For Immediate Release: Brighton Speedway Race Report
The winged warriors of the Southern Ontario Sprints circled the 1/3rd mile clay oval for the first time in 2023 this past Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. Nineteen 360 Sprint Cars took to the field in a missing man formation to honour the late Paul Pekkonen. Paul was a journeyman from Brockville who passed away suddenly in November. A familiar competitor at Brighton, Paul was friend to all, always willing to help and a gentleman both on and off the track. At the conclusion of the feature event, the field of sprint cars parked on the front straight, exited their cars and alongside Paul’s family in attendance, saluted their missing friend in a heartfelt toast.
The fans were awed by the spectacular high flying sprint cars, their first of five events throughout the 2023 season. #47 Dylan Westbrook and #10 Mitch Brown would lead a field of nineteen cars to the green. Westbrook would jump out to a sizable lead an #12 Darren Dryden would get by Brown in the early going. Yellow flag on lap twelve for veteran 42w Rick Wilson would bunch the field up again and put Dryden on Westbrooks tail tank for the restart. However, on the ensuing restart it was a few rows back that would create some excitement as a turn four collision between #15 Ryan Turner and #28 Jordan Poirier on lap fourteen resulted in Poirier flipping and bringing out a red flag on the track. Turner would be able to continue while Poirier’s night would end early on the hook to the pit area. The remainder of the race would run green flag and although there was lots of movement throughout the field Westbrook proved to strong for the competition on this night and would lead wire to wire. Dryden would secure second with Brown, #87x Shone Evans and #17 Cory Turner rounding out the top five.
The Bainer’s OilGARD AntiRust Canadian Modified Division started ten cars at the green flag, #32 Doug O’Blenis and #51 Mike Freeman would start the race, with O’Blenis holding the top spot until a caution on lap 11. On the restart #1 Shawn Gregory assumed the lead and crossed the finish line with #40 Ron Wadforth behind him, #2 Leslie Mowat in third, Freeman and O’Blenis to round out the top five.
The Bill’s Johns Mini Stock fifteen lap feature event went green to checkered. #96 Cole Abrams started on the poll alongside #22 Tyson Gregory, and Abrams would lead the entire race. Last week’s feature winner, #4 Chris Tufford battled with past Champion #18 Carter Rhodes throughout feature, passing up positions between Gregory, Tufford and Rhodes. On the final lap, P2 was in tight contention between Gregory and Rhodes, ending with Rhodes losing his line in turn 3 as Abrams crossed the line, followed by Gregory, Tufford, Rhodes and #25 Lawrence Evenden.
Twelve competitors took the green for the Bill’s Johns Comp 4 feature event at the end of the night. #97 Robert Jenner and #55 Zach Humphries would start on the front row. The two would swap the first position back and forth for the first few laps. #20 Cody Sager would make his way from his fifth place starting spot to take the lead on lap 4 and hold that position until the eighth place start #44 Tommy Bailey would take the top spot. From there Bailey would not look back as he would hold of #43 Devin Kippen who came home second, Sager, Humphrey and #19 Shannon Davidson would round out the top five.
In the Qunite Septic Stingers it was #67 Josh Whitney topping the eighteen-car field for his first ever victory. He was followed by #26 Chris Sparks, #29 Cody Easton, #99 Alex Woods and #64 Alex Patrick.
Next up is the Workman OK Tire School Bus Races presented by Jacklink’s, LeClair Electric, J Bryant Plumbing and Quinte West Auto. Alongside the school buses will be the Vanderlaan Building Products Late Models, Bainer’s OilGARD Anti Rust Canadian Modifieds, Brighton Automotive Thunder Stocks, Bill’s Johns Mini Stocks. Tickets for this event can be purchased online at BrightonSpeedway.ca. Limited seating will be available at the gate.
Brighton Speedway Social Media: Follow Brighton Speedway’s Official Social Media Accounts Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrightonSpdwy Twitter: @BrightonSpdwy Instagram: @BrightonSpdwy
About Brighton Speedway: Brighton Speedway is a 1/3-mile clay stock car racing oval located on the shores sof Lake Ontario in Brighton, Ont. The speedway hosts five weekly stock car divisions on Saturday nights from May to September. Brighton Speedway mailing address: 775 County Road 64, Brighton, ON, K0K 1H0
Photos by Rod Henderson, CanadianRacer.com
1. The winged warriors of the Southern Ontario Sprints circled the 1/3rd mile clay oval for the first time in 2023 this past Saturday night at Brighton Speedway.
2. The Bainer’s OilGARD Anti Rust Canadian Modified division 25 lap feature was a battle once again between #1 Shawn Gregory and #40 Ron Wadforth
Feature Results: Saturday, June 10th
Southern Ontario Sprints
1 47x Dylan Westbrook
2 12dd Darren Dryden
3 10 Mitch Brown
4 87x Shone Evans
5 17 Cory Turner
6 9 Liam Martin
7 88h Joshua Hansen
8 77t Tyeller Powless
9 21 Kyle Phillips
10 15 Ryan Turner
11 42w Rick Wilson
12 11j Chris Jones
13 84 Tyler Rand
14 68 Aaron Turkey
15 12 Alex Bergeron
16 98 Evan Reynolds
17 19d Allan Downey
18 28 Jordan Poirier
19 90 Travis Cunningham
Bainer’s OilGARD Anti Rust Canadian Modified Division
1 1 Shawn Gregory
2 40 Ron Wadforth
3 2 Leslie Mowat
4 51 Mike Freeman
5 32 Doug O’Blenis
6 36 Mitch Rosborough
7 26 Bob Green
8 5 Wally Alderdice
9 41 Corey Halbert
10 50 Dylan Boyle
Bill’s Johns Comp 4 Division
1 44 Tommy Bailey
2 43 Devon Kippen
3 20 Cody Sager
4 55 Zach Humphry – SUB Ethan Humphry
5 19 Shannon Davidson
6 91 Jaiden Miller
7 37 Terry Blight
8 42jr Aidan Fletcher
9 97 Robert Jenner
10 77 Curtis Chamberlain
11 15 Josh Bogaard
12 90 Nathan Joseph
Bill’s Johns Mini Stock Division
1 96 Cole Abrams
2 22 Tyson Gregory
3 4 Chris Tufford
4 18 Carter Rhodes
5 25 Lawrence Evenden
6 41 Landon Mutch
7 54 Tim Moore
8 27 Nico Hensen
9 95 Chris Lammle
10 72 John South
11 71 Alesha Gerrard
12 17e Evan Minnie
13 43 Jacob McKenzie
14 1 Bre Chambers
15 12 Caleb Severin
16 8 Sebastian Rightmeyer
17 0 William Vidito
Quinte Septic Stinger Division
1 67j Josh Whitney
2 26 Chris Sparks
3 29 Cody Easton
4 99 Alex Woods
5 64 Alex Patrick
6 8 Curtis Sparks
7 51 Matt French
8 14 Kevin Mutch
9 9 Zac MacDonald
10 93 Jorden Pickell
11 30 Ryan Hill
12 47 Josh Sparks
13 95 Nicole Deveau
14 27 Kendal Hase
15 66 Ray Davies
16 44 Rai-Ann Beaudrie
17 6 Tom Cole
18 3 Dillon Barker
