Can anyone dethrone Ohsweken Speedway’s Thunder Stocks dynamic duo
April 24, 2026, OHSWEKEN, ON – Only one time since June of 2024 has a Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock driver not named Dave Bailey or Ryan Beagle won a feature event at Ohsweken Speedway. And when Brock Gregory did it in the Fall of 2025 there was no points on the line.
Bailey from Hagersville and Vittoriaville’s Beagle have dominated headlines in the popular fendered stock car class for years, and the main reason to believe that could change any time soon is the sheer size of the posse chasing them.
“It’s fun to watch Bailey and Beagle excel at their craft,” said Ohsweken Speedway General Manager Clinton Geoffrey. “We saw it for years in sprint cars with Dylan Westbrook. When elite talent races every week it forces everyone else to become better.”
The posse includes about 15 to 18 competitors who battle tooth and nail for position each and every week. Could 2026 be the year one of them emerges to knock the big Bees off their perch?
Trevor DeBoer scored an impressive 11 top-five finishes in 18 feature events in 2025 coming home third in the championship standings. His consistency is impressive. Zack Bleich and Mike Klazinga had remarkably similar statistics in 2025. Both competed in all 15 feature events with both earning 12 top-10 finishes. Bleich edged Klazinga with eight top-five results compared to Klazinga’s seven.
Veterans Ryan Dinning and Ohsweken Speedway wall of famer Mike Thorne are perennial front-runners, and Kacey Huffman and Tim Phalen were top-10 in points in 2025 looking for their breakout performances.
What amplifies the entertainment value of the fendered classes at Ohsweken Speedway is the gauntlet these drivers face once the handicap system kicks in. The handicap system basically penalizes success. The better a driver performs in their feature races the further back in the starting order they find themselves.
It’s typical for Bailey and Beagle to start well outside of the top-15 positions in the starting grid forcing them to carve through traffic aggressively to get to the front. It’s a throwback to generations gone by.
“The handicap system is a large reason why fans are glued to the action in our Thunder Stock feature events,” said Geoffrey. “The race within the race is to see whether Beagle or Bailey get to the front first.
“One of these weeks the storyline will change, and new stars will emerge. Whoever steps up to the challenge will gain instant notoriety in the division.”
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 .