It’ll be fast and loud at Cayuga
This weekend the Cayuga Dragway of Toronto Motorsports Park will host the biggest show of its kind in Canada.
The eighth annual Canadian Nitro Nationals will be held on the Kohler Road strip outside of Cayuga, promising more quarter-mile action than in previous years.
For local racing fans, this is a rare opportunity to witness some of the quickest-accelerating (and loudest) race cars in the world.
Five jet-powered and 10 nitroburning vehicles are on tap, highlighted by Shockwave, a semi-truck with three jet engines and a total of 36,000 horsepower. Other jets include a pair of pickup trucks and the dragsters of Canadians Neale Armstrong and Lou Pereira.
Canadians will also be well represented with the nitro-burning Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars, with Todd Paton, Ike Maier and Smax Smith piloting dragsters which can make up to 10,000 horsepower and cover the quarter-mile in under four seconds at speeds well over 300 m.p.h.
The USDS (Ultimate Showdown Drag Series) will be at Cayuga, with competition in its Pro Modified, Funny Car, Top Sportsman, and Outlaw 10.5 classes. The regular Bracket racers will also compete.
Admission ranges from $20 for Friday night to $100 for a three-day weekend pass. Children 15 and under are free, and there is camping available. *** Weekend winners: Adam Racine won his fourth Can-Am Midget feature of 2017 at Peterboro Speedway Saturday. The Elmira driver also leads in points to date ... Rounds three and four of the Race Cayuga Sportsman Series were held at Toronto Motorsports Park recently. Quick Sportsman winners were K.C. Kovacs of Waterford and Mike Newman of Oakville, and winning top eliminator in Super Pro were Robert Bauer of Elma, N.Y., and Tim Knight of Orovio. Mark Menicanin of York and Dustin Taylor of Welland each took a Mod victory, Hamilton’s Dan Earl won both rounds in Pro Bike/Sled, Heidelberg brothers Brad and Jeff Talbot shared the Street honours, and in Junior Dragster, Wyatt Henderson of Washington and Taitlyn Summerfield of Dorchester each scored victories ... Lynden’s Jordan Szoke got back to his winning ways, taking round three of the 2017 Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship. The win at Autodrome St-Eustache was the 61st at this level for Szoke, who started on the pole for the 22-lap race and led from flag to flag ... Dylan Westbook of Scotland won the Crate Sprint car feature at Humberstone Speedway Sunday night and the 25-lap Empire Super Sprint A Main at Merrittville Saturday night, while Dave Bailey of Hagersville won his sixth Stock feature at the Niagara track ... During the Stock/ Super Stock Shootout held on Cayuga Dragway recently, Pete D’Angolo of Rochester, N.Y., won both ends of the $25,000 US two-day drag meet in his 1967 SS/CM Camaro, but John Armstrong of Kingston, N.S., was runner-up in the first round of racing with his SS/AA 1968 Corvette, and Stoney Creek’s Venice Perno drove to second place in the second round in teammate Dan Velenosi’s I/SA 1968 Chevelle ... Flamboro Speedway had a large contingent of race cars last Saturday with visits from the Canadian Vintage Modifieds and several OSCAAR divisions. Regular Flamboro action included two features in the track’s Pure Stock division, won by Eric Crow of Brantford and Rodney Rutherford of Dundas, while Mark Lucas of Brantford and Ohsweken’s Dan Nanticoke won the Pro Four Mod mains. John Karley and Steve Trendell won the CVM features. Winning the OSCAAR Midget feature was Ryan Brown, Adam Misener won in Hot Rod, Jordan Hanna took the Pro Midget feature, Luke Gignac won the Modified feature, and the two Super Late Model features were won by Shane Maginnis and Glenn Watson.