Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Taylor Holdaway’s winning ways from last year have carried over to this season as he scored his third victory of the season on Saturday night at Sunset Speedway.
Holdaway started off the night by putting his No. 41 Bay Auto and Truck Parts, Holdaway Automotive, Image Factor Motorsports Design and Photography, KartSTART presented by Toyota, Yamaha Motor Canada, Wix Filters, Castrol Canada, Sunshine Super Wash, and Stefko Racing Engines Late Model on the pole with a lap of 15.140 seconds.
Gord Shepherd qualified second (15.138), followed by Kevin Cornelius (15.151), Britney Gresel (15.200) and Mike Bentley (15.222). Travis Hallyburton was sixth, followed by Dwayne Baker, Billy Zardo, Nick Goetz, Ryan Kimball, Thayne Hallyburton, Tom Walters, Chris Morrow, Adam Martin, Sean Cronan, Lane Zardo, Jordan Latimer, Paul Maltese, Al Inglis, Scott Wylie, Mike Wilkinson, Danny Benedict, Ernie Fumerton and Kyle Passer.
The feature didn’t start off smoothly, though, as Inglis ran into problems on Lap 1, dropping back through the field. Meanwhile, Holdaway held the early advantage at the front ahead of Shepherd and Cornelius as Gresel and Bentley battled for fourth. Bentley got the fourth spot on Lap 4 ahead of Gresel, as Kimball battled Billy Zardo for sixth. Kimball got the spot on Lap 6, with Dwayne Baker falling him through a lap later.
Zardo now ran eighth ahead of Walters, as Chris Morrow and Travis Hallyburton battled for 10th. Morrow got the spot on Lap 9 ahead of Hallyburton and Goetz, as Baker got alongside Kimball for sixth. The caution then flew, though, as Lane Zardo went around in turn two. Under caution, Maltese brought his car down pit road for adjustments. With 26 laps to go, Holdaway led Shepherd, Cornelius, Bentley, Gresel, Kimball, Baker, Billy Zardo, Walters, Morrow, Hallyburton, Goetz, Cronan, Thayne Hallyburton, Martin, Latimer and Wylie.
The restart saw a battle for the lead between Holdaway and Shepherd that’d last till the second caution at Lap 15 for Baker spinning in turn two after contact from Morrow. With 21 laps to go, Holdaway led Shepherd, Bentley, Kimball, Cornelius, Gresel, Billy Zardo, Goetz, Walters, Thayne Hallyburton, Travis Hallyburton, Cronan, Latimer, Benedict, Lane Zardo and Martin.
The battle for the lead resumed on the restart, with Holdaway coming out on top as he retook the top spot at Lap 20 ahead of Shepherd, Kimball, Bentley, Gresel and Cornelius. Cornelius then got alongside Gresel for fifth a lap later, though was unable to complete the pass.
Meanwhile, Goetz ran seventh ahead of Billy Zardo, Walters, Thayne Hallyburton, Cronan, Travis Hallyburton, Latimer, Benedict and Martin. The field mostly strung out single-file as it got near the end with the only battle at Lap 28 being Morrow and Wylie for 16th. Latimer then got alongside Travis for 12th at Lap 29, though was unable to complete the pass as he fell back in line two laps later.
Closer to the front, things got interesting with Gresel tracking down Bentley, getting alongside for fourth at Lap 30. It’d go wrong for Gresel, though, as she’d get loose with three laps to go, slipping back three spots as Bentley, Cornelius and Goetz each got by her.
At the front, Taylor Holdaway picked up the win ahead of Gord Shepherd, Ryan Kimball, Mike Bentley, Kevin Cornelius, Nick Goetz, Britney Gresel, Billy Zardo, Tom Walters, Sean Cronan, Thayne Hallyburton, Travis Hallyburton, Jordan Latimer, Danny Benedict, Adam Martin, Dwayne Baker, Scott Wylie and Chris Morrow. Paul Maltese finished as the first car a lap down in 19th ahead of Ernie Fumerton and Mike Wilkinson.
