Track crowns first points king
Cody McPherson wins second career Sportsman title at Humberstone
One down, four to go.
Despite placing fifth in Sunday night’s feature, Cody McPherson of St. Catharines earned more than enough points to finish the 2018 racing season as the Sportsman track champion at New Humberstone Speedway.
It was McPherson’s second career title at the Port Colborne track and his first since 2012.
Champions in Humberstone’s four other racing classes will be crowned this weekend in a fivedivision Sunday night show being presented by Mike Knapp Ford.
Also on the program is the final qualifier for the Eve of Destruction enduro that wraps up the season in a Sunday matinee the following week.
Tyler Panunte and fellow Port Colborne driver Tyler Puchalski shared the front row for the Sportsman feature. Panunte jumped out to an early lead and withstood a spirited challenge from Adam Leslie with seven laps remaining for his second victory of the season.
Billy Bleich Jr. and Pete Reid led the Thunder Stock field to the green flag, but it was Dave Bailey who set the pace for the final seven circuits of the 20-lap feature.
The victory over Jason Fontaine was the sixth of the season for the two-time reigning points king from Hagersville.
Welland’s Mitch Dumont, in Pro 4 Trucks; and Port Colborne’s Olivier Larocque, Mini Stocks; won their ninth and fifth features of the year, respectively.
Modified driver Matt Farnham raced to a flag-to-flag victory in his first career start in a sprint car in the ninth race on the 2018 Action Sprint Tour.
“It is totally different driving a sprint car,” Farnham, of Tonawanda, N.Y., said in victory lane. “I’ve had experience at Humberstone in the Sportsman and I cannot thank Trey Hoddick,
Scott Kreutter and my crew enough for this opportunity.”
Following are the top five finishers and heat winners from
Sunday night’s program at New Humberstone Speedway:
Sportsman: 1. Greg Panunte, 2. Adam Leslie, 3. Tyler Puchalski, 4. Cody Rouse, 5. Cody McPherson. Heat winners: Leslie, Emily Puchalski.
Action Sprint Tour: 1. Matt Farnham, 2. Paul Klager, 3. Shone Evans, 4. Aaron Turkey, 5. Josh Hansen. Heat winners: Klager, Brad Herron, Evans.
Thunder Stocks: 1. Dave Bailey, 2. Jason Fontaine, 3. Billy Bleich Jr., 4. Trevor DeBoer, 5. Jim Lampman. Heat winners: Bailey, Fontaine.
Mini Stocks: 1. Olivier Larocque, 2. Cole Hardy, 3. Evan Curtis, 4. Jay Moulton, 5. Leroy Buscumb. Heat winners: Curtis, Larocque.
Track Talk: Action Sprint Tour drivers collected $1,200 passing the helmet to defray medical costs of fellow racer Jesse Costa who was injured in a wreck Aug. 12 at Humberstone … Sunday night’s show was capped off by a Labour Day fireworks show put on by Redboss Pyrotechnics.