Reigns begin after threat of rain ends season
Track champions declared after Humberstone cancels final points race of 2018
Checkered flags, while by no means pointless, didn’t necessarily guarantee victory when the time came to award the 2018 points championships at New Humberstone Speedway.
Feature wins took a back seat to consistent finishes in two of the five divisions during the 59th season of racing at the dirt track in Port Colborne this season.
Cole Hardy of Welland was crowned Mini Stock champ for the second year in a row despite going winless at Humberstone this season. With 672 driver points, Hardy was leading twotime winners Leroy Buscumb and Evan Curtis by 18 and 23 points, respectively, and was declared track champ Sunday when the final night of racing was cancelled due to threat of rain.
Olivier Larocque, who led the 4-cylinder division with five fea-
ture wins, finished fifth in the points race with 554.
Consistency also powered Hardy to the division championship this season at Merrittville Speedway. He finished 29 points ahead of four-time winner Alex Riley and 136 ahead of rookie Anthony Kelly, the division leader with five wins, despite Hardy having only one win on the year.
Jason Fontaine of Port Colborne also only had one victory at his hometown track this year, but that didn’t stop him from winning his fifth Thunder Stock championship in nine years and his first since 2015. Fontaine was leading Dave Bailey, the two-time defending 8-cylinder champion and a six-time winner in Port Colborne this season, 656-644 when the track pulled the plug on its last Sunday night program of the year. Three-time winner Peter Reid finished third.
Drivers with the most victories this season were atop the point standings when track championships were declared in the Humberstone’s Mod Lite and Pro 4 Truck classes.
Chad Homan of Macedon, N.Y., southwest of Rochester, collected six checkered flags en route to his second Late Model championship in as many years. Welland’s Mitch Dumont won his first Pro 4 Truck title on the strength of a track-high nine appearances in victory lane.
Humbertone’s Sportsman points race wrapped up Sept. 2. Cody McPherson took his second title and first since 2012. The St. Catharines driver led Adam Leslie in points, 728-666, and the speedway’s premier racing class with five wins.
Weather permitting, Humberstone’s 2018 season wraps up next weekend with the annual Eve of Destruction. Billed as “Canada’s wildest motorsports event,” the matinee Sunday features an enduro, demolition derbies as well as ladies and trailer races.
The pit gate opens at 8 a.m. and the grandstand at 10 a.m. for the 1 p.m. show.
Track Talk: Tickets for the Night of Champions awards banquet can be purchased by calling the track office at 905-834-4002. This year’s banquet takes place Saturday, Nov. 10, at Americana Resort in Niagara Falls.