Story By: AIRBORNE PARK SPEEDWAY – PLATTSBURGH, NY – Joey Scarborough won Saturday’s 30-lap J&S Steel Sportsman Feature over Nick Heywood and Travis Bruno. The first busy Saturday night of the 2024 schedule produced 11 winners on the night, with Pro Stocks, Mod Lites, and Vintage cars all being added to the card.
The Sportsman drew for their heat race starting positions and lined up the feature via random invert. Bucko Branham and Evan Roberts led the field to green, and Branham took the early lead. Roberts ran the top and built up enough momentum to pass Branham for the top spot on lap five. Nick Heywood was moving forward early, getting to 3rd position while Travis Bruno, Jamy Begor, Fire Swamp, Dave Camara and more all battled for spots behind them.
Heywood got by Roberts on lap eight and led convincingly, until around the halfway point when lapped traffic began to factor in and Scarborough reeled him in.
A lap 19 caution bunched up the field and Scarborough went around Heywood’s outside, taking the lead. He survived one more restart and went on to win by just under one second.
Heywood was 2nd with Bruno 3rd. Swamp was 4th, Roberts held on for 5th. Dave Camara was 6th, followed by Begor, Vince Quenneville, Jr., Donovan Lussier and Tanner Forbes.
Travis Stokes and Mark Caron led the 9th State Cannabis Renegades to green for their 20-lap Feature with Caron taking the early lead. Josh Terry made his way forward from his 7th starting position, taking the lead from Caron on lap six.
Meanwhile, at the back, heavy hitters Tylor Terry, Nate Guay and Shawn Duquette were trying to make their way to the front, as well as a handful of drivers from the Canadian Semi Pro Street Stock series, who were racing with the Renegades.
Tylor Terry found his way to 3rd spot around lap 16, and then the caution flag flew, bunching the field back up. They completed one lap before another yellow flag period, followed by another restart, where Josh Terry held off Zack Daniels, Tylor Terry and Shawn Duquette to win his 2nd Feature of 2024. Martin Thiebert came up through the pack, crossing the line 3rd, finishing as the highest semi pro street stock, earning top honors there.
Burton Ward won a wild Pro Stock Feature, besting Marc Lolonde and Bastien Caron. Zack Daniels led much of the event’s second half after passing Caron, but a lap 24 caution led to a pair of green-white-checkered restarts, and on the second go, Ward passed Daniels on the bottom, and held off a fray of drivers on the final circuit to win. Lalonde was 2nd with Caron 3rd. Daniels ended up 4th and Kyle Hoard finished 5th.
Justin Williams won the ModLite feature over Pierre Olivier-Trudel and Alex Forcier. Williams came from the back of his heat race to win convincingly, and had the field covered for the feature, navigating lapped traffic and a late restart to secure the win.
Brett Manor won the Moore Recycling Mini Stock A Main. The race began in chaos as front-running drivers Tyler Bell and Cale Manor made contact, immediately bringing out a caution. Neither driver returned. That gave Brett Manor and JP Corrow the front row with Manor scooting away from the field. Caleb and Kenny Tourville found their way to the front by the end, but Brett Manor bested the younger Tourville off turn four’s outside for the last three laps to secure the win. Kenny Tourville was 3rd with Nate Smart in 4th and Speedy Bresette coming on at the ed to finish 5th.
The B-feature was won by Steven Bresette who did not finish his heat race as a result of a tumble off turn two. Jon Brown was 2nd. Nick Harnden was 3rd. Kyle Botala debuted a new Mazda with a 4th place run.
The Mohawk Valley Vintage Dirt Modifieds were in town, bringing with them 12 cars for Heats and a Feature. Jack Miller won the Modified class over Dan Karl. Merv Blackwell triumphed in the Sportsman vintage ranks, with Joe Rando and Don Birggs (Mystique and Antique) also visiting victory lane.
Airborne Park Speedway returns to racing Thursday, June 20 at 7PM with all regular divisions, including the Be Cool Heating and Air Conditioning 350 Modifieds. There will be kids’ racecar rides at intermission. General admission tickets are $15. Pit entry is $28 for members and $38 for non-members.