Mini Stocks racer in the driver’s seat
Moulton leads flag-to-flag in Merrittville’s first race of 2020
Jay Moulton, Jacob Dykstra and Brad Rouse didn’t cool off any after winning their qualifying heats when Merrittville Speedway hosted a race program for the first time this season.
Moulton, in Mini Stocks, Dykstra, in Crate Sprints, and Rouse, in Sportsman, each followed up pacesetting performances in their respective heats by taking the checkered flag in the feature.
Moulton, 38, of Niagara Falls led his race flag-to-flag in an $800-towin main event that also featured 4-cylinder trucks. Defending track champion Tyler Lafantaisie, Dylan Llord and Craig Vlasic, both regulars in the Pro 4 Truck class at New Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne, and Wade Thorne rounded out the top five.
Moulton started his sixth season racing in Victory Lane despite losing leads of several car lengths to three yellow flags in a caution-filled feature.
His margin of victory over Lafantaisie was 2.1 seconds and he clocked the fastest time in the field of 27 with 20.322 seconds.
Moulton, who also closed out the 2019 season at Merrittville with a win, attributed the lack of flow in the feature to racers coming off a long off-season rather than track conditions.
“I think it was first-race jitters.
Other than a few bumps in Turn 1, the track was phenomenal,” said the employee at the Toyota manufacturing plant in Cambridge.
“I could just put the car wherever I wanted it.”
Despite losing sizeable leads to yellow flags, not all of the cautions hurt Moulton.
“It took my lead away, but there was one of them where I thought I was going to get passed on the bottom. It was a good race,” he said.
He doesn’t have a preference on following a particular line on the track.
“I will go wherever I need to,” Moulton said. “Depending on who is starting beside me, that will determine where I go.”
He missed seeing spectators in the grandstands, though not throughout the race.
“It’s not the same,” Moulton said. “Before we got the green flag to start the race, I noticed.
“After that, I was focused and I really didn’t notice.”
Llord, from St. Catharines, and Rob Goulding, from Port Colborne, each won a heat. The minimum payout for racers who started the feature was $100.
Dykstra, 16, of Port Colborne led a top five of Allan Downey, Mike Bowman, Darren Dryden and Liam Martin across the finish line with 0.488 seconds to spare.
In all, 28 Sprint Cars started the 20-lap feature, with Dykstra’s 15.289 seconds the fastest time around the 3/8-mile clay track.
“I’ve felt like I’ve had millions of laps here at Merrittville. It’s always cool to win here,” Dykstra, a Lakeshore Catholic High School student, said in Victory Lane.
Dereck Lemyre of Hamilton won a heat as did two graduates of the Mod Lite program at Merrittville, Steven Beckett of Fonthill and Paul Klager of Beamsville.
Bowman normally races in the speedway’s premier division, 358 Modified.
“I had a lot of fun. Can’t thank Terry Baker and his crew enough for letting me have fun tonight,” Bowman said.
Like his fellow feature winners, Rouse, 46, of St. Catharines also clocked the fastest time in his pacesetting turn behind the wheel. Rouse, the defending points champion at both Merrittville and Humberstone,
needed only 17.006 seconds to complete one circuit of the D-shaped track and his margin of victory over Chad Chevalier was 8.437 seconds.
Rounding out the top five in the field of 25 were Jay Mallory, Brent Begolo and Cody Mcpherson.
Rouse won $1,000 and each driver who started the feature went home with at least $150.
Saturday night’s Operation Green Flag at the Thorold track was held without fans in the grandstands. In the pit area, physical distancing was observed with race crews limited to five people, including the driver.
Saturday night’s program was livestreamed free of charge on Gforcetv.net and will be re-aired on REV TV Canada, formerly MAV TV Canada. Sponsors included Bicknell Racing Products, Bobcat of Hamilton, Pinty’s Delicious Foods and Rick’s Delivery.
A second livestream featuring racing in the 358 Modified, 360 Sprint and Hoosier Stock divisions is scheduled for Saturday, July 11.
COVID-19 has delayed the track’s 69th season by at least two months. Its annual Spring Sizzler had been set to take place April18, followed by the season opener.
“I will go wherever I need to. Depending on who is starting beside me, that will determine where I go.”
JAY MOULTON
MINI STOCK RACER