Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With a mix of familiar faces, rookies and returning favourite, the Super Stock division looks to be one of the strongest rosters at Sunset Speedway entering this season as from top to bottom, there are drivers that could win on any given night.
Matt Bentley enters this year as the early championship favourite after winning three features and posting nine top-fives last year. Bentley was quick on any given night, only finishing further back in the running order as a result of a wreck. If he can have a clean season, he could be one to watch this year.
Mike Weeda debuted a new car last season and had some success, posting three top-fives, but more notably his first feature victory. It seemed as the year went on, he got quicker and quicker. If he can keep doing that this year, he could be one to challenge.
Dan Archibald has been quick over the years, as sighting strong runs and victories. With a new car under his belt, he will be interesting to watch this season. If he can stay out of trouble, he could be a driver to contend with all year long.
Dennis Cybalski is the underdog of the list, for certain. He is overlooked by many, but is one to keep an eye on if you want a darkhorse. With a couple feature top-fives last year, he proved that he could run with the front guys. What if he turns one of those strong runs into a win?
Johnny Morrison is certainly looking to have some more solid results this year after posting no heat wins and no feature top-fives. The biggest thing for Morrison last year was he seemed to find himself in the midst of trouble on more than one occasion. IF he can get back to where he was in 2014, there’s a driver to watch.
Tyler Liscum is set to debut a brand new car this season in hopes of building on last year’s success. With only a single heat win and four top-10s, the veteran will certainly be looking for more this year.
Jade Franklin is looking for a solid sophomore season of competition after posting a couple top-10 runs during the second half of the season. look for him to keep it on all four wheels this year, while scoring his first feature top-five.
Keith Temple looks to improve on last season and make a couple trips to heat victory lane for certain, after scoring only one feature top-10 last year.
Stan Coe is one of the guys that you got to watch as he can strike when you least expect it. He’s the quiet guy, biding his time and scoring the solid finishes, without striking anyone by surprise. Then, when you least expect it, he slides in and scores a feature victory. He did that last year, and expect the same.
Nick Tooley is looking to have a much cleaner season after getting caught up in a couple different wrecks last year. When trouble avoided him, he was pretty solid with some strong runs over the year.
Coltin Everingham looks to build on the gains that he made late during last season to make this year his best season to date.
While there are all these returning faces, there’s a slew of guys that are set to mix it up that either have lots of experience and are making a return, or have little experience.
A pair of veterans are set to make their return this season, as both Herb Walters and Frank Davey are making their division return. As past champions and past feature winners, they will both be fun to watch right off the bat this year as they mix it up with the others in the division. Given their past statistics, it’d be no surprise if either of them won on opening night. Oh, and did we mention that they both have good cars? Walters is driving the car that Lane Zardo won two features with last season, and Davey is driving the car that Chad Eden drove to a victory in a Sunset Speedway 50-lap invitational during last summer.
After winning the championship at Peterborough Speedway, Anthony DiBello is taking his show on the road and set to see if he can make the same magic happen this year at Sunset Speedway. Some drivers have proven that they can cut it at more than one track, while others have struggled. So it’ll be interesting to see how he does.
The rookies – that’s a slew of a drivers that have a bunch of talent, and will be fun to watch. With over seven new drivers on the roster, this year promises to be exciting.
Brandon McFerran leads the group into the season as he’s the only one that has a previous victory under his belt. He drove Cayden Lapcevich’s car twice last year, scoring the victory in June. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly he gets accumulated with his new ride.
Jordan Howse was one of the quickest Mini Stock drivers, scoring five feature victories last season. With a brand new McColl Racing Enterprises chassis underneath him, there’s no telling what he could do this season.
After winning the Mighty Mini Championship last year, Treyten Lapcevich makes the move up to the Super Stock division. Lapcevich proved last year that he can adapt to a new car quickly as he won that championship and multiple races in what was first year in a full-size stock car. Oh, and he’s driving the car that his big brother Cayden Lapcevich took to two straight championships.
Miles Tyson proved that he can run with of the best as part of the Frostoberfest, winning the event in his Mini Stock. He had his Super Stock out on a couple occasions last year, looking pretty solid. If he can keep finding speed, he could score a couple heat victories this year.
Other rookies include Kendra Adams, Ethan Constable, Stefan Semeraro and Justin Holmes.
There’s one name that I have left out thus far, and for good reason. Since I started looking at the roster for this season in March, there’s a name that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. So with that said, I’m locking this in as my championship pick.
Ryan Semple
Semple proved last year that he could be quick on a weekly basis, consistently at that, with 10 top-five finishes in the 14 races. Oh, and the one finish that he had outside of the top-five was not his fault at all, but rather due to a suspension failure. He also proved that he has his car working how he wants it, scoring the feature victory on August 29. If he can start off the year as quick as he ended last year, he’s going to be tough to beat.
Beyond those mentioned, there are a slew of other drivers that will be in the field, looking for success this season. So without a shadow of doubt, make sure you are at Sunset Speedway this Saturday night on April 30 for the season opener. Late models will time trial at 2:30pm EST, followed by Mini Stock and Mighty Mini heats. The Super Stocks will then take to the track for their heats at 4pm EST. Details and tickets can be found at http://www.sunsetspeedway.ca.
