Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
How does a 35 lap feature turn into a 50 lap feature? How does a race that was set to pay the winner $400 turn into $1300 to win, $6600 purse and $2450 in post-race bonuses? Welcome to the magic that has happened in the past week.
In the span of a week, Spencer Lewis, Crystal Doucette and Brendan Doherty (SL Promotions) have been promoting the mini stock event, grabbing the attention of everybody across the province of Ontario. They also grabbed the attention of a Florida native, Sean Grosman, who was one of the first individuals to donate money to the fund. From there, other companies, racers and fans began to throw more money into the kitty. Each person donated, sometimes as small as $20 to bigger amounts like $400, stating whether they’d like to make a special certain type of bonus or put it towards the purse.
Here’s just a short list of the post-race bonuses that are on the table:
- Halfway Lap Leader Bonus
- Tyler L. Watson’s “Mustang Head Hunter” bonus – highest import gets $100
- Alan Lankin’s “Blue Chip Bonus” – top finishing driver under the age of 16
- Hard Luck Award
- Top Finishing Barrie Speedway car
- Top Finishing Sauble Speedway car
- Top Finishing Full Throttle Speedway car
- Top Finishing Peterborough/Kawartha Speedway car
- Top Finishing Dirt Car
- Top Finishing Female
There are plenty more than I have listed above as the donations have continued to pour in over the course of the past seven days to continue to make their race even bigger. Heck, there are even bonuses for the drivers in the B-Main and C-Main. The list goes on and on that it has truly surprised a lot of people in the industry to see everybody step up to support the event.
To find out more about the bonuses, check out Spencer Lewis’ series of videos on youtube on his channel by clicking here. The full list of bonuses has been posted by Spencer Lewis on the Inside Track Motorsports News website and can be seen by clicking here.
With over 40 cars expected, there is certainty that it will be alphabet soup qualifying style to get into the 28-car field on Thursday night. So with that said, here’s a general overview of the qualifying format:
- Top 4 from each go directly to the A-Main, so with four heats expected that’d mean 16 drivers locked in
- Finishers 5th and 6th in each of the heats go directly to the B-Main (8 drivers)
- 7th on back in each heat goes to the C-Main (at least 20)
- (unofficially) Top 12 from the C-Main go to the B-Main
- Top 12 from the B-Main go to the A-Main as 16+12 is 28 car field
Now with the details laid out on the table, here are 20 drivers to keep your eye on Thursday night:
- Brandon McFerran – The 2014 Sunset Speedway Mini Stock Champion has led the charge this year all season long. The 15-year-old won eight features en route to scoring his first ever division championship. With the No. 64 Mustang being one of the quickest car – if not the quickest car – at Sunset Speedway this season, look for McFerran to try and add an explanation mark to his season.
- Andy Kamrath – After scoring multiple Late Model victories, Kamrath moved to the Mini Stock division this season. He has been successful so far this year, winning the Spring Derby 35 and both rounds of the Mini Stock Nationals at Kawartha Speedway. If Kamrath has the car set up to his liking, he’ll be one to watch.
- Warren Paxton – The 2013 Sunset Speedway Mini Stock Champion has ran a limited schedule this year, but not without success as he was able to visit victory lane. Not showing the same amount of speed as we’re used to seeing out of the No. 33, it’ll be interesting to see how Paxton makes out.
- Tyler Junkin – Peterborough Speedway front runner Tyler Junkin is always a threat to win when it comes to the big money races. His No. 41 is always fast, no matter the track that he attends, and he has visited Sunset Speedway’s victory lane previously.
- Ryan Babin – An Autumn Colors Classic Champion, the 2014 Peterborough Speedway Champion will certainly be ready to go on Thursday as he had one of the quickest cars all year at Peterborough and is looking to take his show on the road before giving his ride a new home.
- Cory Young – This season, Cory Young was able to visit victory lane on multiple occasions at Full Throttle Speedway and will be looking to keep that trend going despite the change in venue. Young has been fast at Sunset Speedway in the past so don’t try counting him out of the running, either.
- Kevin Bridge – Bridge has made multiple trips to Sunset Speedway from his hometrack of Sauble Speedway and has had success with some solid runs. He has also had his fair share of bad luck with wrecks so if he can manage to stay out of trouble all race long, he should be at the front near the end.
- Mike Gettliffe – The 2013 Barrie Speedway Champion is looking to come out strong with a solid run. He has posted strong finishes when running with Sunset’s regular crowd on some nights so with some experience on his side, he may have the upper-hand versus some of the other out of town drivers.
- Samantha Shaw – Fresh off of her victory on Saturday night, Samantha Shaw is looking to keep the positive momentum going. Shaw has shown a ton of speed the second half of the season, posting multiple podium finishes before leading flag-to-flag on Saturday. Could she keep the momentum rolling into victory #2?
- Billy Schwartzenburg – Her Spira Racing teammate will be looking for the victory after posting a win at Sunset earlier this year and finishing second on Saturday. The 2014 Sauble Speedway Champion has shown speed across the province, sometimes looking unbeatable. Will he return to that fame on the big stage tonight?
- Jake Watson – Jake had a solid first season at Sunset Speedway, fighting through the tough moments to finish top 10 in points. Continuing to get stronger with more laps behind the wheel, Watson is hoping to qualify for the big event and post a solid finish.
- Jordan Howse – The 2014 Sunset Speedway Rookie of the Year turned a lot of heads en route to finishing third in points with a bunch of top-five finishes, including some runner-ups. One of the best young talents in the province, Howse will look to put the whole province on notice during the post-season.
- Miles Tyson – Tyson has shown a lot of speed in his career, highlighted by a victory this year. It’ll be interesting to see how Tyson runs as he has been strong, but also has had some not so strong nights so if he has his ducks in a row, keep an eye on him.
- Ben Melenhorst – Ben Melenhorst is one of the veterans of the mini stocks despite being young in age. He knows what it takes to win and has had the car in the past to do so. With this being a long distance event, it could fall into his wheelhouse with needing to have the car at the end of the race.
- Billy Melenhorst – He may be the little brother, but don’t count him out either as he has been faster than his bigger brother on a couple of occasions and also knows how to wheel a Mini Stock.
- Gehrig Halliday – After watching his sister Lauren drive all season, Gehrig Halliday is set to return the driver’s seat and try and find the speed that brought him to some solid top-five finishes throughout his rookie season last year.
- Russ Aiken – After posting multiple victories at Flamboro Speedway, Russ Aiken is taking his show on the road as he looks to capture his first Sunset Speedway victory. A standout in the Mini Stock division at Flamboro and Flamboro being known for hosting some of the fastest cars in the province, this’ll be fun to watch.
- Hudson Nagy – Nagy will be joining Aiken in the list of Flamboro Speedway drivers attending. Nagy has made a start at Sunset Speedway in the past, posting a solid performance in his debut. Now with a return trip, it’ll fun to watch and see how much improvement is seen.
- Nick Clarke – The Full Throttle Speedway winner has confirmed that he will be in attendance as he looks to have some success in debut appearance at Sunset Speedway and take home the Full Throttle Speedway bonus.
- Terry Woodley – Not known as one of the strongest cars, Woodley’s strength has been consistency. He has consistently put up top-10 finishes this year to finish sixth in Sunset Speedway’s standings. No doubt he could be a dark-horse to watch to sneak in and steal some of the action in the top 10.
Other drivers to watch on Thursday night……
- Phil Givens – #77 Full Throttle Speedway
- Steve Love – #40 Sunset Speedway
- David Collins – #16
- Pete Gettliffe – #71 Barrie Speedway
- Jerry Noble – #31 Sunset Speedway
- Brandon Crumbie – #68 Barrie Speedway
- Tim Tolton – #35 Full Throttle Speedway
- Dave Middel – #15 Sunset Speedway
- Wendy Adams – #78 Sunset Speedway
- Scott Schlueter – #77 Full Throttle Speedway
- Charlie Smith – #1 Barrie Speedway
- Nic Montanari – #98 Sunset Speedway
- Blair Wickett – #97 Flamboro Speedway
- Kevin Strutt – #34 Peterborough Speedway
- Willy Howells – #19 Kawartha Speedway
- Kendra Adams – #2 Sunset Speedway
- Jon Lowenburg – #21X Ohsweken Speedway
- Candiss Everingham – #23 Sunset Speedway
- Ken Townsend – #21 Sunset Speedway
- Chad Corcoran – #50 Flamboro Speedway
- Doug Wilman – #14 Sunset Speedway
There are probably more that I could list to make this more interesting, but that is what is confirmed as of post-time.
So it goes without saying, if you’re in the area make sure you attend this event because it’s going to be huge. Racing starts at 6pm EST and all details can be found at https://www.sunsetspeedway.ca.
About the Author
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