START YOUR ENGINES
Racing action returns to New Humberstone Speedway Saturday in Port Colborne
Racing returned to New Humberstone Speedway on Saturday night with Mat Williamson and Justin Ramsay picking up where they left off when they competed at the Port Colborne track last year.
Williamson of St. Catharines and Ramsay of Rossmore, Ont., southwest of Belleville, took the checkered flag in 358 Modified and Thunder Stock features, respectively, in Lockdown Showdown, a two-division program that was held without fans and with race teams limited to five people, including the driver.
It was Williamson’s second win in as many starts at the 3/8-mile clay track, which doesn’t have a 358 Modified racing class. Williamson, whose home track is Merrittville Speedway in Thorold but who has competed at tracks across the northeastern United States, led the field across the finish line Aug. 25 when Modifieds last raced at Humberstone.
Ramsay, a regular at Brighton Speedway, west of Belleville, likewise made a return visit to Victory Lane at the Port Colborne track. He won the 8-cylinder feature at Humberstone on Aug. 4.
Williamson, Mike Bowman of St. Catharines and Austin Wood of Thorold won qualifying heats in 358 Modifieds, with Ramsay, Logan Schwedyk of Jerseyville, Ont., a suburb of Ancaster, Dave Bailey of Hagersville and Mike Thorne of Caledonia the heat winners in Thunder Stock.
The Modified feature was run in two 25-lap segments. Drivers who “locked down” after the first leg and didn’t go to the pits kept their starting positions for the final 25 laps.
Williamson was among the frontrunners who opted to do directly to the staging area rather than to the pit area for in-race adjustments.
While entries in the Thunder Stock feature were limited to 8-cylinders, which race under the Hoosier Stock banner at Merrittville and as Street Stock at Ransomville Speedway in western New York, drivers in the Sportsman class were permitted to compete in the Modified class Saturday night. Brad Rouse of St. Catharines, reigning points champion at both Humberstone and Merrittville, Adam Leslie of Port Colborne and James Michael Friesen of Niagara Falls were among the Sportsman notables from the region who raced up a class.
Thanks to sponsorships, which supplemented the $250 driver registration fees for the 53 race teams, the wins were worth $2,300 for Williamson and $1,300 for Ramsey.
Only drivers who failed to qualify for the feature went home emptyhanded. The minimum payout in Modified was $200 and $150 in Thunder Stock.
TRACK TALK: 34 Thunder Stocks and 19 Modifieds were pitside. … Drivers came from as far as Quebec. … Physical distancing was enforced in the pit area and race teams had to stay in designated areas during breaks in the action. … Marketing partners included Bicknell Racing Products, Maxima Racing Oils and ShadowAuto.com, with Beck/ Winger Racing also presenting additional payout money.
TORONTO — The Canadian Elite Basketball League says it will look to play a single-site tournament in Ontario this summer and will no longer consider other plans to return to action after the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the start of its second season.
The tourney would see all seven of the league’s teams play a round-robin slate of games culminating in a single-elimination playoff that will determine the 2020 league champion.
The league said it is in discussions with Niagara area officials about the availability of the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines for the second half of July and August.
The CEBL said all of the plans must conform to Ontario’s phased-in reopening measures throughout the coming weeks.
Four of the CEBL’s seven teams — Guelph, Hamilton, Niagara (St. Catharines) and Ottawa — are in Ontario. The others are based in Saskatoon, Edmonton and Abbotsford, B.C.