By: Tim Baltz
Photo Credit: Don Simpson
Another great night of racing during the Golden Jubilee season at the Can Am Speedway this past Friday night. The Empire Super Sprints were making their first of two stops at the Nasty Track of the North on Sundance Leisure night, which featured a full program of exciting racing.
The night began with the Donath Motorworx Limited Sportsman 12 lap feature and Brady Howard was the driver to beat as he took the lead from Gage Howard on lap 2 and began to drive away while Camdin Cook completed the top three. Brady Howard was setting a fast pace and looked to be well on his way to his 4th win of the year, while Cook did what he could do to run him down. On lap 10 the caution flew setting up a two lap sprit to the finish. On the restart Howard was able to get the lead away and would drive on to his 2nd win in a row and 4th of the year at Can Am. Camdin Cook, Genavieve Bartlett, Gage Howard and Logan Brown completed the top 5.
Next up was the Empire Super Sprint 25 lap A main. Sammy Reakes IV took the lead from the outside pole position and looked to be the driver to beat as he pulled away from the field, while Matt Tanner, Billy VanInwegen, Davie Franek and Jordan Poirier completed the top 5. Reakes looked to be untouchable until lap 9 when the yellow flew for Chris Jones who slowed to a stop in turn 3. When the green flew VanInwegen took control of the race as he led the way over Reakes and Franek. VanInwegen began to author a dominant performance as he built up a straight away lead and it appeared that nobody could catch him. As the laps wound down Davie Franek started to make a charge as he got by Jordan Poirier for third, then got around Sammy Reakes IV for the runner up spot and began his pursuit of the leader. With two laps remaining Billy VanInwegen held a comfortable lead but Franek had narrowed the gap to five car lengths. In the end it was not enough as Billy VanInwegen held off all challenges and scored an emotional first career Empire Super Sprint win. Franek held on for 2nd with Jordan Poirier, Logan Crisafulli and Sammy Reakes IV.
Andy Howard was the driver to beat at the start of the 25 lap Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTCar 358 Modified feature, as he drove out to a commanding lead over Adam Roberts, Lucas Fuller, Brian Hudson and Nick Webb. Howard had a fast car and held a straight away lead over the rest of the field and appeared he had a fast enough car to get back to victory lane for the first time since the 2012. With Howard in command the only thing that stopped his charge was a caution that came out on lap 6 for Nick Webb who slowed with a flat tire. A few laps later after a quick battle with Tim Fuller, the race slowed again for a three-car tangle between Ryan Bartlett, Preston Forbes and Billy Dunn. When the race resumed Howard and Fuller staged a great side by side battle for the lead which lasted nearly 10 laps, before Fuller took command on lap 17. Once in front Fuller pulled away and set a torrid pace in the final laps as Howard, Shaun Shaw, Lance Willix and Derek Webb tried to keep pace. In the end, after a few weeks of struggles, Tim Fuller was back, taking his 5th win of the year over Howard, Shaw, Willix and Derek Webb.
It had been a long time since Justin Gadbaw went to victory lane in any kind of race car and in the 20 lap Bob Johnson Auto Group DIRTCar Sportsman feature, he took the lead early with Jonathan Murphy and Frank Sibley giving chase. Gadbaw had a solid race car and was well in front of the field on this night, as he was in search of victory lane, while many other competitors were just trying to keep up. Jonathan Murphy ran a strong second but had a long way to go to catch the leader, while Frank Sibley battled Tyler Stevenson for the third spot for the majority of the event. Gadbaw ran a masterful race and with the event going caution free, nobody had a chance of catching the Natural Bridge New York native as Justin Gadbaw finally put all the bad luck behind him, scoring his first win of the season after many weeks of struggles. Jonathan Murphy crossed in second over Frank Sibley, Tyler Stevenson and Steve Roberts had his best finish of the year, crossing in the number five position.
The attrition rate was high in the final event of the night which was the 15 lap Sundance Leisure Thundercar division. Defending track champion Francis White led early on over Tony Frezzo and Jared Gilson. White looked to have things going his way after some tough weeks, but after a couple of early race yellows, his night was about to change in a hurry. On a lap 7 restart Francis White did not get going but managed to pick up the pace as the field hit the backstretch. Suddenly his car erupted in flames down the back stretch which forced a red flag. Despite the major fire White was able to climb out uninjured. When the green flew Jared Gilson took the lead over Michael Greenfield and invader Chris Leone. Gilson and Greenfield exchanged the lead several times before Gilson took over on lap 10. From there, even with a late yellow, Jared Gilson finally got the bad luck to go away as he edged out Michael Greenfield for his first ever win. Chris Leone, Timothy Greenfield and Tony Frezzo completed the top five.
Next week it is First Responders night at Can Am with many local police, fire and emergency crews coming out to the speedway to enjoy a night of racing action, with all five divisions on hand. Racing starts at 7pm.
Don’t forget to check out all the latest news on our website at racecanam.com and for instant updates give us a follow on Facebook. Also make us one of your favorites and follow the live timing and scoring at Can Am, on My Race Pass.
Whitesboro Plow Shop DIRTcar 358 Modified
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Feature (25 Laps): 1. 19-Tim Fuller[9]; 2. 21-Andrew Howard[1]; 3. 7S-Shaun Shaw[8]; 4. 31-Lance Willix[12]; 5. 66W-Derek Webb[6]; 6. 21R-RJ Tresidder[11]; 7. 19C-Brandon Carvey[17]; 8. 3M-Franklin Mackin[15]; 9. 18W-Scott Webb[18]; 10. 49-Billy Dunn[13]; 11. 36B-Dan Beachard[14]; 12. 39-Ryan Bartlett[7]; 13. 27W-Nick Webb[5]; 14. 63-Adam Roberts[2]; 15. (DNF) 74-Lucas Fuller[3]; 16. (DNF) 9-Tyler Meeks[19]; 17. (DNF) 45R-Preston Forbes[10]; 18. (DNF) 6-Brian Hudson[4]; 19. (DNS) 57H-Remington Hamm; 20. (DNS) 23J-Jeff Sykes
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Andrew Howard[1]; 2. 27W-Nick Webb[3]; 3. 39-Ryan Bartlett[5]; 4. 74-Lucas Fuller[2]; 5. 45R-Preston Forbes[8]; 6. 21R-RJ Tresidder[6]; 7. 49-Billy Dunn[9]; 8. 3M-Franklin Mackin[4]; 9. 19C-Brandon Carvey[10]; 10. 9-Tyler Meeks[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Brian Hudson[2]; 2. 66W-Derek Webb[3]; 3. 7S-Shaun Shaw[6]; 4. 19-Tim Fuller[7]; 5. 63-Adam Roberts[1]; 6. 31-Lance Willix[8]; 7. 36B-Dan Beachard[5]; 8. (DNF) 57H-Remington Hamm[9]; 9. (DNS) 18W-Scott Webb; 10. (DNS) 23J-Jeff Sykes
Hot Laps (3 Laps): 1. 7S-Shaun Shaw, 00:18.911[13]; 2. 21R-RJ Tresidder, 00:18.924[14]; 3. 45R-Preston Forbes, 00:18.930[5]; 4. 36B-Dan Beachard, 00:18.967[2]; 5. 66W-Derek Webb, 00:19.034[15]; 6. 49-Billy Dunn, 00:19.091[4]; 7. 6-Brian Hudson, 00:19.183[9]; 8. 21-Andrew Howard, 00:19.200[8]; 9. 39-Ryan Bartlett, 00:19.207[1]; 10. 9-Tyler Meeks, 00:19.299[11]; 11. 63-Adam Roberts, 00:19.330[12]; 12. 3M-Franklin Mackin, 00:19.401[10]; 13. 74-Lucas Fuller, 00:19.564[6]; 14. 19C-Brandon Carvey, 00:19.625[3]; 15. (DNS) 57H-Remington Hamm; 16. (DNS) 27W-Nick Webb; 17. (DNS) 31-Lance Willix; 18. (DNS) 19-Tim Fuller; 19. (DNS) 23J-Jeff Sykes; 20. (DNS) 18W-Scott Webb
25 entries
Bob Johnson DIRTcar Sportsman
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Feature (20 Laps): 1. 18G-Justin Gadbaw[2]; 2. 62-Jonathan Murphy[1]; 3. 92-Frank Sibley[4]; 4. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[5]; 5. 5R-Steve Roberts[3]; 6. ZERO-Xavier Andrews[8]; 7. 410-Mike Fowler[12]; 8. 64-Tyler Corcoran[11]; 9. 35B-Brennan Moore[6]; 10. 34-Eric Nier[10]; 11. 52-Jessica Power[9]; 12. 7D-Dustin Hutton[7]; 13. 18-Gavin Eisele[16]; 14. 33M-Richard Murtaugh[18]; 15. 34K-Keegan Nier[14]; 16. 91-Josh Reome[13]; 17. 35D-Dylan Moore[24]; 18. 17-Owen Nier[25]; 19. 621G-Trevor Gibbons[20]; 20. 1D-Paul DeRuyter[21]; 21. 2-Taylor Doxtater[15]; 22. 33-Alan McDonald[23]; 23. (DNF) 557-Patrick Nolan[22]; 24. (DNF) 7O7-Greg Brinklow[19]; 25. (DNS) 32RS-Ryan Shanahan
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 62-Jonathan Murphy[1]; 2. 5R-Steve Roberts[2]; 3. 64-Tyler Corcoran[8]; 4. 35B-Brennan Moore[6]; 5. 91-Josh Reome[5]; 6. 18-Gavin Eisele[7]; 7. 7O7-Greg Brinklow[4]; 8. 557-Patrick Nolan[9]; 9. (DNF) 17-Owen Nier[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Jessica Power[7]; 2. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[4]; 3. 410-Mike Fowler[8]; 4. 7D-Dustin Hutton[6]; 5. 34K-Keegan Nier[5]; 6. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[3]; 7. 621G-Trevor Gibbons[2]; 8. (DNF) 33-Alan McDonald[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. ZERO-Xavier Andrews[6]; 2. 34-Eric Nier[7]; 3. 92-Frank Sibley[2]; 4. 18G-Justin Gadbaw[1]; 5. 2-Taylor Doxtater[5]; 6. 33M-Richard Murtaugh[8]; 7. 1D-Paul DeRuyter[3]; 8. 35D-Dylan Moore[4]
Hot Laps (3 Laps): 1. ZERO-Xavier Andrews, 00:19.720[1]; 2. 410-Mike Fowler, 00:19.763[7]; 3. 18-Gavin Eisele, 00:19.816[6]; 4. 64-Tyler Corcoran, 00:19.843[3]; 5. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson, 00:20.006[25]; 6. 34-Eric Nier, 00:20.068[16]; 7. 17-Owen Nier, 00:20.117[18]; 8. 7D-Dustin Hutton, 00:20.132[10]; 9. 34K-Keegan Nier, 00:20.133[17]; 10. 62-Jonathan Murphy, 00:20.174[14]; 11. 1D-Paul DeRuyter, 00:20.178[4]; 12. 52-Jessica Power, 00:20.190[20]; 13. 33M-Richard Murtaugh, 00:20.266[15]; 14. 91-Josh Reome, 00:20.359[21]; 15. 35B-Brennan Moore, 00:20.361[12]; 16. 2-Taylor Doxtater, 00:20.501[5]; 17. 7O7-Greg Brinklow, 00:20.543[2]; 18. 35D-Dylan Moore, 00:20.589[13]; 19. 33-Alan McDonald, 00:20.610[11]; 20. 557-Patrick Nolan, 00:20.612[19]; 21. 621G-Trevor Gibbons, 00:21.166[9]; 22. (DNS) 18G-Justin Gadbaw; 23. (DNS) 5R-Steve Roberts; 24. (DNS) 32RS-Ryan Shanahan; 25. (DNS) 92-Frank Sibley
16 entries
Sundance Leisure ThunderCar
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Feature (15 Laps): 1. 22J-Jared Gilson[3]; 2. 16-Michael Greenfield[9]; 3. 62-Chris Leone[8]; 4. 17-Timothy Greenfield[13]; 5. 22F-Tony Frezzo[4]; 6. 5M-Damien Bechler[5]; 7. 60-Francis White[1]; 8. 94-OJ White[2]; 9. 21V-Corey Valade[10]; 10. 22-Daniel Valade[12]; 11. 61-Lyle Robinson[7]; 12. 41-Terry Gardner[15]; 13. 93-Ryan Plante[11]; 14. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[6]; 15. 27-Justin Pope[16]; 16. (DNS) 72K-Kayden Paquette
