Danny Benedict scores first Sunset Speedway feature victory

He won at Peterborough Speedway last Saturday night. He won at Capital City on Wednesday night. On Saturday night, Danny Benedict scored the victory at Sunset Speedway for his third feature victory in eight days at three different tracks.

Unfortunately, everybody didn’t have his luck as Jordan Howse would see his motor go up in smoke on the second lap of the heat. Jake Watson, Trevor Hemingway and Paul Givens all slid in the oil, making light contact with the turn three/four wall. Warren Paxton won the heat ahead of Nick Brown, Eric Rainey, Lance Foster, Brian Johnston, Hemingway and Candiss Everingham.

Gerritt Tiemersma continued his impressive rookie stretch with a heat win ahead of Kendra Adams, Terry Woodley, Lauren Halliday, Doug Wilman, Stefan Woyslaw, Jerry Noble, Dave Middel and Lisa DeLeeuw.

The final heat would go to Samantha Shaw as she barely edged Brandon McFerran at the line. Billy Melenhorst finished third, ahead of Ben Melenhorst, Miles Tyson, Eric Yorke and Ken Townsend.

The b-main would see a single caution at lap six when Steve Belanger would stall the car in turn two. Benedict would go on to take the win ahead of Tyson, Townsend, Yorke, Watson, Woyslaw, Johnston, Noble and Howse. With a blown motor in his ride, Howse borrowed DeLeeuw’s mustang for the rest of the night to get points. Wilman finished 10^th, followed by Hemingway, Everingham, Middel and Chris Burling.

McFerran would win the ‘Dash for Cash’ ahead of Shaw, Paxton, Billy Melenhorst, Tiemersma, Adams, Ben Melenhorst, Woodley, Brown, Halliday, Foster and Rainey.

Come feature time, Tyson would start on pole ahead of Brown, Shaw, Billy Melenhorst, Foster, Yorke, Tiemersma, Watson, Adams, Benedict, Woyslaw, Paxton, Woodley, Rainey, Ben Melenhorst, McFerran, Townsend, Halliday, Johnston, Noble, Howse, Wilman, Hemingway, Everingham, Middel, Burling, Belanger and Givens.

The action started right away as Shaw would get loose heading into three, resulting in contact between herself and Brown for the caution. The second attempt at a restart went much smoother with Billy Melenhorst grabbing the lead in the No. 20B Shear, GU Graphics, Fast Eddie Race Wear Nissan 240SX ahead of Tyson and Yorke as Tiemersma battled with Foster for fourth. Tiemersma would grab the spot on lap two, leaving Foster to battle with Benedict for fifth. Benedict would make contact with Tiemersma on lap three while trying to clear Foster, resulting in Tiemersma going sideways. Tiemersma would make the impressive save and keep on going as the field sorted itself out.

Billy Melenhorst continued to start to stretch his lead out on lap four ahead of Tyson as Tiemersma battled with Yorke for third. Tiemermsa would get the spot on lap six, bringing Benedict and McFerran through with him. Benedict and McFerran would then rage war for fourth ahead of Kendra Adams, Ben Melenhorst, Yorke and Paxton. Benedict would get by McFerran at lap 11, getting alongside Tiemersma for third. Benedict would grab the spot a lap later, bringing McFerran through with him. The duo continued their climb with both Benedict and McFerran passing Tyson for second and third, respectively, at lap 15 while Billy Melenhorst led. Tiemersma ran fifth ahead of Ben Melenhorst, Adams, Paxton, Yorke and Watson.

Watson would see his good run come to an end, though, when he’d go for the spin on the frontstretch on lap 18 for the caution, possibly due to contact from Foster. Both cars would be put to the back as involved cars. With seven laps to go, Billy Melenhorst led Benedict, McFerran, Tyson, Tiemersma, Ben Melenhorst, Adams, Paxton, Yorke, Woodley, Halliday, Rainey, Foster and Watson. Woyslaw ran as the first car one lap down ahead of Shaw, Wilman, Belanger, Johnston, Howse, Noble, Givens, Hemingway, Middel and Burling.

Billy Melenhorst would get a good restart for the advantage while Tiemersma would get into Ben Melenhorst, with Ben making a big save to keep the car straight and keep going. As big brother regained his composure, little brother Billy was under pressure for the lead from Benedict. The pair would run side-by-side till two to go, when Benedict would get clear of Billy Melenhorst.

Danny Benedict would then lead the final two laps in his No. 54 Mini Stock to take the checkered flag ahead of Billy Melenhorst, Brandon McFerran, Miles Tyson, Ben Melenhorst, Gerritt Tiemersma, Warren Paxton, Terry Woodley, Kendra Adams, Lauren Halliday, Lance Foster, Jake Watson, Eric Yorke, Steve Belanger and Eric Rainey. Samantha Shaw was the first car one lap down ahead of Stefan Woyslaw, Doug Wilman, Paul Givens, Jordan Howse, Trevor Hemingway, Jerry Noble, Brian Johnston, Dave Middel and Chris Burling.

Ashley McCubbin

Joining OnPitRoad.com mid-2013 season, Ashley McCubbin is now the Managing Editor and contributes to each racing division as needed. Since studying journalism at the University of Guelph-Humber, Ashley has published articles on a couple of different websites, while serving as a public relations representative for different short track teams. Born in North York, Ontario, Ashley currently lives in Bradford, Ontario and spends her weekend at the local short tracks in the area. She has spent her entire life at the short track level, falling in love with the sport at the age of five. Beyond her love of short track racing, she also has grown an interest for both NASCAR and the IndyCar Racing Series. She also enjoys taking photos and working on websites, while playing a couple rounds of Candy Crush afterwards.

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