PHOTO CREDITS: Captivate Images
Sixty-one competitors made their way pitside last evening for Night 4 of ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ at Laird Raceway.
And as has been the narrative throughout the 2024 season, car counts and crowds continued to rise while so to did the on-track excitement.
After the night’s preliminary heat races were complete the Algoma Lawn Mower Racing Association took to the infield dirt oval at intermission for their main event.
Chuck Siddall (Echo Bay, ON) made it a repeat victory while setting things up for the stock cars feature events.
The Lakeway Automotive Factory Stock feature event took the honour of ‘race of the night’.
Ten cars made the call for the starting line-up with Ed Lapish (77, Echo Bay ON) and Rob Wagner (88, Prince Township ON) bringing the field to the green flag.
In short order, Daniel Bibeau (08, Sault Ste. Marie ON) split the cars ahead of him and set sail at the front of the field but it was what was happening behind him that took the spotlight.
Jamie Fox (51, Echo Bay ON) started deep in the field and put on a show picking off cars one at a time throughout the 1/3 mile.
With under five laps to go Fox was on the back bumper of Bibeau challenging for the lead but time would expire before he could get alongside your leader and Bibeau made it a clean sweep of the night while capturing his 3rd straight Feature Win.
Fox finished second while Brad Bibeau (80) and Owen Brown (12) were nose-to-tail behind your front two in an entertaining finish.
LAKEWAY AUTOMOTIVE FACTORY STOCK DIVISION (11 cars)
Feature Results
1. 08 Daniel Bibeau2. 51 Jamie Fox3. 12 Owen Brown4. 80 Brad Bibeau5. 05 Tyler Praysner6. 4 Dale Tucker7. 29 Xavier Carter8. 15 Andrew Givens9. 77X Ed Lapish10. 88 Rob Wagner
Did not start - 44 Christian Medaglia
Fast Qualfier - 05 Tyler Praysner 16.090
Heat Race #1- 08 Daniel Bibeau
Heat Race #2 - 08 Daniel Bibeau
The third different feature winner found victory lane in the NAPA Reyco Autotmotive Modified Division.
After Jerry Ross (01, Echo Bay ON) started the season with back-to-back wins, Jason Herrington dethrowned him one week ago.
On week 4 the night belonged to Echo Bay, ON product Mark Laakso (84).
After taking wins in both of the night’s heat races Laakso took the early lead in the feature event and would never look back to hold off Herrington, Ross and current point leader JP Delpaggio (22, Sault Ste. Marie ON) to wheel his machine into victory lane.
NAPA REYCO AUTOMOTIVE MODIFIED DIVISION (8 cars)
Feature Results
1. 84 Mark Laakso2. 78 Jason Herrington3. 01 Jerry Ross4. 22 JP Delapggio5. 20 Matt Lewis6. 28 Mark Porpealia7. 15 Chris Miller8. 36 Jesse Bailey
Fast Qualifier - 01 Jerry Ross 15.329
Heat Race #1 - 84 Mark Laakso
Heat Race #2 - 84 Mark Laakso
The Service Rental and Sales Super Late Model Division was back up to double digits car count wise but come feature time that wouldn’t stand as mechanical issues plagued a number of drivers on the night.
Heat race winner Kevin Errington (21K, Sault Ste. Marie ON) led the field in the early going of their 30-lap main event before Chase Wilson took the outside and began to extend the distance in the top spot.
An impressive streak for Wilson continued as the second-generation pilot won his 4th feature in as many attempts, while Errington - Jeremy Van Hoek (51, Sault Ste. Marie ON) rounded out the podium positions.
Division newcomer Ryan Rocchetta (15, Sault Ste. Marie ON) took home a career-best 4th place finish in just his 2nd night of competition.
SERVICE RENTAL AND SALES SUPER LATE MODEL DIVISION (10 cars)
Feature Results
1. 77 Chase Wilson2. 21K Kevin Errington3. 51 Jeremy Van Hoek4. 15 Ryan Rocchetta5. 01 John Ross6. 46 Dan Byrnes7. 21M Cody MacLean8. 61 Dustin Jackson
Did not start - 826 Jordan Parniak, 20 Mike Hearty
Fast Qualifier - 77 Chase Wilson 14.106
Heat Race - 21K Kevin Errington
After winning his 1st-career feature last week, Gianni Viotto (7, Sault Ste. Marie ON) was looking to repeat in the division.
Starting 8th on the field Viotto made a quick charge on the outside of the track and into the lead.
As he started to navigate through lap traffic he had two veterans on his back bumper trying to track him down.
Chase Wilson, who making a special appearance in one of the Byrnes racing Mustangs and point leader Shanna Harten (22, Sault Ste. Marie ON) were in the 2nd and third spot.
Time would expire before either of those two could mount a charge and Viotto won his second feature in a row.
Shaun Desjardins (17) and Seth Ralph (94) capped off the top 5.
NORTHLAND AUTO BODY FOUR CYLINDER DIVISION (13 cars)
Feature Results
1. 7 Gianni Viotto2. 31 Chase Wilson3. 22 Shanna Harten4. 17 Shaun Desjardins5. 94 Seth Ralph6. 38F Dylan Couturier7. 4 Kayleigh Tucker8. 51 Kenn Schwarz9. 8 Alex Lapensee10. 16 Dyllen Sherrard11. 24 Christopher Viotto12. 21 Daryl Whitmel
Did not start - 46 Ryder Byrnes
Fast Qualifier - 22 Shanna Harten 17.270
Heat Race #1 - 51 Kenn Schwarz
Heat Race #2 - 7 Gianni Viotto
After starting in the 15th of 19 spot in the AIM Recycling Enduro Division, Dylan Connolly extended a huge cap on his closest competitor to win his 3rd feature of the year.
Tehden McBride (721) and Madison Tucker (4) capped off the top 3.
AIM RECYLCING ENDURO DIVISION (19 cars)
1. 86 Dylan Connolly2. 721 Tehden McBride3. 4 Madison Tucker4. 79 Cody Herrington5. 17 Chris Pinder6. 12 Brady Boston7. 44 Eric Sylvestre8. 21+ Drew Dowding. 9. 22 Jay Morrin10. 16 Dyllen Sherrard11. 83 Jon Hill12. 07 Tannis Wirth13. K27 Kohle Kennedy14. 77X Teagan Lapish15. 8 Alex Lapensee16. 55 Hayden Lewis17. 94 Bob Ralph18. 77 Gavin Maitland19. Driver Unkown
Action returns to Laird on Thursday, August 1st for another full 5-in-1 show PLUS the night will feature trophy night for the regular racing divisions along with spectator drags and bike giveaways.
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