Story By: BRENT OTCHERE / ACTION SPRINT TOUR – OHSWEKEN, ONT – Lance Erskine and Larry Gledhill brought the field to the green flag for the 25 lap Crate Sprint Car A-Main which served as the opening round of the Action Sprint Tour’s West series.
Erskine led the first lap, but the pace slowed on lap two when Jeremy Hughes crashed out of the race. Gledhill had a busy race, battling both Mack DeMan and Brett Stratford on different occasions but ultimately conceding positions to both.
Drivers became more antsy as the laps ticked down, leading to Brian Nanticoke and Dale Curran colliding and bringing out the red flag. Both drivers were unharmed in the wreck.
Mack DeMan had a spectacular restart which saw him gain the lead with four laps left to go. DeMan crossed the finish line first with over a two second lead over second place finisher Erskine. Steve Murdock finished in third, Sheldon Bender fourth, and Johnny Miller fifth. Gledhill now leads over Stratford by ten points in the Strickland’s Crate Sprint Car division standings. Stratford set new single lap (14.346) and eight lap track records (1:57.195) earlier in the evening, but did not finish the A-Main.
Oakwood Transport Action Sprint Tour West Series (37 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 4-Mack DeMan[4]; 2. 88-Lance Erskine[1]; 3. 2M-Steve Murdock[8]; 4. 97-Sheldon Bender[3]; 5. 20-Johnny Miller[9]; 6. 14-Larry Gledhill[2]; 7. 52-Jesse Costa[13]; 8. 2S-Al Sleight[6]; 9. 71C-John Cadman[10]; 10. 21K-Aaron Turkey[16]; 11. 72-Tanner Podwinski[11]; 12. 94-Ryan Fraser[19]; 13. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[14]; 14. 45-Curtis Gartly[24]; 15. 00-Greg Smulders[17]; 16. 16X-Keegan Baker[18]; 17. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[20]; 18. 74-Rob Neely[12]; 19. 71-Mike Bowman[15]; 20. (DNF) 9C-Brian Nanticoke[5]; 21. (DNF) 31-Dale Curran[22]; 22. (DNF) 3S-Austin Roes[21]; 23. (DNF) BS39-Brett Stratford[7]; 24. (DNF) 11W-Jeremy Hughes[23]
Hard Charger – Curtis Gartly +10
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – 2:02.227
1. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[2]; 2. 88-Lance Erskine[6]; 3. 14-Larry Gledhill[5]; 4. 00-Greg Smulders[3]; 5. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[8]; 6. M52-Marc Suprenant[9]; 7. (DNF) R52-Matt Billings[1]; 8. (DNF) 99-Joshua Hill[4]; 9. (DNF) 4B-Darrell Pelletier[7]; 10. (DNS) 50LS-Adrian Stahle
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 2S-Al Sleight[1]; 2. 20-Johnny Miller[2]; 3. 74-Rob Neely[4]; 4. 52-Jesse Costa[6]; 5. 71-Mike Bowman[8]; 6. 11W-Jeremy Hughes[7]; 7. 69K-Ken Hamilton[5]; 8. 420-Victor Bomberry[3]; 9. (DNS) 28-Cameron Thomson
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 1:57.195 NTR
1. BS39-Brett Stratford[2]; 2. 72-Tanner Podwinski[1]; 3. 4-Mack DeMan[6]; 4. 21K-Aaron Turkey[5]; 5. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[3]; 6. 3S-Austin Roes[8]; 7. 45-Curtis Gartly[9]; 8. 51-Trevor Young[7]; 9. MK8-Matt Hill[4]
Heat Race 4 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 97-Sheldon Bender[1]; 2. 71C-John Cadman[2]; 3. 2M-Steve Murdock[6]; 4. 16X-Keegan Baker[3]; 5. 94-Ryan Fraser[4]; 6. 31-Dale Curran[7]; 7. 2-Travis Hofstetter[5]; 8. 07-Brandon Mowat[9]; 9. (DNF) 29W-Tyler Ward[8]
B-Main [Started] 12 laps – NT
1. 3S-Austin Roes[3]; 2. 31-Dale Curran[4]; 3. 11W-Jeremy Hughes[2]; 4. 45-Curtis Gartly[7]; 5. 69K-Ken Hamilton[6]; 6. 2-Travis Hofstetter[8]; 7. 51-Trevor Young[11]; 8. 29W-Tyler Ward[16]; 9. MK8-Matt Hill[15]; 10. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[17]; 11. 07-Brandon Mowat[12]; 12. 420-Victor Bomberry[10]; 13. (DNF) M52-Marc Suprenant[1]; 14. (DNF) R52-Matt Billings[5]; 15. (DNS) 99-Joshua Hill; 16. (DNS) 4B-Darrell Pelletier; 17. (DNS) 28-Cameron Thomson
BOWMAN TAKES OAKWOOD TRANSPORT AST WEST WIN AT MERRITTVILLE – By Jonathon Howe
THOROLD, ONT – Canada’s Oldest Dirt Track played host to their first Sprint Car event of the season Saturday as the Oakwood Transport Action Sprint Tour West hit the Merrittville Speedway clay. It was past Modified champion Mike Bowman of St. Catharines winning on Pen Centre night at the races.
The Oakwood Transport Action Sprint Tour West made their first stop of three stops at Merrittville Speedway with a familiar name starting on pole. Mike Bowman led the field to green alongside Lance Erskine and was dominant from the get-go. A caution of lap 5 halted his progress of building a large lead but it was a temporary setback. Meanwhile, Brett Stratford who had to work his way forward from 7th, inched closer lap after lap, picking up positions when he could. He got a shot at Bowman with 10 to go when John Cadman spun in turn four leading to another restart. However, Stratford still had to pass Erskine on the restart and ran out of time to make a challenge on Bowman for the win. Bowman saw the checkers first with Stratford, Erskine, Matt Billings and Al Sleight completing the front five behind him.
RACE RESULTS –- June 10th, 2023
Action Sprint Tour – MIKE BOWMAN, Brett Stratford, Lance Erskine, Matt Billings, Al Sleight, Tanner Podwinski, Ashton VanEvery, Johnny Miller, Brian Nanticoke, Sheldon Bender, Keegan Baker, Cam MacKinnon, Tyler Ward, John Cadman, Will Marche, Cameron Thomson
Qualifying Heats: Brett Stratford, Mike Bowman, Matt Billings