Photo Credit: Dale Calnan (www.imagefactormedia.com)
Article Credit: Brent Otchere
OHSWEKEN, Ont. (September 15, 2023) – Nitro 54 Variety presented the Second Annual Northern Crate Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway on Friday night; Mike Bowman took the $5,000 Action Sprint Tour Pinty’s National Series win, while Sam Hafertepe Jr, Ryan Turner, Dave Bailey, and Kyle Rothwell also went to victory lane.
Action Sprint Tour Pinty’s National Series
The 30 lap A-Main for the Second Annual Northern Crate Nationals featured 2023 Strickland’s Crate Sprint Car division champion Mack DeMan and 2022 Crate Nationals winner Mike Bowman on the front row of the grid. DeMan set the pace and quickly found himself encountering traffic by lap five. Bowman was close to DeMan and putting pressure on the leader, finally making the winning pass in heavy traffic after 18 laps. “The Iceman” Johnny Miller ran a steady pace in the low groove all race, and overtook “The Highlight Man” DeMan for the second position with only six laps remaining.
Bowman held a steady line through the constant traffic, enjoying a six second advantage over Miller in the closing laps. With no one else to contend with Bowman sailed across the finish line in first, picking up the victory and $5,000 grand prize. The win makes Bowman a two-time champion of the Northern Crate Nationals, and the only driver win this prestigious event. Crossing the finish line next were Miller in second, DeMan third, Brett Stratford fourth, and Matt Billings in fifth.
DeMan set a new Crate Sprint Car qualification record earlier in the night and earned the $300 Dip-A-Chip Fastest Qualifier Award. The $350 Bill Peer Memorial Best Appearing Car Award from Corr/Pak Merchandising went to Kiana Teal, and the Slack Lumber Longest Tow Award went to Jeff Weare from Richmond, Quebec.
360 Sprint Car NSCN Twin 15’s
A pair of guaranteed starting spots in Saturday night’s Northern Sprint Car Nationals were available to the winners of Friday night’s NSCN Twin 15’s. Sam Hafertepe Jr started on pole with Glenn Styres next to him for the first of the two 360 Sprint Car A-Mains. Hafertepe rocketed out in front of the field. Styres found himself in a furious battle for second with Darren Dryden, eventually losing the position while Hafertepe drove away. Mitch Brown, Matt Farnham, and Jordan Thomas also got around Styres. It was the Hafertepe show the rest of the way as he drove a flawless race through traffic. Hafertepe crossed the finish line with a 4.4 second advantage over second place finisher Dryden. Rounding out the top five were Brown, Farnham, and Thomas.
Ryan Turner and Nick Sheridan brought the field to the green flag for the second of the Twin 15’s. Turner set a blisteringly fast pace during the opening laps of the race, quickly asserting himself as the driver to beat. A battle was raging deeper in the field as Cory Turner and Lucas Smith were contending for fifth. Sheridan smelled a chance at the lead as Ryan Turner picked his way through traffic. Sheridan began to close the gap, but time ran out as Ryan Turner crossed the finish line in first. Sheridan settled for second, while Jeff Cook finished in third, Dylan Westbrook was fourth, and Cory Turner took fifth.
Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks
Ryan Beagle and Dave Bailey brought the field to the starting line to begin the 20 lap Thunder Stock A-Main. Bailey quickly overtook Beagle for the lead on the opening lap, however Beagle stayed close. The first yellow flag of the race flew due to Braeden Burning spinning to a stop in turn two. A second caution came out due to Trevor DeBoer coming to a stop.
Beagle executed the restart perfectly, gaining a comfortable gap over Bailey. It seemed like Beagle had the victory in hand with one lap left to go but a caution flew due to another Burning spin, this time right in front of Beagle. The caution set up a green-white-checkered finish; Bailey got alongside Beagle in turns one and two on the restart and the two made contact trying to get to the same spot exiting turn two. The dramatic finish saw Bailey squeeze ahead and take victory in the final Thunder Stock race for the season, while Beagle salvaged fifth place. The rest of the top five were Kyle Wert in second, Logan Shwedyk third, and Ryan Dinning fourth.
HRW Automotive Mini Stocks
Kyle Rothwell started on pole with Tim DeBoer alongside him to start the 15 lap Mini Stock A-Main. Rothwell led the opening laps until an early caution came out on lap three due to Cyrstal Soules spinning and contacting the inner wall of turn four.
The race restarted with Rothwell still retaining his lead. Fabio Olivieri and Alex Riley battled for position, showing hard racing but also great respect towards each other. Rothwell cruised to victory after leading every lap, as no one was able to contend with his pace. Next to cross the finish line were Olivieri in second, Riley third, Tim DeBoer fourth, and Ken Hair fifth.
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Ohsweken Speedway Statistical Report
Friday, September 15, 2023
Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
Nitro 54 Variety Presents The Northern Crate Nationals
Total Entries: 133
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Action Sprint Tour Pinty’s National Series (50 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 30 laps – 8:25.642 NTR
1. 71-Mike Bowman[2]; 2. 20-Johnny Miller[4]; 3. 4-Mack DeMan[1]; 4. BS39-Brett Stratford[3]; 5. 52RHR-Matt Billings[9]; 6. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[5]; 7. 2M-Steve Murdock[10]; 8. 3S-Austin Roes[6]; 9. 51L-Lee Ladouceur[17]; 10. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[25]; 11. 52-Jesse Costa[22]; 12. 71C-John Cadman[15]; 13. 72-Tanner Podwinski[13]; 14. 2S-Al Sleight[21]; 15. 9-Adam Turner[14]; 16. 87-Andrew Hennessy[27]; 17. 74-Rob Neely[23]; 18. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[19]; 19. 88-Lance Erskine[18]; 20. 97-Sheldon Bender[12]; 21. 45-Curtis Gartly[26]; 22. 24A-AJ Lewis[11]; 23. 29W-Tyler Ward[28]; 24. 14-Larry Gledhill[20]; 25. 28T-Cameron Thomson[30]; 26. 19-Mathieu Bardier[16]; 27. 20L-Treyten Lapcevich[7]; 28. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[29]; 29. MK8-Matt Hill[24]; 30. (DNF) 4B-Darrell Pelletier[8]
Awards:
-A-Main Winner Bonus: Mike Bowman (Free Fire Suit – EPIC Racewear)
-Bill Peer Memorial Best Appearing Car: Kiana Teal ($350 – Corr/Pak Merchandising)
-Travis Rutz Long Tow: Jeffrey Weare ($250 – Slack Lumber)
-Fastest Qualifier: Mack DeMan 14.616 seconds NTR ($300 – Dip-A-Chip)
-Hard Charger: Ashton VanEvery +15 ($300 – Nitro 54 Variety)
Heat Race 1 [Started] 10 laps – 2:29.150 NTR
1. 52RHR-Matt Billings[1]; 2. 24A-AJ Lewis[2]; 3. 9-Adam Turner[4]; 4. 2S-Al Sleight[3]; 5. 45-Curtis Gartly[5]; 6. 87-Andrew Hennessy[7]; 7. 2-Travis Hofstetter[6]; 8. 55-Jeffrey Weare[8]; 9. (DNS) 28T-Cameron Thomson
Heat Race 2 [Started] 10 laps – NT
1. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[3]; 2. 20L-Treyten Lapcevich[4]; 3. 19-Mathieu Bardier[2]; 4. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[5]; 5. 5-Tom Pellezari[7]; 6. 99-Joshua Hill[8]; 7. 7A-Al Blanchard[9]; 8. 11W-Jeremy Hughes[6]; 9. (DNF) 14B-Broden Weiler[1]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 10 laps – 2:33.070
1. 71-Mike Bowman[4]; 2. 72-Tanner Podwinski[1]; 3. 51L-Lee Ladouceur[2]; 4. 52-Jesse Costa[3]; 5. 51-Trevor Young[5]; 6. 94-Ryan Fraser[7]; 7. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[6]; 8. 52M-Marc Surprenant[8]
Heat Race 4 [Started] 10 laps – 2:34.359
1. 3S-Austin Roes[2]; 2. 20-Johnny Miller[4]; 3. 71C-John Cadman[3]; 4. 14-Larry Gledhill[5]; 5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[7]; 6. 16X-Keegan Baker[6]; 7. 24K-Kiana Teal[8]; 8. (DNF) 14W-Greg Wilson[1]
Heat Race 5 [Started] 10 laps – 2:33.392
1. 4-Mack DeMan[4]; 2. 97-Sheldon Bender[2]; 3. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[6]; 4. MK8-Matt Hill[1]; 5. 29W-Tyler Ward[5]; 6. 26-John Verney[3]; 7. 38-Derek Miller[7]; 8. 4K-Jamie Kay[8]
Heat Race 6 [Started] 10 laps – NT
1. 2M-Steve Murdock[1]; 2. BS39-Brett Stratford[4]; 3. 88-Lance Erskine[2]; 4. 74-Rob Neely[3]; 5. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[6]; 6. 00-Greg Smulders[5]; 7. 69K-Ken Hamilton[7]; 8. (DNS) 19M-Will Marche
Pole Dash [Started] 5 Laps – NT
1. 4-Mack DeMan[1]; 2. 71-Mike Bowman[2]; 3. BS39-Brett Stratford[5]; 4. 20-Johnny Miller[7]; 5. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[3]; 6. 3S-Austin Roes[4]; 7. 20L-Treyten Lapcevich[6]; 8. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[8]
B-Main [Started] 12 laps – NT
1. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[3]; 2. 45-Curtis Gartly[5]; 3. 87-Andrew Hennessy[8]; 4. 29W-Tyler Ward[7]; 5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[2]; 6. 28T-Cameron Thomson[19]; 7. 51-Trevor Young[6]; 8. 16X-Keegan Baker[11]; 9. 2-Travis Hofstetter[17]; 10. 00-Greg Smulders[12]; 11. 26-John Verney[14]; 12. 52M-Marc Surprenant[20]; 13. 94-Ryan Fraser[9]; 14. 5-Tom Pellezari[1]; 15. 38-Derek Miller[16]; 16. 24K-Kiana Teal[13]; 17. (DNF) 99-Joshua Hill[4]; 18. (DNF) 7A-Al Blanchard[10]; 19. (DNF) 85C-Cam MacKinnon[18]; 20. (DNF) 69K-Ken Hamilton[15]
C-Main [Started] 10 laps – NT
1. 28T-Cameron Thomson[7]; 2. 52M-Marc Surprenant[2]; 3. 11W-Jeremy Hughes[4]; 4. 14B-Broden Weiler[6]; 5. 4K-Jamie Kay[3]; 6. (DNF) 55-Jeffrey Weare[1]; 7. (DNS) 14W-Greg Wilson; 8. (DNS) 19M-Will Marche
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Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars (41 Entries)
A-Main 1 [Started] 15 laps – 3:42.229
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 12DD-Darren Dryden[6]; 3. 10-Mitch Brown[5]; 4. 7NY-Matt Farnham[10]; 5. 79-Jordan Thomas[8]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 7. 28-Jordan Poirier[11]; 8. 45H-Chuck Hebing[7]; 9. 36-Logan Crisafulli[14]; 10. 7-Eric Gledhill[3]; 11. 70-Baily Heard[13]; 12. 94-Todd Hoddick[9]; 13. 87X-Shone Evans[4]; 14. 19D-Allan Downey[12]; 15. 1-Holly Porter[15]
Hard Charger – Matt Farnham +6
A-Main 2 [Started] 15 laps – 3:49.604
1. 15-Ryan Turner[1]; 2. 45-Nick Sheridan[2]; 3. 10C-Jeff Cook[4]; 4. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[9]; 5. 17X-Cory Turner[3]; 6. 49L-Lucas Smith[8]; 7. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey[11]; 8. 87-Jason Barney[10]; 9. 77T-Tyeller Powless[5]; 10. 5-DJ Christie[13]; 11. 52-Scott Kreutter[6]; 12. 21K-Kyle Phillips[7]; 13. 46C-Ryan Coniam[12]; 14. 21J-John Burbridge Jr[15]; 15. 84-Tyler Rand[14]
Hard Charger – Dylan Westbrook +5
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – 1:56.118
1. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 2. 52-Scott Kreutter[1]; 3. 45H-Chuck Hebing[4]; 4. 94-Todd Hoddick[3]; 5. 28-Jordan Poirier[5]; 6. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[8]; 7. 87-Jason Barney[10]; 8. 98-Joe Trenca[7]; 9. 88H-Josh Hansen[9]; 10. 15GG-Garrett Green[6]; 11. 14H-Jim Huppunen[11]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 15-Ryan Turner[3]; 2. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]; 3. 49L-Lucas Smith[1]; 4. 21K-Kyle Phillips[6]; 5. 17X-Cory Turner[10]; 6. 5-DJ Christie[4]; 7. 21J-John Burbridge Jr[5]; 8. 84-Tyler Rand[9]; 9. (DNF) 68-Aaron Turkey[7]; 10. (DNF) 9-Liam Martin[8]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 1:53.874
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 12DD-Darren Dryden[2]; 3. 87X-Shone Evans[5]; 4. 10C-Jeff Cook[7]; 5. 0J-Lynton Jeffrey[3]; 6. 7NY-Matt Farnham[8]; 7. 36-Logan Crisafulli[6]; 8. 1-Holly Porter[9]; 9. 11-Jamie Turner[10]; 10. (DNF) 70MM-Dale Curran[1]
Heat Race 4 [Started] 8 laps – 1:57.055
1. 7-Eric Gledhill[1]; 2. 45-Nick Sheridan[4]; 3. 79-Jordan Thomas[3]; 4. 10-Mitch Brown[7]; 5. 46C-Ryan Coniam[2]; 6. 70-Baily Heard[8]; 7. 19D-Allan Downey[9]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[6]; 9. 21-Alex Therrien[10]; 10. 46-Kevin Pauls[5]
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Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stocks (19 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 20 laps – NT
1. 49-Dave Bailey[2]; 2. 19-Kyle Wert[5]; 3. 53-Logan Shwedyk[4]; 4. 8-Ryan Dinning[7]; 5. 84RK-Ryan Beagle[1]; 6. 28-Donny Lampman[6]; 7. 55-Mike Thorne[8]; 8. 28D-Robbie General[9]; 9. 13-Kacey Huffman[13]; 10. 427-Tim Phalen[12]; 11. 41-Adam Plazek[10]; 12. 23-Trevor DeBoer[3]; 13. 43-Kyle Andress[16]; 14. 11-Gofast Teeple[14]; 15. 26-Keith Haine[18]; 16. 21Z-Braedan Burning[15]; 17. 96O-John Overholt[17]; 18. 76-Jamie Goudge[19]; 19. 03-George Grosul[11]
Hard Charger – Kacey Huffman +4
Heat Race 1 [Started] 10 laps – NT
1. 84RK-Ryan Beagle[6]; 2. 23-Trevor DeBoer[1]; 3. 19-Kyle Wert[5]; 4. 8-Ryan Dinning[2]; 5. 28D-Robbie General[9]; 6. 03-George Grosul[8]; 7. 13-Kacey Huffman[3]; 8. 21Z-Braedan Burning[4]; 9. 96O-John Overholt[7]; 10. 76-Jamie Goudge[10]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 10 laps – NT
1. 49-Dave Bailey[1]; 2. 53-Logan Shwedyk[9]; 3. 28-Donny Lampman[7]; 4. 55-Mike Thorne[4]; 5. 41-Adam Plazek[5]; 6. 427-Tim Phalen[8]; 7. 11-Gofast Teeple[2]; 8. 43-Kyle Andress[6]; 9. 26-Keith Haine[3]
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HRW Automotive Mini Stocks (23 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 15 laps – NT
1. 114-Kyle Rothwell[1]; 2. 16-Fabio Olivieri[12]; 3. 17-Alex Riley[6]; 4. 9-Tim DeBoer[2]; 5. 5K-Ken Hair[5]; 6. 01-Tristan DaSilva[8]; 7. 64-Doug Erskine[10]; 8. 71-Rob Goulding[7]; 9. 4-Tyler Lafantaisie[14]; 10. 22-Tyson Gregory[4]; 11. 21H-Ryan Hillar[11]; 12. 27-Niko Hansen[13]; 13. 17R-Blair Rousselle[18]; 14. 54-Christopher French[15]; 15. 34D-Dave Wininger[16]; 16. 14-John Cote[19]; 17. 11-Mike Giberson[17]; 18. 0-James Marshall[20]; 19. 32L-Grayden Lyons[22]; 20. 1-Jason Tolton[9]; 21. 81D-Crystal Soules[23]; 22. 88-Steve Conway[3]; 23. (DNF) 555-Tylan Hill[21]
Hard Charger – Fabio Olivieri +10
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – 2:54.073
1. 114-Kyle Rothwell[9]; 2. 88-Steve Conway[4]; 3. 5K-Ken Hair[1]; 4. 71-Rob Goulding[5]; 5. 1-Jason Tolton[10]; 6. 21H-Ryan Hillar[12]; 7. 27-Niko Hansen[11]; 8. 54-Christopher French[6]; 9. 11-Mike Giberson[7]; 10. 14-John Cote[3]; 11. 555-Tylan Hill[2]; 12. 81D-Crystal Soules[8]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – 2:53.891
1. 9-Tim DeBoer[5]; 2. 22-Tyson Gregory[2]; 3. 17-Alex Riley[6]; 4. 01-Tristan DaSilva[8]; 5. 64-Doug Erskine[11]; 6. 16-Fabio Olivieri[7]; 7. 4-Tyler Lafantaisie[10]; 8. 34D-Dave Wininger[4]; 9. 17R-Blair Rousselle[3]; 10. 0-James Marshall[9]; 11. 32L-Grayden Lyons[1]
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About Ohsweken Speedway: Opened in 1996, Ohsweken Speedway is a motorsports complex and event centre featuring a 3/8 mile clay oval auto racing track and 1/6 mile clay oval Micro Sprint and Karting track. The facility is owned by the Styres family, and located in the village of Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada. Ohsweken’s weekly Friday Night Excitement racing program runs from May to September each year, featuring 360 Sprint Cars, Crate Sprint Cars, Thunder Stocks, and Mini Stocks, while the facility also hosts weekly Micro Sprint and Kart racing on Thursday nights.