Story By: ASHLEY MCCUBBIN / FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY – MILLGROVE, ONT – In the same way that you can say bread and butter go to together, Shae Gemell goes with Flamboro Speedway. He was once again able to repeat his past success, picking up the victory in the Grisdale Race Products Triple Crown.
Shae Gemmell proved he was not going to mess around right from the start of the afternoon, taking the lead in the opening laps of the first feature en route to the checkered flag. He then drove throught he field in the second 50-lap affair for another win, backing it up with third in the final feature. An average of 1.67 would be enough to be crowned the champion.
Billy Schwartzenburg proved his track championship was no fluke with a second-place finish overall in the event. He ran up front in the first two features with a pair of thirds, before pacing 20 of the 50 laps to win the third feature.
Treyten Lapcevich was third overall after starting off the day with a second in the first feature, but contact in an incident during hte second saw him having to claw his way back up through for a sixth-place finish. He then showed the familiar speed in the No. 41 for Holdaway Motorsports with a third.
Blair Wickett was fourth overall, after a pair of fourths and a fifth in the trio of features. Cole Quinton rounded out the top-five overall, despite placing eighth in the first of the three features. Ultimately, a pair of top-five’s volted him back up the final overall standings.
Ty Cavallin led laps en route to placing sith overall in front of Paul Major, Gary Elliott, Roland Goodfellow, and Keith Temple.
Glenn Styres was 11th overall after going for a solo spin, ahead of Kevin Gallant. Cory Luciano made his first Late Model start of the 2024 campaign en route to 13th overall.
Rick Burbridge placed sixth in the first feature, but found himself stuck up on the outside turn one wall in feature two after riding it down the frontstretch following contact off of turn four. He was credited with 14th overall. Lane Zardo was deemed involved by officials, and parked for the remainder of the event en route to 15th.
Chris Howse parked his car early en route to 16th, ahead of J.R. Fitzpatrick who found himself with heavy front end damage after contact battling for the lead with Dale Shaw in the opening feature.
Kevin Albers was 18th in front of Norm Stoddard and Logan White. Dale Shaw completed the field after setting the quickest time in qualifying, due to being disqualified for rough driving after the aforementioned first feature incident.
Chenoweth, Taylor, and Thorne Take Home Igloos
While the late models battled for triple glory, the rest of the divisions were focused on battling for one of the coveted igloo trophies at Flamboro Speedway’s Sunday portion of Frostoberfest, courtesy of Mike Schmidt and London Recreational Racing.
Ultimately, it was Shawn Chenoweth, Shawn Taylor, and Wayde Thorne taking home the hardware.
Shawn Chenoweth made it look easy in the super stocks, dominating en route to the checkered flag and another igloo for the collection. Notably, it marked his second win of the short track post-season after picking up the win at Sunset Speedway’s Fall Velocity.
Ray Morneau took advantage of a rare super stock opportunity for second ahead of Carson Nagy, Andy Kamrath, and Brody Rickwood. Dennis Cybalski proved he still knows his way around with a sixth in front of Roy Wilkie, Connor Maltese, Justin Collison, and Hudson Nagy.
Sunset Speedway regulars took up positions 11th through 13th, with Matt McGrath leading the way, followed by Johnny Morrison, Cole Burrows, Brendon Edgar, Steve Cashmore, Mike Hyniuyk Jr. And Austin Penney.
Paul Boundy was the last car running on-track in 20th, with Coltin Everingham, and Donovan Price failing to finish. Anthony DiBello and Lane Zardo were battling for fourth on the last lap, when Zardo would send DiBello for a spin in turns one and two. Zardo was the quick qualifier, and had taken the “Back to the Front Challenge” in search of the bonus money.
The mini stock 50-lap feature was a battle of the heavyweights, with a trio of division standouts within inches of each other from the drop of the green flag to the checkered. Shawn Taylor proved to be better than his competition, picking up his third igloo in a row ahead of Sunset Speedway track champion Doug Butler and Karl Sault.
Flamboro Speedway Champion Bobby Mercer and Allan Lankin Cup winner Blaise Shaw completed the top-five. Sunset Speedway regular Chandler Bos was sixth ahead of his teammate Coleridge Phinnemore, in front of Javob Sutcliffe, Mike Thomson, and Brian Wilson Jr.
The good season continued for Mike Gilmour was an 11th, followed by Rory Markle, Mark Grieve, Andrew Smith, Brian Wilson Sr., Wyatt Sutcliffe and Randy Always. There were a couple incidents throughout, resulting in Kaitlyn Wallace, Bob Stewart, Mike Robinson III, and Dave Dippel failing to finish.
Karl Sault laid down the fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 17.487 seconds.
The Pure Stocks put on one of the best battles of the afternoon, with a four-way battle for the victory at the front of the field throughout the 50 lap feature. At anytime, it seemed each of the competitors had an equal shot in taking home the prize.
Ultimately, Wayde Thorne took over the top spot on Lap 37 when his BT Racing teammate Jo Lawrence was forced to make a trip to the pits. Thorne then held off Gary Slama and James Houghton to the checkered flag to take home the igloo.
Jordan Wilms and Phil Givens completed the top-five in front of Chase Mitchell. Jo Lawrence led early but issues mid-race saw him have to make a pit stop, rebounding for seventh ahead of Spencer Riddell, Dylan Sharpe, and Chance Rogers.
Jaden Chapman picked up an 11th-place finish in the 22p normally driven by Sarah Penney, followed by Courtney Scott, Mike Etsell, Mark Thorne, Rick Mitchell, Gillian Hils, Jack Dixon, John Cote, Alex Stewart, and Gary Triska.
Brandon Feeney made his return behind the wheel in 21st, ahead of Cam Thomson and Donavin Clark. The big field saw some drivers not reach the checkered, including Mike Hall, Len Sterritt, Leo Labarbera, Dylan Peckham, Matt Langford, Dan Storey, and Nick Clarke.
Jo Lawrence laid down the fast time in qualifying with a lap of 18.909 seconds.
Trevor Thompson Rebounds with Checkered Flag at Frostoberfest
After finding himself on the sidelines early at Delaware Speedway due to a hard crash, Trevor Thompson put the pieces back together and rebounded in style by winning the JRS Auctions OSCAAR Hot Rod feature at Flamboro Speedway.
Thompson was dominant all night long, showing speed through qualifying to place him inside the top-six invert for the feature. He then made his way forward methodically, taking the lead at the halfway mark. From there on, he drove away from the field en route to visiting McColl Racing Enterprises victory lane.
Tyler Hawn continued his consistency as he searches for another championship with a runner-up finish after a lengthy battle with Kenny McNicol Jr. Cory McAllister and Connor Ellis completed the top-five.
Rob Bromley put together a solid run en route to sixth ahead of Ryan Cowan, Brian Wilson Sr., Steve Book, and Thomas Wunsch.
Matt Spry returned to the series with an 11th, followed by Hailey McNicol, Dave Evison Srr., and Amanda Balson. Mechanical issues saw Jeremy McLean and Dalen Martin fail to finish. Nick Clarke was credited with 17th after blowing his motor in the opening stages of the event.
Bromley Automotive heat wins went to Cory McAllister, Amanda Balson, Connor Ellis, and Trevor Thompson.