Tight race in top division
Merrittville’s 358 Modified class has featured eight different winners this season
With eight different winners so far this season, the 358 Modified racing class is by far the most competitive at Merrittville Speedway this year.
Only 30 points separate Chad Brachmann of Sanborn, N.Y., the 2015 champion at the Thorold track, and Matt Williamson of St. Catharines, the 2014 champion, after Gary Lindberg of Ridgeway beat Brachmann by 1.86 seconds Saturday night for his first victory of the season.
Ryan Susice of Ransomsville, N.Y., who finished eighth in the 35lap feature but is the current points leader at Ransomville Speedway, isn’t surprised racing in Merrittville’s premier division has been so competitive this year.
“I enjoy the competition here, and I think it get overlooked a lot,” Susice said. “There are 10 cars here that would win any single night.
“Everyone is pretty much on the same playing field, everyone’s got good motors.”
The 26-year-old mechanic races his own cars at Ransomville on Friday night and this year is Randy Slack’s driver for hire when he competes at Merrittville the following night.
His familiarity with the Dshaped track at the Thorold speed plant dates back before he accepted Slack’s invitation to get behind the wheel of the spec engine-powered No. 3R, however. He raced regularly in 2014 as well as last year and off and on before that.
“We haven’t raced full-time here every year, but we’ve been here a lot,” Susice said.
There was feeling of relief, as well as elation, after Susice won his first-ever race at Merrittville.
“It was the monkey off your back, for sure, but it’s kind of like anything, you do it once, you want it more,” he said. “We’ve been close a couple of times this year to getting back, I think we’re going in the right direction.
“We know the car’s there, we know the crew’s there, and I think the driver’s there, so we can’t to get back to victory lane.”
Being a driver for hire is a “dream come true” for Susice, who last year drove for Rob Clarke.
“Show up with my helmet bag and race one of the best cars there is,” he said with a chuckle.
Susice said there is a difference between racing his own car and driving for someone else.
“Maybe a little more pressure, because I think we all want to win really bad.”
The ride at Merrittville is powered by a spec engine as opposed to an “open motor” in the car that Susice races regularly at Ransomvville.
“The car stuff is pretty much the same,” he said. “Me and Bobby (Stark) talk a lot about the setups, and a lot of stuff he does on this car I do on my own.”
Stark co-owns the car with his father and is the crew chief.
Susice said spec motors are catching on due to the lower cost for the engine package. The difference “new to new” between spec engines and the one that powers his regular ride at Ransomville is $12,000 compared to $30,000.
With three “built motors” for the two race car he owns, the mechanic at Tim Phillips Garage in Grand Island, N.Y., isn’t in the market for another one, but he wouldn’t rule out getting a spec engine.
“If I ever needed a motor in a worry I would not hestitate putting a W16 in.”
This is the third season the spec engine has been competing in Merrittville’s premier racing class. Billy Conn drove for Stark during the first year and Chris Steele was behind the wheel before giving way to Susice.
“It’s taken off slow here at Merrittville, but now there are three cars running them,” Stark said.
Fred Carleton and Scott Wood also have spec engines in the cars they race at Merrittville. Wood won a feature earlier this year running the W16.
Randy Stark was a driver-owner as well as a driver for hire before getting solely into ownership. He isn’t worried about about someone who doesn’t have a financial stake in the car getting behind the wheel.
“There’s no hestitation,” Stark said. “He normally drives a car that he’s got every penny in.
“We’ve had no talks about how hard he should, and shouldn’t, drive, whether you should give it back to a guy who’s just given it to you.
“It is what it is, he’s going to go out there and give it his best.”
Reigning track champion Pete Bicknell, Williamson and Mike Bowman also finished in the top five.
Racer goes 2-for-2
It took some time — 10 weeks into the racing season, to be exact — but Brent Begolo finally was able to satisfy his thirst for firsts.
The 28-year-old from Thorold, the only driver competing regularly in two divisions at Merrittville Speedway this season, made two trips to victory lane Saturday night for the first time this season.
After continuing his remarkable success as a rookie in Mod Lites, picking up his fifth win in 10 starts, the third-generation racer immediately jumped into his Sportsman car and, almost as quickly, returned to victory lane.
Given that Begolo came into Saturday night’s program third in the Sportsman points race, his win drought in that division was almost as surprising as his strong showing in the Mod Lite class.
“This (Sportsman) car has been pretty fast all year, but you can get mired in so much traffic,” he said in his return visit to victory lane. “By the time you crack the top five, the race is over.”
That was hardly in the case in Saturday’s main event. Begolo started eighth in a field of 23 cars, and he was the model of consistency — fast, not flashy — as he picked off one car after another until overtaking St. Ken Flannigan Jr. whom he led across the finish line with 0.722 seconds to spare.
Brad Rouse, Cody McPherson, the reigning Sportsman points champion; and Luke Carleton rounded out the top five in the 25-lapper.
Begolo appeared well on his way to a much easier win in the Mod Lite feature, but a caution with one circuit remaining in the 20lap race erased a lead of several car lengths setting the stage for a shootout with Jeffrey May.
Begolo held on for the win, this time by a 0.098-second margin.
He said the seeds for the victory were sown in the garage earlier in the week by Josh Sliter, the car’s owner, and Josh’s father, Ray Sliter Jr.
“The car was a ‘little off,’” said Begolo, who went to the green flag sixth in the 11-car lineup. “Ray and Josh spent six hours on the car to get it back, and it’s back.”
Steven Beckett led Chris Watson and co-pole sitter Marty DeMoel across the finish line to round out the top five.
Last-to-first victory
Rob Murray of St. Catharines went the farthest and, in the late going, also went the fastest in the 20-lap Hoosier Stock.
Murray outraced points leader and reigning track champion Dave Bailey by 0.770 seconds for his first win of the season despite starting the race at the tail of the 19-car field, a penalty for being blackflagged last week.
“It’s not how many times you get down, it’s how many times you get up that counts,” said Murray, who also has to start last in the field next week.
Rounding out the top five behind Bailey, who lost a big lead on a Lap 13 caution, were James Thompson, Jim Lampman and Ryan Dinning, the Friday night winner at Ohsweken Speedway.
Last-lap pass
The most exciting finish of the night belonged to Tony Kelly of Niagara Falls in the first race on the program, the Mini Stocks feature.
Kelly’s only lead in the race was on the 15th, and final, lap, right under the tower at the start/finish line.
His victory over Jason Coutu, by all of 0.093 seconds, was Kelly’s second in a row and fourth of the season.
“I saw Jason make a couple of mistakes, and I took advantage of them,” he said. “That last lap I knew I had him.”
Kelly, who started seventh in the field of 13, gained ground on Coutu, the co-pole sitter, on a restart following a restart with four laps to go.
Austyn Werstroh, Garnet Wilson and Cole Hardy rounded out the top five.
There were only two entries in the Novice Sportsman feature. Gregg Rauscher of Thorold raced to a convincing victory over Dalton Slack in the eight-lap race for his fifth win in eight starts.
Notes: Mini Stocks racer Tom Neale of St. Catharines was Merrittville’s driver of the week ... The front straightaway doubled as a runway for a beauty pageant as 10 trucks, including two semitrailers, took part in the Thorold speedway’s annual Truck Show & Shine.