By gosh, Josh knows his way around the track
Reigning Mod Lites track champion Josh Sliter races to his third victory in six starts
Can’t vouch for the rest of the car, but there was absolutely no rust behind the wheel of the No. 17 car in Josh Sliter Racing’s Mod Lite fleet.
The boss himself, despite making only his sixth start of the year 11 weeks into the season, raced to his third victory at Merrittville Speedway.
Deftly handling a powerful car on a super-slick track, and demonstrating the prowess that can only come from winning six track championships in the past seven years, the Ridgeway racer beat teammate Brent Begolo of Thorold by 0.672 seconds in the 20-lap feature Saturday night to win.
Steven Beckett of Fonthill, Tyler Winger and R.J. Pietz of Port Colborne rounded out the top five.
Ray Sliter, Josh’s father, and Pietz set the pace in the qualifying heats.
The second lap had yet to be completed when a spectacular crash involving three cars on the backstretch brought out the first caution flag. Rob Misener of Welland walked away unhurt after his car rolled and landed on its roof.
Tucker Wood of Stevensville was done for the night after spinning around in the incident, while Jeffrey May of Mount Hope, Ont., near Hamilton, wound up finishing sixth despite starting at the tail end of the field on a complete restart.
Winger’s strong showing in the feature did nothing to bolster the boast that racers always do poorly after they are named driver of the week at the Thorold track.
The 19-year-old from Ridgeway said feeling as if he had a target on the back of his car had more to do with a dominating flag-to-flag victory in last week’s feature.
“I feel winning does more of that than being driver of the week,” he said. “You’re usually the driver of the week after a win or showing a lot of improvement.”
Winger, who in September will begin his third year studying at Niagara College in Welland, was twice hailed the week’s top driver last year in his first season. The graduate of Merrittville’s karting program, currently seventh in points, 126 back of Begolo, attributed his success in Mod Lites this season to “more experience.”
“I was able to start off the year with everything I learned the year before,” the son of Clint and Patti Winger said.
In addition to taking advantage of every opportunity to get “seat time” in Wednesday night practice sessions, Winger learned about setting up a Mod Lite for racing by spending his final season in karts working on Beckett’s pit crew.
“I learned a lot about the car that year.”
When he isn’t alongside his father working on his car throughout the week, Winger returns to his karting roots by helping out on karter Garry Overholt’s pit crew.
Like Clint Winger, Overholt is a member of Winger’s pit crew, as is Patti Winger.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. I just clean the mud off,” the young racer’s mother said with a laugh.
She had an especially busy night performing that task Saturday. Though packers worked overtime to dry out the track following rain in the afternoon, the clay racing surface was still somewhat greasy when action started shortly after 7 p.m.
The slickness was evident in lap times, which for many drivers were well below 17 seconds in 358 Modified and Sportsman, the top two regular divisions at the D-shaped track.
As the threat of more inclement weather loomed, Merrittville postponed victory lane celebrations until the end of the program in hopes of outracing the rain.
The strategy nearly worked as all put the final 23 laps of the 35-lap 358 Modified feature were completed before cars were ordered off the track.
At the end of the night, the winners circle resembled a portrait of familiar faces, with repeat winners setting the pace in all divisions.
Sportsman points leader Brad Rouse of St. Catharines held off Mark Chiddy of Colden, N.Y., in a spirited back-and-forth battle to win Round 2 of the David Chevrolet King of the Crates Series.
Rouse’s win, by 0.651 seconds; was his fourth of the season at his hometown track. He also had three victories heading into the weekend at New Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne.
Luke Carleton, Port Colborne; Rouse, and Rob Goulding, Port Colborne; won the qualifiers, while Leslie, Jay Mallory, St. Catharines; and Rob Knapp, Niagara Falls; rounded out the top five in the feature.
Defending track champion Cody McPherson of St. Catharines, winner of the King of the Crates Series opener in May, placed ninth.
Gregg Rauscher of Thorold led Gord McIntosh of Smithville, Dave Mamo of Ridgeway and Paul Cunningham of Niagara Falls across the finish line to capture his fifth checkered flag of the season in Novice Sportsman.
An 11th starting position in a 17car field didn’t prevent Dave Bailey of Hagersville from winning his seventh Hoosier Stock feature of the year at Merrittsville.
Vince Fargnoli of Niagara Falls and Kyle Pelrine of Smithville were the front-runners until the hardcharging Bailey overtook Fargnoli with eight laps remaining on his way to a victory by nearly half a straightaway.
Fargnoli and Pelrine placed second and third, respectively, in a race that Bailey won by 2.168 seconds.
Billy Bleich Jr. of Port Robinson followed his win at Ransomville Speedway on Friday with a fourthplace finish at Merrittville. Rob Murray of St. Catharines rounded out the top five.
Pelrine, Jim Lampman, Caistor Centre; and Fargnoli were the heat winners.
Tony Kelly of Niagara Falls started the 15-lap main event in the Mini Stocks class near the back of the pack — 10th in a field of 15 — and his Volkswagen was the model of consistency overtaking one car after another.
Kelly beat Alex Riley of Thorold by 0.574 seconds for his fifth win of the season, and his 12th top-10 finish in 12 starts.
Rounding out the top were Vince Pagnotta, St. Catharines; Garnet Wilson, Canfield, Ont., west of Dunnville; and last week’s winner, Jay Moulton, St. Catharines.
Kelly and Sam Iftody of Fenwick each won their qualifying heat.
Tommy Flannigan of St. Catharines was leading Todd Gordon of Ridgeville, Mat Williamson of St. Catharines, Scott Wood of Thorold and Pete Bicknell of St. Catharines when the 358 Modified feature was called on account of rain.
Notes: On Friday night Williamson, a four-time winner at Merrittville this year, raced to his 11th victory of the season at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., northeast of Pittsburgh … Also Friday, Bicknell, the defending 358 Modified points champion at Merrittville, won his second feature of year at Ransomville Speedway. Mr. Small Block is a 13-time division champion at the western New York track.