Hoosier Stock racer goes to first from worst
When Rob Murray failed to complete the qualifying heat and headed back to the pit area on the back of a tow truck, his chances of victory in the feature appeared to be, well, the pits.
But a little time, a lot of elbow grease — and a great pit crew that included a family member — can work wonders.
Just ask Dave Bailey. The twotime track champion led Saturday night’s Hoosier Stock feature at Merrittville Speedway for the first 15 laps.
However, the best the hotshoe from Hagersville could do for the five laps after that was stay close to Murray for a second-place finish.
Conditions were less than ideal for the hard-charging St. Catharines driver.
“It was a little more tacky than I would like,” Murray said of the clay racing surface, “and the car really got wrecked up in the heat.
“It’s not totally perfect, but it ran really strong. I’d like to thank my crew for putting the car back together.”
Murray singled out son Brad for praise — “He really helped out a lot” — as he celebrated his eighth victory of the season at the Thorold track.
Murray’s margin of victory over Bailey was 0.127 seconds.
Brad Sheehan, Kyle Pelrine and Zach Bleich rounded out the top five.
Adam Plazek of Caistor Centre also ended the night in victory lane celebrating win No. 8.
He edged three-time winner John Couture by 0.664 seconds to set the pace in the main event in the speedway’s newest racing class, Pure Stock V6.
Couture, Plazek said, made things interesting toward the end of the 12-lapper.
“He was definitely coming,”
Plazek said. “He was coming around the high side, his car has lots of power.
“I thought I had him, and all of a sudden he shows his nose on the inside.”
Plazek said Couture’s strategy of picking his spots “made for a really good race.”
“He was coming on either side of me, so I was trying to use as much race track as possible and not give him any spots to get by.”
Thorold’s Alex Riley raced to his fourth win of the season in the Mini Stock class. He said the win was just what his team needed.
“That was awesome after the last couple of weeks we had,” Riley said in victory lane. “Between troubles with the car and just coming so close, this is what we really needed to get us back on track.”
Vincent Pagnotta, Cole Hardy, Dan McKay and Tony Kelly rounded out the top five in the 15-lap feature.
Josh Sliter of Ridgeway led a top five of Brent Begolo, Tyler Winger, Chris Watson and Chris Perry across the finish line in the Mod Lite main event, which also took 15 circuits to complete.
Sliter, who won for the third time at Merrittville this year, said his car has become a “rocketship” ever since changing the tire setup after racing in the U.S.
Mat Williamson of St. Catharines took his seventh checkered of the season at Merrittville, and his 13th overall, with a 0.581second victory over Gary Lindberg in the 358 Modified feature.
Chad Brachmann, the reigning track champion; Ryan Susice and Pete Bicknell, a multiple points champion, also finished in the top five in the 35-lapper in Merrittville’s premier racing division.
St. Catharines’ Brad Rouse set the pace in the 25-lap Sportsman feature for his first win of the year at his hometown track.
Rounding out the top five were Dave DiPietro, Rob Knapp, Paul Gaboury and Ryan Ferri.
Track Talk: Children’s box car races were featured on the straightway in front of the grandstand during intermission …
Two drivers did double duty behind the wheel racing in two divisions: Begolo, second Mod Lites; seventh, Sportsman; Adam Leslie, eighth, Sportsman; 12th, 358 Modified.
“He was coming on either side of me, so I was trying to use as much race track as possible and not give him
any spots to get by.”
ADAM PLAZEK
Pure Stock V6 racer