A cool breeze in the air and hot action on the little oval this past Thursday night at the Brighton Speedway Kart Klub.  47 methanol eating machines rolled through the back gate and setup a exciting evening of racing.

 StoryTime – by Zeke McKeown

  Starting the feature racing action off, the Box Stock 1 division charged out of the gate with rookie racers #36 Rowan Rosborough and #23 Austin McBride firing first.  McBride’s start was on point as the MetalCraft Kustoms #23 jumped to the lead in the 8 kart – 10 lap shootout.  McBride running a nice smooth line with Rosborough gaining speed on the cushion as the laps clicked off, the gap between the pair tightened up.  Halfway point and Rosborough high side hustlin’ made the pass out of corner 4 down the front stretch and into the clean air, McBride to 2nd as #17 Keaton Chatten slid into the 3 spot.  Checkers out – Rowan Rosborough with the win, McBride 2nd, Chatten 3rd, Hudson VanDyk 4th, #12 Emmett Ferguson, #8 Luke Beaudrie, #100 Bauer Cochrane and #88 Ryker Ostrom crossed the line 5 – 8th.

 

  Race Turner and Ella Wannamaker on the front row as they squared up the 6 pack of Rookie 1 drivers.  Green flag out and #92 Turner to the top spot as the karts behind shuffled for room.  Last weeks winner #11 Bentley Fulton wasted little time and made his way into 2nd as he set his sights on the #92, and put a little distance on the Wannamaker #37.  A  peek inside and we have a drag race down the backstretch Turner on the top and Fulton down low using all of the horseys in the stable to pull even, Fulton looking like the new leader through 3 but as they picked up the throttle out of corner 4 Fulton spun the tires and ended up bringing out the only caution on the night.  Racing resumed and with only 4 laps to go and Turner knew what he needed to do – locked in and drove the #92 straight to victory lane.  Ella Wannamaker and #05 Liam Baldwin made it on the podium, with #91 Kara Veenstra, #41 Peyton Lambert and Bentley Fulton 3rd to 6th.

 

  Junior Sportsman 1 with 3 karts making the call – #77 Max VanDyk, #29 Lily Walters and #15 Charlotte DeWal ready for action.  VanDyk with a great run off of corner 4 to starter Trevyn McCrillis’ waving green flag as Walters and DeWal filed in line.  Max VanDyk doing his best to keep a hard inside line as a fierce Lily Walters kept the dust off the JMK Homes #77’s back bumper.  A little slip by VanDyk, a little light to the inside and Walters turned up the glitter power to put the #29 atop the scoring tower for the remainder of the 10 lap show.  The Noble Roots Landscaping #29 Lily Walters with the win, Vanderlaan Building Products Charlotte DeWal squeezed through for a 2nd place finish at the line and MVD in theJMK Homes – Max VanDyk in 3rd.

 

  A classroom of 2nd graders lined up for the Box Stock 2 class with 8 karts corralled by track staff out of corner 4.   #7 Reese Kerr, #44n Nora Grant, #39 Lucas Wannamaker and #01 Keely Patterson giving the 4 wide salute to the green flag off of corner 4 – Kerr making it through 1st and put the #7 up front.  An entertaining race saw action all over the track – highlights included Nora Grant pushing the limits of her #44n and runnin’ in the rhubarb, a hard charge from 6th to 2nd for #79 Luke Cuthbertson and the race winning pass for #39 Lucas Wannamaker – threading the needle by Reese Kerr and some lapped traffic.  As the dust settled the scoring sheet looked like the Powerball numbers at the Illinois State Lottery – And your winners are – #39 Lucas Wannamaker, #79 Cuthbertson, #01 Patterson, #7 Kerr, #68 Gunner Ellis, #22 Jackson Gregory, #44 Nora Grant and #9 Paislee Delbianco.

 

  Rookie 2 – Weston Mitts in the #87 David Weir sponsored ride and Knoxin Wells in the APC #48jr hard out of corner 4 – last weeks winner #07 Connor Vancott saw a chance up the inside and made it 3 wide into corner 1….pause…parking lot out of corner 2.  Track officials cleared debris and lined them up again – Take 2.  Wells was ready this time – on the gas out 4 and sailing by the Mitts machine to the top spot, #101 Jase Patterson into 3rd and then made his move for 2nd.  Laps clicked off as the Wells #48jr looked strong, Patterson mounted one charge for the top spot but it was unsuccessful and the Madoc Rocket Knoxin Wells cruised to the big W, Jase Patterson 2nd, #47 Colton White in a solid 3rd, Weston Mitts, #10 Alyssa Nolasco, #86 Sawyer McFadden 4th through 6th.

 

  #18 Sterling Bent and #2 Liam McPeak lined up the Junior Sportsman 2 class with 6 karts making the call to fire.  Bent had the kart to beat early making nice smooth laps as the Farmers Daughter Sub Shoppe #7 of Tate Black worked his way to the back bumper of the #18 ride.  A few yellows slowed the pace as Bent continued to hold off charges from Blacks #7, a slight misstep was all Black was waiting for as finally he had the bite and caught the inside line out of corner 4 – #7 to the lead.  Free and clear from here #7 Tate Black with back2back wins on the season, Sterling Bent settled for 2nd, #08 Lilly Ray coming back for a 3rd place, #01 Blake Gregory 4th, #10 Hanna Merry 5th after a eventful night and #2 Liam McPeak 6th after taking it behind the wall early.

 

  Junior Restricted action up next – #31 Brody Davidson and #19 Bentley Davidson up front and on the GO pedal out of corner 4  – Brody to the lead with 3rd place starter #11 Teegan Grosse locking up the 2nd spot over the #19.  The pair used the fast track to the max as they pulled a half a straightaway on the 3 kart battle for 3rd, Brody’s #31 was fast but the #11 of Grosse was ready to pounce off every corner and finally the chance came – Grosse to the inside and down the front stretch, into the lead with halfway flags in the air as the pair pulled to a 10 kart lead over 3rd place Bentley Davidson.  Double sticks in the air – 2 to go – and heartbreak for the #11 camp – mechanical failure for the leader as he coasted to the pit area.  #31 Brody Davidson moved past the underpowered #11 for one more Round-d-Round and picked up the win, #19 Bentley Davidson held off Reagan Grimmon’s #01 and the #14 of Chase White.

 

  Blue Plate Clone – 6 fast karts ready for battle – Campbellford’s Finley Mahoney and Port Hope’s Rhys Massey firing first.  Mahoney using the fast inside line put the #70 to the lead, as Bryce Massey moved his #99 into the 2 spot over brother Rhys.  A very fast track had all 6 drivers on the edge to keep pace and not lose any ground on the kart ahead of them, and starting position meant alot with only 1 caution over the 20 lap event.  Mahoney was flawless as he put the gas pedal on lock and tossed the key in the creek on the way by – Green to Checkers Finley Mahoney with the win, Bryce held his #99 just out of striking distance of brother Rhys’ #9 for 2nd and 3rd, #89 Kolby Ellis 4th, #88 Jase Fargey 5th and Chris Lough had to retire early with mechanical problems.

 

  Thursday July 10 is the next race night for Thursday Night Thunder at the kart track – come check out the stars of tomorrow mix it up and burn some methanol at Brighton Speedway.