Photo Credit: Captivate Images
Questionable weather in the Sault Ste. Marie area wasn’t enough to stop Laird Raceway for Thursday Night on August 8th – and the determination of track officials and racers to get a race program in was well worth it.
A season-high 73 cars were on property as a round of heat races and feature events was ran in the four weekly divisions before the spotlight was on the 100-lap Enduro.
And if you remember back to when Laird Raceway first opened back in 1999, you would remember the names Allan Gold and Brent Palumbo.
Gold toured the 1/3 mile asphalt oval in the Super Late Model Division while Palumbo was running among a pack of 30+ Factory Stocks on a weekly basis.
Remember those last names – as they’d hold significance on the Night 6 results.
Fourteen (14) Lakeway Automotive Factory Stocks started off the feature events for their 30-lap A-Main paying $1,000 to the winner.
Andrew Givens (15, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Ed Lapish (77X, Echo Bay ON) brought the solid field to the green flag.
Moving from the 7th starting position – 2nd-generation competitor Jay Palumbo took the lead before the midway point of the feature and paced the field while Dale Tucker (4, Sault Ste. Marie ON) was in-tow to challenge the leader.
A late race caution tightened up the field and provided and opportunity for Tyler Praysner (05, Sault Ste. Marie ON) to get into the runner-up position passing Tucker – whom had a season best run – but that’s as close as either of those two drivers could get.
Jay Palumbo picked up the win with Praysner, Tucker, Jordan Sims (80, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Owen Brown (12, Sault Ste. Marie ON) capping off the top 5.
LAKEWAY AUTOMOTIVE FACTORY STOCK DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS (14 cars)
Feature Results
1. 91 Jay Palumbo 2. 05 Tyler Praysner 3. 4 Dale Tucker 4. 80 Jordan Sims. 5. 12 Owen Brown. 6. 77X Ed Lapish 7. 15 Andrew Givens 8. 44 Christian Medaglia 9. 08 Daniel Bibeau 10. 26 Buddy Palahnuk 11. 29 Xavier Carter. 12. 57 Rick Ellis 13. 33 Cody Champagne. 14. 51 Jamie Fox
Fast Qualifier – 05 Tyler Praysner 15.884
Heat Race Winner – 08 Daniel Bibeau
Matt Lewis (20, Sault Ste. Marie ON) took his P1 starting spot and made the best of it in the NAPA/Reyco Automotive Modified feature.
The division rookie was a stout competitor and led the first 15 laps of the event before Michael Gold (97, Sault Ste. Marie ON) got underneath him entering Turn 3 to take over the top spot in the late stages.
Gold, whom just returned to racing after a significance absence from the sport one week earlier, would capture his 1st win of of the season followed by Lewis and Mark Laakso (84, Echo Bay ON) as the top 3.
Roddy Bolduc (7, Sault Ste. Marie ON) made his 1st start of the season and finished 4th running the car typically driven by Terrance Devon.
NAPA REYCO AUTOMOTIVE MODIFIED DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS (8 cars)
Feature Results
1. 97 Michael Gold 2. 20 Matt Lewis. 3. 84 Mark Laakso. 4. 7 Roddy Bolduc. 5. 78 Jason Herrington. 6. 28 Mark Porpealia. 7. 36 Jesse Bailey. Did not start – 21 Jake Irwin
Fast Qualifier – 97 Michael Gold – 15.159
Heat Race Winner – 7 Roddy Bolduc
The streak continued in the Service Rental and Sales Super Late Model Division.
Defending track champion, and current point leader Chase Wilson (77, Sault Ste. Marie ON) kept his unblemished feature record intact when the checkered flag flew after twenty-five laps.
Wilson went 6-for-6 on the season and was followed by Jeremy Van Hoek (51, Sault Ste. Marie ON), Cody MacLean (21M, Sault Ste. Marie ON), Dustin Jackson (61, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Mike Hearty (20, Sault Ste. Marie ON) in the top 5.
SERVICE RENTAL AND SALES SUPER LATE MODEL DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS (9 cars)
Feature Results
1. 77 Chase Wilson 2. 51 Jeremy Van Hoek 3. 21M Cody MacLean. 4. 61 Dustin Jackson. 5. 20 Mike Hearty. 6. 33 Jordan Rocchetta. 7. 826 Jordan Parniak. 8. 46 Dan Byrnes. 9. 21K Kevin Errington
Fast Qualifier – 77 Chase Wilson – 14.076
Heat Race Winner – 21K Kevin Errington
Three weeks in a row the Northland Auto Body Four Cylinder division would see a 1st-time feature winner find their way to victory lane.
With fourteen cars taking to the track, Kenn Schwarz (51, Sault Ste. Marie ON) made his way to the front in fairly quick order.
Despite having Giannia Viotto (7, Sault Ste. Marie ON) stuck to his back bumper, an error-free run through lapped traffic yielded a memorable result for Schwarz.
Schwarz, in his rookie season, would capture the checker flag followed nose-to-tail by Viotto, Shanna Harten (22, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Dyllen Sherrard (16, Sault Ste. Marie ON) across the line.
NORTHLAND AUTO BODY FOUR CYLINDER DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS (14 cars)
Feature Results
1. 51 Kenn Schwarz. 2. 7 Gianni Viotto. 3. 22 Shanna Harten. 4. 16 Dyllen Sherrard. 5. 24 Christopher Viotto. 6. 38F Dylan Couturier. 7. 17 Shaun Desjardins 8. 94 Seth Ralph. 9. 6 Wayne Devon. 10. 22X Alex Lapensee 11. 86 Tyler Mortimore 12. 13 Logan LaVoy 13. 4 Kayleigh Tucker 14. 8 Alex Lapensee
Fast Qualifier – 16 Dyllen Sherrard – 17.131
Heat Race 1 Winner – 51 Kenn Schwarz
Heat Race 2 Winner – 94 Seth Ralph
Through the first five weeks of the season Dylan Connolly (86, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Eric Sylvestre (44, Sault Ste. Marie ON) had accounted for all of the checker flags in the AIM Recycling Enduro features.
This time around a field of 28-cars was scheduled to take to the track for their premiere event of the season – 100 lap, $3000 to win enduro presented by AIM Recycling and Possamai Construction.
A wild and crazy start to the event saw the field dwindled to about half of the cars operational by the midway point where a mandatory fuel stop / driver change happened at Lap 50.
When the race resumed the previously mentioned duo was leading the pack before track officials halted the event at Lap 75 due to weather conditions and dropped the checker flag.
Sylvestre picked up the win, Connolly was 2nd while Jake Ritchie (11, Sault Ste. Marie) rounded out the top 3.
AIM RECYLING ENDURO DIVISION (23 of 28 cars started)
1. 44 Eric Sylvestre. 2. 86 Dylan Connolly. 3. 11 Jake Ritchie. 4. 8 Alex Lapensee. 5. 83 Jon Hill. 6. 21+ Drew Dowding. 7. 07 Tannis Wirth. 8. 22 Jay Morrin. 9. 68 Nathan Reid. 10. K27 Kohle Kennedy. 11. 17 Chris Pinder. 12. 16 Dyllen Sherrard. 13. 94 Bob Ralph. 14. 68T Trevor Reid. 15. 69 Gavin Maitland. 16. 05 Tyler Praysner 17. 721 Tehden McBride 18. 12 Grady Boston. 19. 71 Taryn McCoy. 20. 79 Cody Harrington. 21. 4 Madison Tucker 22. 54 John Morrin 23. 415 Brian Berg
Darcy Reid picked up the Algoma Lawn Mower Racing Association main event on the dirt oval at Intermission.
Next action at Laird Raceway is set for this coming Thursday, August 15th.
The night will feature a full 5-in-1 show highlighted by a 35-lap Modified Feature
Joining the card will be intermission Lawn Mower Race, Bus Race and Spectator Drags.
Time trials are set for 6:00 p.m with racing action at 7:00 p.m.
Visit Captivate Images photo gallery of Thursday Night Thunder from Laird Raceway on August 8th.
For more information go to www.lairdraceway.com or follow us on Facebook.
Source: Gerry Liscumb Jr
