‘Two-rrific’ night
Two drivers start season 2-0, two drivers do double duty on a night of twos at Thorold track
Good things came in twos when Merrittville Speedway outraced Mother Nature with an entertaining program Saturday night in Thorold.
Fans were treated to two wow did-you-that moves in heavy traffic, two down-to-the-wire battles for second place, two almost identical No. 28 Cutlasses competing in a 20-lap feature, as well as two drivers doing double duty by racing in two divisions.
If that wasn’t enough, there were also two drivers who have started the 2017 points race at Merrittville with — you guessed it — two wins in as many starts.
Mat Williamson, a winner the night before at Lernerville Speedway in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, overtook fellow St. Catharines driver Mike Bowman with 12 laps remaining to win an exciting 358 Modified feature.
Bowman turned heads in the grandstand and in the tower when he slid underneath Phil Vigneri III with a daring move to take the lead 10 circuits into the 35-lapper.
Bowman led a field that included three former track champions by as much as half a straightaway, but three caution flags and a loss of traction along the top of a super-slick clay surface were too much to overcome against the hard-charging Williamson who was hugging the inside of the track.
“Mike did himself a disadvantage by staying at the top,” Williamson said in victory lane. “(Turns) 1 and 2 got worse and worse.
“He stole one from me last year, so I had to get him back tonight.”
The third 358 Modified feature of the young season featured a spirited battle between Bowman and Port Robinson’s Tim Jones, the Week 1 winner, for second place. Bowman edged Jones by 0.586 seconds.
St. Catharines’ Pete Bicknell, the reigning points champion; and Port Colborne’s Larry Lampman Jr. rounded out the top five. Scott Wood of Thorold, Chad Brachmann of Sanborn, N.Y., the 2015 champion; and Bowman were the heat winners.
Unlike Bowman, Brad Rouse of St. Catharines took the lead to stay after making a daring move in the Sportsman feature. He surged from a starting position of 10th to second in no time at all and was leading Adam Leslie of Port Colborne by 10 car lengths when a caution nine laps into the 25-lap race erased that lead.
Rouse would also lose leads after the yellow flag flew on Laps 18 and 21, but he never lost his frontrunning position as he beat Leslie by 0.958 seconds. For fans, this was another race in which second place was in doubt until the final seconds. Try as he might, and he tried mightily many times to no avail, Chad Chavalier, also of Port Colborne, could finish no higher than third, 1.121 seconds behind Rouse.
Cody McPherson, St. Catharines; and Luke Carleton, Port Colborne; also finished in the top five, while Chris Storm, St. Catharines; Leslie; and Jay Mallory, St. Catharines; won their heats.
Sportsman consi winners were Dave Flannigan Jr. of St. Catharines and Chris Bellamy of Hamilton.
Hagersville’s Dave Bailey and Thorold’s Brent Begolo won their second in a row at Merrittville in the Hoosier Stock and Mod Lite divisions, respectively, while Thorold’s Greg Rausher won a battle of attrition in a Novice Sportsman feature that was decided when the only other car damaged its drive train on the second lap.