Hannah McCrory
BRIGHTON, ON- Brighton Speedway fans saw over 100 stock cars signed in and ready to battle it out on the dirt. The evening presented by Behan Construction hosted the Northeast Late Model Alliance series, the OSCAAR Hot Rods, Eastern Ontario Vintage Stock Car Club, as well as weekly divisions of Canadian Modifieds, Thunder Stocks and Mini Stocks. Prior to the dirt flying action of the night Brighton Speedway Officials inducted the three 2022 Wall of Fame recipients. The late Don Freeman, No. 22 Cindy Mosco and No. 49/29 Phil Potts were honoured this year.
Hennessy Makes it Happen for Second NLMA Victory
The Vanderlaan Building Products Northeast Late Model Alliance Series made their first appearance to Brighton Speedway this season for race 4. The field was led to green by Steve Baldwin (No. 5) and Andrew Hennessy (No. 87) for their 40-lap affair. Hennessy and Baldwin put on a great show of side-by-side racing for the lead, with a long green flag performance Hennessy started working his way through lap traffic early on and slowly stretching his lead from Baldwin. A caution was drawn on lap 23 for Rich Sanders (No. 21) who lost his driveshaft on the front stretch, the field was stacked back up and restarted. Charlie Sandercock (No. 57) was able to follow race leader Hennessy’s preferred racing line on the top and make the pass on Baldwin for second place. After a restart on lap 31, fans got a show of Sandercock and Hennessy pulling sliders and swapping first and second positions battling hard for the number one spot. Hennessy scored the win, Sandercock in second, Adam Turner (No. 92) in third, Baldwin fourth and Brandon Mowat (No. 46) rounding off the top five.
Purchase Powers it to Checkers for the Tenth Time
The No. 50 of Dylan Boyle and No. 33 of Adam Whaley started the field of 14 Bainer’s OilGARD Anti-Rust Canadian Modifieds. Boyle was able to maintain the race lead for the first few laps, until fourth place starter Shawn Gregory (No. 1) pinched the race lead for a mere 4 laps. Coming from eighth-place the division points leader Wade Purchase (No. 53) clinched the race lead on lap 9 and did not look back. A series of 4 cautions throughout the rest of the 25-lap event, restacked and tightened up the field allowing Gregory to try his all at obtaining that number one spot. Purchase had his 53-machine hooked up on the outside groove and was determined to get his fifth feature win in a row. He was able to get the job done, collecting 10 feature wins in his division debut. Gregory and Doug O’Blenis (No. 32) battling it out for second place position, Gregory was dominate over O’Blenis. Boyle (No. 50) taking home fourth place and Ron Wadforth (No. 40) rounding off the top five.
Riddell Rides it to Victory Lane for 70’s/80’s, Hale Heads to Checkers for 50’s/60’s Win
The Eastern Ontario Vintage Stock Car Club made their first appearance to the track this 2022 season. The field of 16 cars was led to green by Steve Billings (No. 84) and Chad Lackie (No. 7), with Billings to the early race lead. Third-place starter Gavin Riddell (No. 9G) challenged Billings (No. 84) for the number one spot putting on a great battle. Once the field worked their way up to lap traffic Riddell (No. 9G) was able to stretch out his lead on the rest of the field. A set of back-to-back cautions were drawn on lap 17 and 18, the last one being for Jason Riddell (No. 9) who was in the third-place position. It appeared Riddell (No. 9) lost his left rear tire coming out of four, pitching his car sideways, just kissing the wall at the flag stand with the rear of the car. On the final restart it appeared as if Billings had the better start, Riddell (No. 9G) made the pass on the outside groove. Going into three and four for the final time Riddell takes away Billings preferred inside line of the racing surface and drives to victory lane for the 70’s/80’s division. Greg Hale (No. 28G) had his 50’s/60’s ride on the rails determined for a double win of the evening. Hale successfully drove his ride to victory lane obtaining the 50’s/60’s win of the night for the series.
Books Writes the Way to Victory Lane
The OSCAAR Hot Rod Series made their annual trip to Brighton Speedway to get down and dirty and test their skills out on a dirt racing surface. Bill Clarke (No. 0) in his 1966 Pontiac Parisienne and Brandon Crumbie (No. 88) in his 1968 Chevelle started the field of OSCAAR Hot Rods to the 20-lap affair. Crumbie had the early race lead over Clarke. The feature event went impressively from green to checkers, the fifth-place starter of Steve Books (No. 47) in his 1960 Studebaker Hawk slowly worked his way through the field picking off one position at a time until he was able to clench the race lead from Crumbie (No. 88) and take his Studebaker Hawk to victory lane. Nick Clarke (No. 86) in second with his 1969 Ford Mustang, Brandon Crumbie third, Rob Bromley (No. 6) fourth with his 1967 T-Bird and rounding off the top five is Connor Ellis (No. 48) with his 1968 Chevelle.
Ramsay Races to Checkers for Sixth Time
James Turgeon (No. 87) and Patrick Easton (No. 88) led the field of 23 Brighton Automotive Thunder Stocks to the green of their 20-lap battle for checkers. Hot off his win at Ohsweken Speedway for the 50 lap Brock Leonard Memorial on Friday night, twelfth-place starter Justin Ramsay (No. 03) took no time at all getting his way to the number one spot. However, Brock Gregory (No. 1) was not making it an easy victory with Ramsay, the pair put on a great battle. As always, the competitive field of thunder stocks had action all throughout the field Kraig Handley (No. 26), Jeff Humphry (No. 17), and Tyler French (No. 0) put on a tight battle within the top five. Ramsay securing the win over Gregory, Handley third, Humphry rocked his 17-machine on the top for fourth and the division points leader French taking home fifth.
Tufford Triumphant for the Second Time
The final event of the evening was the 15- lap Bill’s Johns Mini Stock feature, Chris Lammle (No. 95) and Chris Tufford (No. 4) started the field of 15. A red flag was quickly drawn on lap 4 for Scott Simpson who had a spectacular roll in turn one and two, Simpson was uninjured. The race returned to green and Tufford had his sights set on his second feature win of the season. Cole Abrams (No. 96) in the runner up position, Mike Whyte (No. 11w) third, Tim Moore (No. 54) fourth and Carter Rhodes (No. 18) fifth.
Up Next
Join us this Saturday, August 20th for Fan Appreciation! The evening is presented by Vanderlaan Building Products, on the card for the evening action is the Vanderlaan Building Product Late Models, Bainer’s OilGARD Anti-Rust Canadian Modifieds, Brighton Automotive Thunder Stocks, Bill’s Johns Comp 4 and Mini Stock and the Gord’s Water Vantastics. Front gates will open at 5:00 pm and racing will begin at 7:00 pm. Admission for Adults is $15.00, Youths & Seniors are $12.00, Children 7-12 are $5.00 and Children 6 & Under are $2.00.
NOTE: There has been a schedule change for August 20th, the Gord’s Water Mini Van races were added and Stingers removed. Stingers will be back on Aug 27th, with NO Mini Vans that weekend.
Photos by Rod Henderson, CanadianRacer.com
