Mat Williamson Victorious In Modified Main Saturday At Merrittville; Chris Steele Wins 360 Sprints

Story By: JONATHAON HOWE / MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY – THOROLD, ONT – “The Real Deal” Chris Steele from St. Catharines, Ontario won the A-Main in the 360 Sprint Cars at the Merrittville Speedway Saturday night. 2018 S&W Service Centre 358 Modified track champion and reigning Super DIRTcar Series champion Mat Williamson from St. Catharines, Ontario won the main event for the Modifieds.

Reigning Hoosier Stock Champion Rob Murray from St. Catharines, Ontario won the main event for the Hoosier Stocks. Former divisional champion Jeffrey May from Mt. Hope, Ontario picked up another win in the RONA/Doidge Builders Mod Lites. Fabio Olivieri from Ancaster, Ontario scored the win in the Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning Mini Stocks.

Mat Williamson started on the pole and lead every single lap in the 35-lap feature in the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds. Williamson stretched out to an early lead over Pete Bicknell who at one point was eating into the lead. Bicknell was never able to get closer than nine-tenths of a second. The race ran caution-free and Williamson notched another victory at his home track with Bicknell finishing in the runner-up position. Reigning track champion Gary Lindberg finished in third and was followed to the line by Scott and Austin Wood.

The 360 Sprints saw action at Merrittville Speedway for the 2nd night in a row. Tonight’s feature started with Chris Steele from St. Catharine’s, Ontario on pole with Brantford, Ontario’s Mitch Brown on the outside of the front row. Steele would control much of the race, lapping almost half the field. However, Steele would face a challenge late from Jim Huppunen. As the two sliced and diced through lap traffic, it came down to the last corner where Huppunen made a bold move on the outside to pull alongside Steele in turns three and four. Off turn four, Steele used the bottom lane to clear Huppunen and take the checkers. Mitch Brown, Cory Turner, and Ryan Turner would complete the top five finishers respectively.

Steve Shaw and Kyle Wert lead a 22-car field of Hoosier Stocks to green. Shaw took the lead early while Chris Hale, Mike Thorne, Ken Sargent and Rob Murray raced hard in the top 5. Dave Bailey, who started 18th after not finishing his heat race, battled his way up into the top 5, taking advantage of multiple yellow flags. Murray took the lead in the second half of the race and Bailey got as high as second. A late caution set up another classic battle between Murray and Bailey at Merrittville, but on the restart, Murray would drive away from the field to win. Chris Hale crossed the line in second, with Steve Shaw, Ken Sargent, and Dave Bailey completing the top five.

In Rona Doidge Building Centres Modified Lites action, Josh Sliter and Brent Begolo started from the front row. Sean Iftody spun after starting 5th, which jumbled up the field. Jeffery May who started alongside Iftody quickly worked his way up through the field and into the lead. May captured the win, while Tyler Winger got by Begolo late to finish 2nd. Begolo would settle for 3rd while RJ Pietz and Josh Sliter rounded out the top 5.

Lastly, Fabio Olivieri survived a wreck-filled Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinder feature. The race saw many of the top contenders involved in incidents including Austyn Werstroh who while battling for the lead, started a crash that involved 6 other cars and destroyed Werstroh’s 71 ride. Alex Riley and Leroy Buscomb also came together while battling for the lead, and another multi-car incident occurred when Dylan Llord and Kenny Hair came together while battling in the top 3. When the wrecking finally stopped, it was Fabio Olivieri taking the win over Riley, Hair, Buscomb and Matthew Moore.

Special thanks to Hoosier Tire Canada for their top five bonus program, giving extra bonus money to the top five Hoosier Stocks with Hoosier Racing Tires on all four wheels.

GForceTV will have the action from tonight on the channel Monday night, September 21st at 7 pm. After Monday, fans can watch it anytime along with all the races from Merrittville in 2020 just by heading to www.gforcetv.net

Merrittville Speedway returns to action on Saturday, September 26th for a full Bobcat of Hamilton Weekly Racing Series program staring the S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds, Rick’s Delivery DIRTcar Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks, RONA/Doidge Building Centre Mod Lites, Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinders, and the James’ Auto V6. Showtime is at 7 pm.

Fans can register for the lottery draw for admission tickets to the racing program by following the directions on the Merrittville Speedway Facebook and Twitter page. Fans can email donspiece.merrittvillespeedway@gmail.com between 5-9 pm on MONDAY, September 21st for the September 26 program. The emails must include names, phone numbers, and hometowns for each person in your group.

9-19-20 RACE RESULTS

360 Sprint Cars: CHRIS STEELE, Jim Huppunen, Mitch Brown, Cory Turner, Ryan Turner, Travis Cunningham, Jordan Poirier, Jake Dykstra, Jake Brown, Jamie Turner, Shawn Sliter, Josh Hansen, Shone Evans, Aaron Turkey, Holly Porter, Glenn Styres, Dave McKnight Jr, Liam Martin, Allan Downey, Allen Giletta, Steve Lyons, Scott Burk, Chris Jones

Qualifying Heats: Mitch Brown, Jim Huppunen, Jacob Dykstra

S&W Service Centre 358 Modifieds: MAT WILLIAMSON, Pete Bicknell, Gary Lindberg, Scott Wood, Austin Wood, Darren Peters, Justin Sharp, Fred Carleton, Tyler Willard, Dalton Slack, Rob Knapp, Tom Neale, Derek VanMil, Brian Page, Trevor Wright

Qualifying Heats: Austin Wood, Pete Bicknell

Hoosier Stocks: ROB MURRAY, Chris Hale, Steve Shaw, Ken Sargent, Dave Bailey, Mike Thorne, Logan Shwedyk, Jason Fontaine, Clinton Nicholls, Go Fast Teeple, Blake Bomberry Jr, Jim Lampman, Kacey Huffman, Jeff Bean, JT Miller, Rob Hoskins, Kyle Wert, Dave Small, Brayden King, Jens Mortensen, Adam Plazek, Mike Klazinga

Did Not Start: Donny Lampman

Qualifying Heats: Kyle Wert, Chris Hale, Steve Shaw

RONA/Doidge Building Centre Mod Lites: JEFFREY MAY, Tyler Winger, Brent Begolo, RJ Pietz, Josh Sliter, Ryan Anderson, Ryleigh Sliter, Dan Kviring, Dave Cornish, Randy Giroux, Sean Iftody, Chris Watson

Qualifying Heats: Brent Begolo, RJ Pietz

Central Fabricating/Glo & Go Tanning 4 Cylinders: FABIO OLIVIERI, Alex Riley, Kenny Hair, Leroy Buscumb, Matthew Moore, Brian Aube, Trevor DeBoer, Mark Bazuin, Ross Crowe, Shane Dixon, Kevin Kocarik, Sam Iftody, Clinton Barrick, David Goodacre, Dylan Llord, Kyle Haynes, Vincent Pagnotta, Christopher French, Ashton Dickie, Nick Masi, Austyn Werstroh, Don Deagle, Terry Larmet, Xander Bergin, Rob Shaw, Danny Wurster, Braden Keus

Did Not Start: Aiden Maynard

Qualifying Heats: Leroy Buscumb, Ashton Dickie, Austyn Werstroh, Kyle Haynes