Son’s faster company on Father’s Day
Mini Stock driver outraces dad in feature at Merrittville
“Dad can have the money, I just want the sticker.”
Tony Kelly of Niagara Falls couldn’t help but beam with pride when he heard those words losing to son Anthony in the Mini Stock feature at Merrittville Speedway on the eve of Father’s Day.
Saturday’s win over fellow graduating program graduate Austyn Werstroh was the younger Kelly’s second of his rookie season in the Volkswagen Golf that his father drove to the 4cylinder championship at the Thorold track in 2017.
Kelly overtook Werstroh for the lead following a Lap 6 caution. Kelly opened up a lead of two car lengths at the midway point of the 20-lapper and stretched the margin the rest of the way for the win.
Alex Riley, Cole Hardy and Tony Kelly rounded out the top five.
Closest finish on a night that featured three first-time winners came in the 20-lap main event in the Mod Lite racing class.
Exiting the final turn on the last lap, with the checkered flag in sight, R.J. Pietz of Port Colborne and Josh Sliter Racing teammate Brent Begolo were side-by-side. At one point, they made contact as Pietz outraced the reigning division champion by 14 one-thousands of a second for his first win of the season.
“I can’t believe it, this is crazy,” Pietz said in victory lane. “That was quite a battle, but I finally got one.”
Rounding out the top five in the 15-lap feature were Tyler Winger, Chris Perry and Chris Watson.
In the case of the main event in Merrittville’s 8-cylinder class, it was an early bird who wound up with the checkered flag. St. Catharines’ Brad Sheehan took over the lead from Smithville’s Kyle Pelrine two laps into the 20-lap Hoosier Stock feature and held
off two-time defending points champ Dave Bailey in the late going for his win of the season at his hometown track.
“I got out front early, I got lucky tonight,” Sheehan said. “It couldn’t have worked out any better.”
Rob Murray, who was seeking his fifth win in a row, Pelrine and Dave Small trailed the frontrunning Sheehan and Bailey across the finish line.
Victory in the 35-lap Modified 358 feature came down to a battle over the final six laps between two hotshoes from western New York who were each seeking their first win of the year in the track’s premier racing class.
“It was real ‘racey’ tonight,” Ransomville’s Ryan Susice of Ransomville said after beating Sanborn’s Chad Brachmann.
“We went back to the drawing board again this week, we pretty much changed everything so it’s great for my team to get the win.”
Gary Lindberg, Fred Carleton and Mat Williamson, already a five-time winner at Merrittville this year, also finished in the top five.
Caistor Centre’s Adam Plazek and Niagara Falls’ James Michael Friesen raced to their fifth and second victories in the Pure Stock V6 and Sportsman divisions, respectively.
Friesen held off Rob Knapp in a one-lap, dash-for-cash after losing ground following two restarts in the 25-lap Sportsman feature.
“I didn’t want to leave the top and lose momentum,” Friesen said afterwards, sharing his racing strategy.
Carleton, Jay Mallory and Adam Leslie, the feature winner the week before, rounded out the top five.
Chris Mussat set the pace in the 12-lap V6 feature until he was slowed by a caution four laps in. Plazek became the front-runner and John Couture the top challenger three laps later.
Order of finish at the end was Plazek, Couture, Kevin Conley and Alana MacDonald.
The Southern Ontario Sprints’ Gary Cunningham Memorial, the second enduro qualifier of the season and $1 hotdogs highlight this weekend’s program at Merrittville Speedway. Pits open at 5 p.m., the grandstand at 5:30 with racing getting underway at 7 p.m., weather permitting.
Track Talk: Saturday’s Retro Race T Shirt Night program was sponsored by Gaston Auto Sales.