Hard charger firing on all 8 cylinders
Chad Brachmann is driving like it’s 2015, and Rob Murray is hardly getting “lost” in traffic.
Their success of late at Merrittville Speedway headlined the storylines Saturday in the opener of a what had been scheduled to be a two-night-in-three-days civic holiday program.
Brachmann, seeking his second 358 Modified points champion at the Thorold track and his first since 2015, won his second in a row, and third in four starts, in the premier racing division at the D -shaped dirt track.
His victory over Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Fred Carleton by 1.344 seconds in Saturday night’s 35-lap feature was the fourth of the season for the corn farmer from Sanborn, N.Y.
“I’m a little overwhelmed,” he said in victory lane. “I’m really fortunate to have (car owner) Chris Bellamy and his guys behind me.”
Unlike last week when Brachmann took the lead the final time out of Turn 4, he took control of top spot with three laps remaining and cruised to take the checkered flag.
The 60 points for the win increased Brachmann’s lead in the race for the track championship to 838-786 over Mat Williamson of St. Catharines.
Mike Bowman, St. Catharines; Gary Lindberg, Ridgeway; and Scott Wood, Thorold; rounded out the top five. Bowman and Brachmann were the heat winners.
Murray’s 1.650 victory over defending champion and current points leader Dave Bailey of Hagersville in Hoosier Stocks was also the St. Catharines driver’s third in four starts.
As was the case with his two other wins at Merrittville this season, Murray had to be a hard charger in order to win the 20-lap feature due his starting position.
On Saturday, Murray started 11th in the 17-car field, right beside Bailey, on the way to his second win in a row. He started 12th in a field of 16 the week before.
On July 8 Murray took his first checkered flag of the season at his hometown track despite starting at the tail of a 19-car field.
Murray, 50, a lead hand of the cleaning staff at Brock University, won track championships at Merrittville three years in a row: 2007, 2008, 2009.
“I love working on the cars and figuring out the suspensions, stuff like that,” he said. “I just love the adrenalin rush I get when I drive.”
Murray can’t explain his success when he starts deep into the field.
“It’s really weird, the farther back I start, the quicker I get,” Murray said. “I like hunting cars down more than I like being hunted.”
There is a different “sense of urgency” depending on where the No. 1M Camaro starts in the field. While it kicks in right away when Murray goes to the green in the middle of the pack or the tail end, that’s not the case when he starts closer to the front.
“No, it’s not the same,” Murray said. “When you’re at the back, you can’t wait at all. You gotta go.
“You only have so many laps to pass so many cars, and I know that.”
Rounding out the top five Saturday night were Brad Sheehan and James Thompson, both of St. Catharines, and Jim Lampman, Caistor Centre.
Bailey, Bill Podwinski of Caistor Centre and Trevor DeBoer set the pace in the qualifiers.
Bailey, with 742 points, remains in the driver’s seat in the points race. Lampman, 606, is second, one point ahead of Murray.
James Michael Friesen won his second of season in Sportsman by crossing the finish line 2.931 seconds ahead of fellow St. Catharines in the 25-lap feature.
Rob Knapp, Niagara Falls; Jay Mallory, St. Catharines; and current points leader Brad Rouse, also St. Catharines; completed the top five.
Heat wins went to Dave DiPietro, Ransomville, N.Y.; Luke Carleton, Port Colborne; and Joey Herremans, Alisa Craig, Ont.
Gord McIntosh, Smithville; Gregg Rauscher,Thorold;PaulCunnigham, Niagara Falls; Scott Sonnenberg, Bethel, Ont.; and Dave Mamo, Ridgeway; were the top five in the 10-lap Novice Sportsman feature.
Unlike past weeks when Sportsman veteran Brent Begolo also won a feature on the same night in his first season competing in Mod Lites, or when there were double features making up for rainouts, there wasn’t a double winner among the drivers on Saturday’s program.
A two-race winner among the cars was something else entirely. McIntosh’s Novice Sportsman-winning No. 72 returned to victory lane after the main event in the Sportsman class, only this time with Friesen behind the wheel.
“I’m so glad to have this opportunity,” Friesen said. “Gord and his guys work so hard on this thing … it’s cool for both of us to win!”
Merrittville public relations director Jim Irvine, whose family used to own the 66-year-old track, can’t remember a car winning two races in the same night with different drivers.
“I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, so it might have been a first.”
St. Catharines’ Dylan Llord outraced Thorold’s Terry Ronning by 1.368 seconds for bragging rights in Round 2 of a three-race Pro 4 Trucks series.
Steven Vanderzanden, Fenwick; Danny Wurster, Niagara Falls; and Nathan Monahan, Jordan Station; also finished in the top five.
Moid Lites and Mini Stocks had the night off.
Monday night’s program, which featured the eighth annual Bob St. Amand Sr. Memorial, a 100-lapper for 358 Modified, was postponed until Wednesday night due to inclement weather.
Drivers in the Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks and Mini Stocks division were also expected to see action on a program that had been scheduled to begin with a pre-race pasta dinner from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. with racing getting underway at 7 p.m.
The same hours will apply to tomorrow night’s makeup date, Irvine said.
All-Canadian Championships
A total of 157 cars and trucks were pitside for the All-Canadian Championships at New Humberstone Speedway, and no driver went faster over a longer distance than Chad Chevalier.
The current Sportsman points leader at his hometown track in Port Colborne overtook Matt Farnham for the lead following a restart on Lap 17. Chevalier remained the front-runner the rest of the way to take the checkered flag in the 50-lap feature.
It was Chevalier’s third win of the season at Humberstone. He also has one victory at Merrittville Speedway.
A special civic holiday weekend show highlighted by a Salute to the Troops, complete with paratroopers dropping from a DC 3 war plane with the Canadian flag, also featured a 50-lapper in Street Stocks.
Hagersville’s Dave Bailey, the defending track champion and current points leader, regained the lead from Jason Fontaine with 17 laps to go and held on for his second All-Canadian Championship in a row and his third win of the year at Humberstone.
Chad Homan of Macedon, N.Y., raced to his fifth win of the season in Late Models, Craig Vlasic of Welland his second of the year in Pro 4 Trucks, and Mark Bazuin of St. Catharines visited victory lane for the first time competing in Mini Stocks.
Winners for the three main events in Vintage Cars were Nathan Berry, Athens, N.Y.; Rick St. Pierre, Welland; and Jeff Larment, Welland. Thirtynine race cars from as far as Ottawa and Pennsylvania took part in the full-throttle blast from the past.
Following are the top five and heat winners from Sunday night’s All-Canadian Championships at Humberstone: PC Works DIRTcar Sportsman: Chad Chevalier, Matt Farnham, Cody McPherson, Justin
Sharp, Darrell Farraway. Heat winners: Jay Mallory, Brad Rouse, Luke Carleton. JC Auto Street Stocks Duel on
the Dirt: Dave Bailey, Jason Fontaine, Ryan Beagle, Doug Anderson, Rob Murray. Heat winners: Jim Lampman, Bailey, Fontaine, Justin Ramsay. Consolation winner: Rob Knapp. Maple Leaf Foods RUSH Late
Models: Chad Homan, Sam Pennacchio, Dennis Lunger Jr, Stan Zanchin, Mike Greene. Heat winners: Homan, Rob Pietz,
Cosco Haulage Mini Stocks:
Mark Bazuin, Evan Curtis, Jonathan Ayrton, Cole Hardy, Brandon Janssens. Heat winners: Kyle Haynes, Olivier Larocque, Curtis, Ayrton. Consolation winners: Clinton Nicholls, Kyle Rothwell. Mike Knapp Ford Pro 4 Trucks: Craig Vlasic, Kyle Tomaski, Dylan Llord, Taylor Vanderzanden, Jamie Ayers. Heat winners: Tomaski, Vlasic.