Jordan Poirier, Allan Downey, & Dave Bailey Score Operation Green Flag Wins At Merrittville

Story By: STEVE PETTY / MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY – THOROLD, ONT – Jordan Poirier from St. Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Quebec picked up the win in the 360 Sprint Cars at Merrittville Speedway on Friday night.

For Poirier, it is win number two of the season at the Thorold, Ontario speedplant. Allan Downey from Waterloo, Ontario who got his start in the sport through iRacing picked up his first career win with the Action Sprint Tour in his sophomore season.

Multi-time track champion Dave Bailey from Hagersville, Ontario won the main event for the Hoosier Stocks after starting from the 12th position.

Holly Porter and Jordan Poirier brought the field of 360 Sprint Cars to the green flag for their 25-lap A-Main with Poirier taking the lead as Mitch Brown moved into second after passing Porter on lap two. Chris Jones landed on his side on the backstretch to bring out the red flag on lap three. Jones climbed out on his own power. Poirier would take off on the restart with Mitch Brown, Ryan Turner, Holly Porter, and Liam Martin raced in the top five. Shone Evans went around in turn two to bring out the caution on lap eight. Poirier would once again take off on the restart as Liam Martin battled hard with Cory Turner for the fourth position. Josh Hansen, Jake Brown, and Jamie Turner all got together in turn two on lap 10 to bring out the caution. Ryan Turner was able to take over second on the restart and would go after Poirier. Liam Martin would race his way back to the podium as Poirier continued to lead over Ryan Turner. Mitch Brown was able to regain the third spot just one lap later. Poirier would hit lap traffic, allowing Ryan Turner to close in. Turner would take the lead, but Poirier would regain the lead just one corner later. Poirier would go on to score the win.

The Action Sprint Tour saw Dereck Lemyre and Jacob Dykstra lead the field of 23 entries to the green flag for their 20-lap A-Main and the yellow flag would immediately fly as qualifying heat winner Brian Nanticoke ran into the back of Nick Sheridan and went around with Lucas Smith getting collected. Dykstra would take the lead away from Lemyre on the restart. Dykstra would suffer a broken front axel as he made hard contact with the turn four berm. Dykstra climbed out of the car under his own power. Lemyre would re-inherit the lead on the restart over Darren Dryden and Rob Neely, with Nick Sheridan running in fourth and took over third on lap three. The red flag would come out as Lance Erskine flipped in turn two. Erskine was alright and climbed out of his car on his own. Nick Sheridan would challenge Dryden for second as Lemyre would continue to show the way. Lemyre would hit lap traffic just before the halfway point. The caution would wave once again as Trevor Young and Tyler Ward came together on the entry of turn one. Lemyre would go on the top side of the speedway on the restart, giving the lead to Darren Dryden with Allan Downey moving into second place. Downey would take over the lead with four laps remaining. The yellow lights would come on with only one lap remaining as Tyler Ward stopped on the top side of turn one. Dryden would look underneath Downey on the last lap, but Downey used the outside to get the lead back to get his first career win.

Mike Thorne and Kyle Wert brought the Hoosier Stocks to the green flag for their 20-lap feature event with Wert showing the way early. Thorne would regain the lead as Christopher Hale would challenge Wert for second place. The yellow lights would turn on as Rob Murray and Logan Shwedyk got tangled together on the front straightaway. Thorne and Hale would take off on the restart as Dave Bailey moved into third place and would go after Hale for the second position on lap eight. The lead trio would pull away from Wert and Ryan Beagle, who raced in the top five at the halfway point. Bailey would take over second on lap 11 and would challenge Thorne for the lead. Ken Sargent, who started 21st on the grid, worked his way into the top five on lap 14 and would battle with Ryan Beagle. The top five would all challenge for the lead and Bailey would take the lead away coming to the white flag. Bailey would drive on to the win over Thorne, Hale, Sargent, and Kyle Wert would complete the top five.

Marketing Partners of Operation Green Flag: Mission Merrittville includes Nitro 54 Variety, Burger Barn, Ohsweken Speedway Racesource, and Corr/Pak Merchandising. Hoosier Tire Canada gave out bonus money to the Hoosier Stock competitors that had Hoosier Racing Tires on all four corners.

Saturday, September 19 will once again feature the 360 Sprints along with the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds in a rare Sprint Car/Modified twin-bill. Joining them are the Hoosier Stocks, RONA/Doidge Building Centre Mod Lites, and the Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinders. Showtime is at 7 pm. Fans can watch the Saturday program on Monday night, September 21st on GForce TV.

Fans can register for the lottery draw for admission tickets to both programs by following the directions on the Merrittville Speedway Facebook and Twitter page. Fans can email track owner Don Spiece at donspiece.merrittvillespeedway@gmail.com between 5-9 pm on MONDAY, September 21st. The emails must include names, phone numbers, and hometowns for each person in your group.

OPERATION GREEN FLAG: MISSION MERRITTVILLE 9-18-20 RACE RESULTS

360 Sprint Cars: JORDAN POIRIER, Ryan Turner, Mitch Brown, Cory Turner, Liam Martin, Jim Huppunen, Travis Cunningham, Chris Steele, Aaron Turkey, Shawn Sliter, Shone Evans, Holly Porter, Josh Hansen, Jake Brown, Dave McKnight Jr, Steve Lyons, Brandon Murrell, Jamie Turner, Glenn Styres, Chris Jones, Allen Gilleta, Scott Burk

Qualifying Heats: Liam Martin, Ryan Turner, Jordan Poirier

Action Sprint Tour: ALLAN DOWNEY, Darren Dryden, Dereck Lemyre, Nick Sheridan, Brett Stratford, Rob Neely, Paul Klager, Terry Baker, Lucas Smith, Liam Martin, Steven Beckett, Jordan Hill, Adrian Stahle, Brian Nanticoke, Ryan Dinning, Lee Winger, Darrell Pelletier, Tyler Ward, Andrew Marshall, Trevor Young, Ryan Hunsinger, Lance Erskine, Jacob Dykstra

Qualifying Heats: Brian Nanticoke, Terry Baker, Jacob Dykstra

Hoosier Stocks: DAVE BAILEY, Mike Thorne, Chris Hale, Ken Sargent, Kyle Wert, Ryan Beagle, Mike Klazinga, Steve Shaw, Kevin Knapp, Jason Fontaine, Go Fast Teeple, Rob Murray, Logan Shwedyk, Jeff Larmet, Clinton Nicholls, Donny Lampman, Blake Bomberry Jr, Jens Mortensen, Adam Plazek, Jim Lampman, Matt Willson, Kevin D’Amore

Did Not Start: Brayden King

Qualifying Heats: Steve Shaw, Dave Bailey, Kevin Knapp