haulage Mini Stocks track championship in the closest point battle in the history of the Humberstone Speedway. Hardy edged out Jason Coutu by a single point (735-734) to earn the title behind his consistent finishes. Olivier Larocque, 2016 titlist Kyle Haynes, and Leroy Buscumb completed the top five in points. Coutu, Larocque, Haynes, Buscumb, Kyle Rothwell, Dave Small, Mark Bazuin, and Bobby Tolton all visited victory lane.

Dylan Llord from St. Catharines, Ontario won the Mike Knapp Ford Pro 4 Trucks championship for the second consecutive season behind his four feature wins. Llord beat out Craig Vlasic by 56 points to earn the title. Danny Wurster, Taylor Vanderzanden, and Kyle Tomaski completed the top five in points. Llord, Vlasic, Wurster, Tomaski and Mitch Dumont all saw victory lane in 2017.

Mike Bowman swept the Pete Cosco Memorial Weekend by winning the Race of Champions Modified Tour event as well as beating the Niagara Region’s best drivers to win the third running of the Pete Cosco Memorial. Dylan Westbrook won all three visits by the Sprint Cars this year, including a Southern Ontario Series stop and winning both Crate Sprint appearances. Paul Klager won both visits by the Mod Lites.

The Most Improved Driver Award was presented to Jordan Cosco, Sam Pennacchio, Jim Lampman, Cole Hardy and Taylor Vanderzanden in the Sportsman, Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, and Pro 4 Trucks respectively. The Most Sportsmanlike Award went to Luke Carleton, Sam Pennacchio, Andrew Reece, Jason Coutu and to the sister duo of Jamie and Stephanie Ayers.

Dylan Davidson, Chad Homan, Barry Beck Jr, Rob Sauder and Kyle Tomaski won the Best Appearing Car/Truck Award. The Hard Charger Award went to Brad Rouse, Chad Homan, Dave Bailey, Leroy Buscumb and Craig Vlasic while Jay Mallory, Mike Greene, Billy Bleich Jr, Kyle Haynes and Kyle Tomaski were the recipients of the Hard Luck Award. Emily Puchalski, Jay Liverance, Barry Beck Jr, Fabio Oliveri, and Jesse Sonnenberg were honored by being named Rookie of the Year.

A special dedication award was given to longtime official Don Simpson who announced his retirement at the end of the 2017 season. The Pete Cosco Dedication to the Sport Award went to Chris Johnson from JC Auto. Chris has been a longtime supporter of the Speedway and has gone above and beyond for the track.

The Jim Simpson Crew Chief of the Year Award went to the crew of Brad Rouse. The Rouse crew was busy all season long, racing at Freedom, Merrittville and Humberstone weekly, plus representing Humberstone on the BEI Lightning Series, Race of Champions Sportsman Series, the Sportsman Super DIRTcar Series and was one of the only Niagara-region drivers to race at the Short Track World Championships at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The Trevor Wilkens Driver of the Year went to two-time and defending Pro 4 Truck Champion Dylan Llord. Dylan earned four wins this year and in just two short seasons, has accumulated over 15 feature wins.

Humberstone Speedway General Manager Bob Davidson spoke to the crowd that was on hand, releasing the speedway’s plan for the 2018 season. The track has not been sold and will remain under the ownership of the Cosco and Davidson families, who will be celebrating their 15th season of operation in 2018. Look for rules meetings and membership passes to be released in the coming weeks.

Speedway officials and management would like to thank Leslie Motorsports and Lucas Oil along with Soft Touch Images for sponsoring the Jr Race Fan of the Week promotion. The speedway would also like to thank Soft Touch Photos and RedRoom Studios for their fabulous work with the photos and videos throughout the season.

The Humberstone Speedway would like to thank all the new and returning Weekly Series Sponsors: PC Works (DIRTcar Sportsman), Maple Leaf Foods (RUSH Late Models), J.C. Auto (Street Stocks), Mike Knapp Ford (Pro 4 Trucks), and the Cosco Haulage (Mini Stocks).