Backwards thinking
Rear-wheel drive setup pushes front-running VW first across finish line at Merrittville
If you want to beat ’em, you first have to join ’em.
Tony Kelly used that strategy to checkered flag perfection Saturday night picking up his third win of the season in the Mini Stocks racing class at Merrittville Speedway.
After discovering in hot laps and again in a qualifying heat that the rain-soaked clay track would favour cars with rear-wheel drive, the Niagara Falls driver made a point of forgetting his Volkswagen was frontwheel drive.
Instead of business as usual, Kelly set up his car as if it were a rearwheel-drive Mustang.
“I’ve raced Mustangs before, so I know what kind of setup I needed it to have tonight,” he said after pointing out VWs like to racing on drier tracks.
“The racing surface tonight was super tacky. It was an absolutely perfect track.”
The hard-charging Kelly took the first checkered flag in a special Canada Day program that was delayed by more than an hour despite starting the 15-lap feature 10th in the 17car field.
He held on for a win by 1.175 seconds in a three-lap shootout with Tom Neale, a Mustang racer from St. Catharines, after losing a lead of more than a straightaway on a caution flag with five circuits remaining in the feature.
Kelly also lost a big lead late in last week’s feature, eventually finishing second of Cole Hardy of Welland, but he would not be denied a trip to victory lane this time out.
The veteran racer didn’t feel a sense of “here we go again” following the last restart in Saturday night’s race.
“I wasn’t worried, I knew I had a fast car tonight,” a smiling Kelly said, shaking his head.
“The only thing that concerned me was I had a Mustang starting right on my tail.”
Kyle Rothwell, Welland; Hardy and Chris Laskey, Welland; rounded out the top five in the main event.
Laskey, Leroy Buscomb, Port Colborne; and Trevor Want, Niagara Falls; set the pace in the qualifying heat.
In his victory lane comments, Kelly made a point of thanking Rothwell.
“Kyle helped me build this car over the winter. I can’t thank him enough.”
Kelly wasn’t the only front runner who lost a huge lead on a night when caution flags nearly outnumbered Canada Day flags in the stands and those mounted on the backs of race cars.
The 15-lap Mod Lite feature came down to a final-lap shootout between Brent Begolo of Thorold, the current points leader and the eventual winner; and Chris Watson of Niagara Falls.
Begolo, who took over first place after Rob Misener of Welland lost a big lead on a Lap 10 caution, won his third of his rookie season racing Mod Lites at his hometown track.
On restarts Begolo began taking advantage of mistakes he noticed Misener making in Turn 2 of the D shaped track.
“I got under him and I got out all right,” Begolo said.
Rounding out the top five were R.J. Pietz, Port Colborne; Steven Beckett, Fonthill; and Tyler Winger, Fort Erie.
Begolo, a third-generation driver whose father and grandfather are both on the Merrittville Speedway Wall of Fame, also competed in Saturday night’s 40-lap Sportsman feature.
He placed fifth behind Chad Chevalier of Port Colborne, Brad Rouse of St. Catharines, Adam Leslie, also of Port Colborne; and Brent Senek of Ransomville, N.Y.
The victory in the $1,000-to-win BEI Lightning Series was Chevalier’s second in the series this season.
Chevalier said the track was “wide open.”
“I knew I had to run on the top because I lost some ground on the bottom.”
Tom Richau of Cambria, N.Y., won the Sportsman consi and Jay Mallory of St. Catharines the $100 Low Cash Dash for non-qualifiers.
Two racers from western New York — Erick Rudolph, Ransomville; Chad Brachmann, Sanborn — nearly won Merrittville’s premier race on Canada Day, but neither was able to overtake Mat Williamson of St. Catharines in the late going of the caution-filled, 35-lap feature.
Williamson called fine-tuning the setup to track conditions a key factor in his fourth win of the season.
“We tightened up the car a lot,” he said. “The track was a lot more slippery than I thought it would be.”
Reigning track champion Pete Bicknell of St. Catharines and Gary Lindberg of Ridgeway rounded out the top five, while Todd Gordon, Ridgeville; Rudolph and Bicknell were heat winners.
Williamson started five in the 17car starting field, with Rudolph earning high charger honours for moving up to second from 12th.
Greg Rauscher of Thorold outraced Scott Sonnenberg of Bethel and Brandon Gruhl of St. Catharines in the eight-lap Novice Sportsman feature.
Saturday night’s only first-time winner came in Hoosier Stocks, with James Thompson of St. Catharines moving up from sixth in the starting field to Billy Bleich Jr. of Port Robinson by 0.533 seconds.
Vince Fargnoli, Niagara Falls; Dave Bailey, Hagersville; and Brad Sheehan, St. Catharines; also finished in the top five in the top five.
Notes: The first feature didn’t get underway until 9:40 a.m. and final checkered flag flew two hours later … Shoot From the Hip, a Tragically Hip cover band, provided entertainment on a program that also featured $1 hotdogs and a fireworks display in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Confederation.