Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
On Saturday night at Sunset Speedway, a pair of drivers got to visit victory lane for the first time this season.
The night started off with Gord Shepherd laying down the quickest lap in time trials at 15.074 seconds, ahead of last week’s pole sitter Travis Hallyburton, Dwayne Baker, Nick Goetz and Mike Bentley. Chris Morrow qualified sixth, followed by Lane Zardo, Adam Martin, Taylor Holdaway and Billy Zardo.
Ultimately, the first feature didn’t start off cleanly with the caution flying on Lap 8 for Billy Zardo for dumping fluid, followed by a second caution at Lap 9 for Kyle Passer going around. The third and final caution of the 35-lap feature fell shortly thereafter after Martin climbed the backstretch wall, with Mike Wilkinson climbing the right side of Passer in the aftermath.
At the front of the field, the story for the feature was Dwayne Baker. Baker put his No. 48 Zancor Custom Homes, G.D. Coates Used Car Superstore, McGunegill Engine Performance, Four Valley’s Excavating, Clearview Heating & Cooling, Baker Performance Parts and Nisco National Leasing Late Model out front in the early laps of the feature, never looking back en route to his first feature victory of 2016. Notably, it also marks his fifth top-10 of the season.
Gord Shepherd finished second for his 13th top-five finish of the season, followed by Mike Bentley in third with his sixth top-five of the year. Nick Goetz finished fourth for his eighth top-five of the season, while Travis Hallyburton finished fifth for his 10th top-five of the year.
Points leader Taylor Holdaway finished sixth for his 15th top-10 of 2016, followed by last week’s feature 3 winner Chris Morrow, Lane Zardo, Thayne Hallyburton and Scott Wylie.
Tom Walters finished 11th, followed by Ryan Kimball, Justin Holmes, Adam Martin, Jordan Howse, Brittney Gresel, Tyler Liscum, Paul Maltese, Billy Zardo and Al Inglis. Danny Benedict finished 21st, followed by John Lockhart, Mike Wilkinson and Kyle Passer.
The second feature started out in dramatic form with Scott Wylie, Ryan Kimball and Thayne Hallyburton going three-wide for second for a whole lap behind Tom Walters. They’d sort it out cleanly, however Chris Morrow wasn’t dealt the same fate. He’d make significant contact with the turn three wall on Lap 4, resulting in heavy damage to his car. With four laps on the board, it’d be Walters leading Kimball, Hallyburton, Wylie and Billy Zardo.
Walters continued to lead following the restart, but it’d be Wylie on the move as he’d make it up to second before the second caution flew at Lap 14 for Justin Holmes spinning, with John Lockhart hitting him afterwards. The cautions continued flying, with a third yellow flag four laps later for Lane Zardo spinning in turn one and Nick Goetz going through the grass after the field got bottled up.
While the drivers mid-pack battled, so did the drivers at the front of the field as Walters and Wylie went to war for the lead. Wylie got the jump on the Lap 18 restart, with Walters slipping back to second. Walters then slid up in front of Bentley, resulting in Bentley getting into the back of Walters, sending Walters down across Holdaway’s nose, causing Walters to get sideways and hit the inside wall fairly hard. He’d eventually slow to a stop in turn three. With this recent shake-up, Wylie still held the lead with Bentley second ahead of Taylor Holdaway, Dwayne Baker and Hallyburton.
There’d be one quick more quick yellow on the night with Jordan Howse spinning in turn two to set up a five lap dash to the checkered flag.
Scott Wylie was able to grab the advantage, beating Bentley back to the line by 0.159 seconds to put the No. 44 Holdaway Automotive, KartStart.ca, Bay Auto & Truck Parts, Wylie Racing Performance, Streamline Race Products and Double Clutch in victory lane for the first time at Sunset Speedway. Notably, Bentley’s runner-up finish marks his best finish of the 2016 thus far.
Taylor Holdaway finished third for his 13th top-five of 2016, followed by Dwayne Baker and Travis Hallyburton. Thayne Hallyburton finished sixth for his eighth top-10 of 2016, followed by Gord Shepherd, Lane Zardo, Ryan Kimball and Justin Holmes.
Tom Walters finished 11th, followed by Tyler Liscum, Billy Zardo, Al Inglis, Danny Benedict, Jordan Howse, Brittney Gresel, Paul Maltese, Nick Goetz and Adam Martin. John Lockhart finished 21st, followed by Chris Morrow.
