Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Coming into the year, the super stock division had caught the attention of many fans with the amount of talent from top to bottom. At the end of the first night, though, it was no surprise as to whom came out on top as Matt Bentley would outduel Mike Weeda to score the first feature victory of the season.
Weeda started off the night on top as he won the first heat ahead of Bentley, Dan Archibald, Stan Coe, Frank Davey, Kendra Adams, Fedele DiBello, Dustyn Mombourquette and Ken Semkin.
The second heat would have a quick caution on lap three when Justin Holmes slowed with a problem. Miles Tyson picked up his first career heat victory ahead of Jordan Howse, Ken Grubb, Treyten Lapcevich, Mike Meyer, Anthony DiBello and Ric Watson.
The third heat also saw a quick caution when Ethan Constable spun in two on the second lap. Ryan Semple picked up the win ahead of Jade Franklin, Stefan Semeraro, Nic Troback, Herb Walters, Coltin Everingham, Nick Tooley, John Latimer and Constable.
Weeda went two-for-two as he picked up the win in the Dash ahead of Semple, Tyson, Bentley, Howse, Archibald, Franklin, Grubb, Troback, Lapcevich, Semeraro and Coe.
Rather than run a single b-main, the track ran two in an attempt to minimize the amount of carnage.
The first of the pair didn’t go smoothly as on lap two, Semkin would spin off of turn four, while Holmes pulled off with a problem. Then on lap eight, Fedele DiBello spun, while Tooley pulled into the infield with a flat tire following contact. Frank Davey went on to pick up the win ahead of Anthony DiBello, Herb Walters, Felede DiBello and Semkin.
The second wasn’t clean, either, as Watson and Constable got together in turn two on lap four. Then a lap later, Constable would go around in urn two. Mike Meyer picked up the win ahead of Everngham, Adams, Allard, Mombourquette and Constable.
With qualifying in the books, it’d be Frank Davey sitting on pole ahead of Ken Grubb, Mike Meyer, Mike Weeda, Coltin Everingham, Herb Walters, Miles Tyson, Kendra Adams, Matt Bentley, Dan Archibald, Jade Franklin, Anthony DiBello, Jordan Howse, Stan Coe, Stefan Semeraro, Treyten Lapcevich, Nic Troback, Ryan Semple, Fedele DiBello, Paul Allard, Ken Semkin, Dustyn Mombourquette, Nick Tooley, Ethan Constable, Justin Holmes and John Latimer.
The feature didn’t start out smoothly as Matt Bentley would put Miles Tyson and Kendra Adams three-wide on the opening lap, resulting in Tyson getting into Adams and turning her around.
The second attempt to start the feature was smoother as Frank Davey pulled out to the early lead behind the wheel of the No. 49 GREEN STEEL ROOF, AUTO TRIM DESIGN BARRIE, WHEELS FOR LESS.CA, HWY 400 TRANSMISSION, SN DIESEL, TEC, UNIQUE POOLS Monte Carlo ahead of Weeda, Grubb, Walters, Archibald and Bentley.
Weeda would make a point to the competition that he’ll be a driver to watch this year as he’d pass Davey on lap four to put the No. 6 HUMBERVIEW FARMS, KENSPIN LTD, THE MIKEY NETWORK, FOR THE 20 Super Stock out front. Davey would slip back to second ahead of Grubb, Walters and Archibald.
Bentley would get alongside Archibald for fifth at lap six, making the pass later. He would then pass Walters on lap eight to move up to fourth. Archibald looked to make the move on Walters next, getting alongside him and completing the pass at lap 12.
At the front of the field, Weeda continued to lead as Bentley moved into second at lap 14 ahead of Davey, Grubb and Archibald while Walters battled Howse for sixth. Howse would get the spot on lap 16 ahead of Walters as Franklin, Everingham and Anthony DiBello rounded out the top-10.
Walters continued to fall back as Franklin passed him for seventh at lap 19. Walters would now run eighth ahead of Everingham, as Semple and Coe battled for 10th. The caution would then fly, though, as Constable would spin in turn two. With eight laps to go, Weeda led Bentley, Davey, Grubb, Archibald, Howse, Franklin, Walters, Everingham, DiBello and Semple. Under the yellow, Allard pulled off the track with a problem.
The first attempt at a restart brought forth a caution as contact would result in Adams getting stuck on top of the nose of Constable’s car.
The second attempt at a restart saw Bentley get by Weeda, but the caution flew as a result of Fedele DiBello spinning in turn two. With seven laps to go, Bentley led Weeda, Davey, Grubb, Franklin, Howse, Walters, Anthony DiBello, Semple, Coe, Everingham, Lapcevich and Troback.
The fifth caution flew on the restart as a result of Archibald suffering a flat tire after contact. Adams would pull behind the wall with a flat tire under yellow. The yellows continued to fly, as the next restart was dubbed as being jumped.
The seventh yellow would fly a lap after the following restart (Lap 25) as a result of Latimer and Constable getting tangled up in turn four. Archibald would then bring out the final yellow flag as he stopped in turn two with a problem.
Matt Bentley would get a good final restart to score the victory in his No. 21 CGL Manufacturing, ThringCo., Streamline Race Products, Creative Edge and Bentley Motorsports Super Stock. The veteran commented post-race the mid-race caution certainly helped him capture the victory.
“He had a couple car lengths on me and we were pretty close in times,” Bentley said of Weeda. “I know I was reeling him in, but at the same point, I didn’t know if I’d have enough time.”
It seems as though Bentley was also quicker in the heat than he was in the feature, in which he attributes to working on the set-up between the races.
“I put four brand new springs in the car this year and unfortunately, they settled down and changed the whole set-up,” he commented. “So I went back to the scales, got it back to where I liked it and brought it back to life.”
Mike Weeda finished second followed by Frank Davey, Ken Grubb, Jade Franklin, Jordan Howse, Ryan Semple, Stan Coe, Treyten Lapcevich, Anthony DiBello, Nick Troback, Justin Holmes, Stefan Semeraro, Coltin Everingham, Nick Tooley, Dan Archibald, Mike Meyer, Herb Walters, Fedele DiBello, John Latimer and Ken Semkin.
