Winners circle welcomes newcomers
First-time winners outnumbered victory lane regulars when New Humberstone Speedway wrapped up July with Clare’s Cycle Night.
Greg Panunte of Port Colborne, in Sportsman; Jeff Dayman of Welland, Late Models; and Evan Curtis of St. Catharines, Mini Stocks; each took their first checkered flags of the stock car racing season.
Welland’s Mitch Dumont and Hagersville’s Dave Bailey rounded out Sunday night’s winners circle with their fifth and third victories of 2018 in the Pro 4
Truck and Thunder Stocks divisions, respectively. Alex Morris of Niagara Falls, N.Y., set the pace in a Vintage Car feature and John McWhirter won an enduro qualifier.
Tyler Puchalski and Justin Sharp took the field to the green flag in the Sportsman feature, but it didn’t take Panunte long to overtake the front-runners. He overtook Sharp for the lead three laps into the 25-lapper and held off challenges from Brad Brouse and James Michael Friesen the rest of the way for what was almost a wire-to-wire win.
Dayman was just as dominant with his pace-setting performance in the 20-lap main event in Humberstone’s Late Model racing class. After sharing the front row with Stan Zanchin, Dayman jumped into the lead as Sam Pennacchio took over second place. Dayman remained the frontrunner despite losing his lead following a restart with nine laps remaining in the feature.
For a change of pace, Rob Murray and Bailey, among the hardest chargers in the 8-cylinder divisions at Humberstone and Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, started the 20-lap Thunder Stocks feature in the front row.
Bailey, the two-time defending champion at Humberstone as well as at Merrittville and Ohsweken speedways, and Murray, the winner the night before at Merrittville, left Barry Beck Jr. and Jason Fontaine to battle it out for third place after pulling away from the rest of the field.
Sharing the pole for the 20-lap Mini Stocks feature were Curtis and Jay Moulton, also from St. Catharines.
Moulton was seeking his second win in as many nights after placing first at Merrittville in a photo finish — by four one-thousandths of a second — but there would be last-lap heroics this time. Curtis went wire-to-wire for the win, while Moulton placed fourth in the 20-lapper.
Dumont only needed two laps to overtake co-pole sitter Dylan Llord for the lead on his way to a convincing win in the 15-lap truck feature.
Following are the top five finishers and heat winners from Sunday night’s program:
Sportsman, 25 laps: 1. Greg Panunte, 2. Brad Rouse, 3. James Michael Friesen, 4. Cody McPherson, 5. Jordan Cosco. Heat winners: Justin Sharp, McPherson.
Late Models, 20 laps: 1. Jeff Dayman, 2. Sam Pennacchio, 3. David Pangrazio, 4. Chad Homan, 5. Adam Ferri. Heat winners: Rob Pietz, Dayman.
Thunder Stocks, 20 laps: 1. Dave Bailey, 2. Rob Murray, 3. Jason Fontaine, 4. Barry Beck Jr., 5. Jim Lampman. Heat winners: Fontaine, Murray.
Mini Stocks, 20 laps: 1. Evan Curtis, 2. Leroy Buscumb, 3. Cole
Hardy, 4. Jay Moulton, 5. Olivier Larocque. Heat winners: Curtis, Sam Iftody.
Pro 4 Trucks, 15 laps: 1.
Mitch Dumont, 2. Dylan Llord, 3. Danny Wurster, 4. Doug Crawford, 5. Terry Ronning. Heat winner: Dumont.
Next weekend at Humberstone are the All-Canadian Championships presented by Performance ATV and Leisure. A full card and another visit by Vintage highlight a Sunday program that gets under way with the first race at 6:30 p.m. Gates open two hours later.