On Thursday, July 13th in week two action of the 2023 Laird Raceway season, 40+ drivers took to the 1/3 mile track in front of a 2,500+ short track racing fans that took in five different divisions of oval racing with rookies and veteran drivers racing door to door for the chance of winning the checkered flag.
Echo Bay driver Mark Laakso brought home is first wins of the season with capturing a week two heat race along with a modified feature as he held off fellow Echo Bay driver Jerry Ross. Laasko’s brother in law in the #01 Thursday in front of a packed house. In the four cylinder division, #05 Tyler Praysner, #12 Fern Mannarino and #16 Dyllen Sherrard battled it out throughout the whole four cylinder feature before Praysner took home the win. #61 Dustin Jackson separated himself from all the other Super Late Models to earn the Sault Ste Marie, Ontario driver first feature win of the season with a half lap finish ahead of all other Super Late Model drivers.
Modified driver Mark Laakso told Saultsports that “it felt great to get my first feature of the season. I knew Jerry had a good car last night and after the oil spill on the track I wasn’t sure I could get to the front. The restart was sketchy, everyone was sliding in turn three and four. After the second red flag I heard the tower say the were gonna shorten the race and we only had eight laps left. I knew I would have to make some quick moves, Randy opened up on the back stretch and I was able to get between him and the 97 after a few bumps. After a few attempts of try to get Jerry on the inside, I knew I would have to go to the outside as he was holding tight to the bottom. I got a good run on top and got beside him I knew we only had a few last left. Would have been awesome to see him take his feature in the mod. But racing’s racing…haha, he’s still got five more races. My car wouldn’t be working the way it was without his help! We had a blast.
Thursday Night Thunder (Week 2 – Unofficial Results)
Four Cylinder
1 #5 Tyler Praysner
2 #12 Fern Mannarino
3 #16 Dyllen Sherrard
4 #21 Daryl Whitmell
5 #42 Jack Lannigan
6 #20 Matt Lewis
7 #8 Gord Badgero
8 #4 KayleighTucker
Enduro
1 #44 Eric Sylvestre
2 #101 Ryan Sharpe
3 #71 Taryn McCoy
4 #21+ Tim Pascall
5 #83 Jon Hill
6 #86 Dylan Connoly
7 #16 Dyllen Sherrard
8 #19 Rob Morrison
Factory Stock
1 #80 Brad Bibeau
2 #8 Dan Bibeau
3 #12Y Owen Brown
4 #12O Anthony Mannarino
5 #88 Rob Wagner
6 #67 Jarrit Varcoe
7 #77X Ed Lapish
8 #57 Rick Ellis
9 #23 Dale Tucker
Modified
1 #84 Mark Laakso
2 #1 Jerry Ross
3 #73 Randy Larrett
4 #7 Terrance Devon
5 #97 Devin Service
6 #28 Mark Porpealia
7 #78 Jason Herrington
Super Late Model
1 #61 Dustin Jackson
2 #46 Dan Byrnes
3 #77 Chase Wilson
4 #5 John Ross
5 #50 Rob Hiemma
6 #95 Daryl Weisflock
7 #21 Jake Irwin
9 #19R Jacob Ritchie
Laird Raceway’s next race will be July 20th for Thursday Night Thunder with the grandstands opening at 5:00 p.m and racing starting at 7:00 p.m with a full show that includes Enduro, Four Cylinder, Factory Stock, Modified, Super Late Model, lawnmower and bus racing all in one evening of short track racing.
