Whoever takes the title in 2026 will have to earn it
April 24, 2026, OHSWEKEN, ON – The Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Car championship in 2026 may be the toughest in class history to earn. Last year’s Ohsweken Speedway champion of the class Jacob Dykstra is moving up to the Kool Kidz Ice and Water/Corr Pak Merchandising 360 Sprint Car class.
While that sounds like a recipe for a new dominant force there’s more to the story. Former division standouts Mike Bowman and Liam Martin are returning to the Crate Sprint car class, and so is the winningest driver in the division’s history – the ‘Highlight Man’ Mack DeMan.
“Some of our brightest stars are converging in the Crate Sprint class this year,” said Speedway General Manager Clinton Geoffrey. “There’s a lot of past winners, but they have to contend with the next class of emerging talent. You won’t want to miss these races.”
Former Champion Brett Stratford recently unveiled a brand new home-built race car he’s designed specifically for the unique challenges of the crate sprint car class. Jesse Costa sits just two wins behind DeMan on the all-time win list, and despite winning the Northern Crate Nationals in 2025 he fell short in the season championship by just 18 points in the standings.
The Strickland’s GMC Crate Sprint Car Division is one class that guaranteed the running of a B-Main event every night in 2025 meaning not everyone even qualifies for the main event. It’s a class known for humbling even the greatest of competitors.
Stratford and Deman are the only two drivers to have earned the Crate Division championship, but the youth movement isn’t concerned about history.
“Lance Erskine has a new look for this year, and he was coming on strong late in 2025,” said Geoffrey. “Keegan Baker is ready to keep on winning now that he got a taste last Fall, and many others are one step away from contending each and every week.”
Dykstra, Costa and Stratford combined to win 14 of last year’s 17 main events with Dykstra accounting for half of them. It will surprise nobody if those wins get distributed more evenly this year with such a vast pool of talent.
New procedures for 2026 also create added drama for Crate Sprint Car teams. The ‘luck of the draw’ format for starting position in heat races is being replaced with a system that rewards speed in each night’s practice. Top finishers from the previous week’s event will be evenly distributed among the qualifying groups for the next event. Every time drivers hit the track in 2026 there will be pressure and opportunity for a better starting spot in the main event.
“Competition is so tough in this class we needed to build a system that rewards drivers for their speed leaving less to chance,” said Geoffrey. “It’s a commonly used system, and we believe it will add excitement and drama to our program.”
In 2025 it took seven victories and 15 top-10 finishes in 17 races to secure Dykstra the track championship. While victories may be hard to come by in 2026 the consistent finishes are always key to a successful points championship.
Action begins for all four of Ohsweken Speedway’s main divisions on the Friday night of the May long weekend – May 15th, and runs nearly every Friday night through the middle of September. For more information please visit www.OhswekenSpeedway.com .