Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
In perhaps one of the most drama filled St. Onge Recreation Super Stock features in a long time, it’d be Lane Zardo scoring the feature victory after starting from the 16th spot.
The night started off with problems for Troy Jones and Bryan Penny as they’d pull off early in the first heat. The first event also featured a couple cautions, perhaps a sign to come for the night, as Dustyn Mombourquette would spin Candiss Everingham mid-race, while Stan Coe and Dan Archibald spun on the last lap. Matt Bentley would go on to win ahead of Adam Martin, Cayden Lapcevich, Luke Gignac, Nick Tooley, Randy Rusnell, Jade Franklin, Mombourquette, Archibald, Coe and Everingham.
The second heat did not run any cleaner as Ryan Semple would make contact with Lane Zardo on the start before going around, and collecting Tyler Liscum (pictured left) in the process. Then on the restart, Johnny Morrison slid up, making contact with Zardo; Morrison would be done with a flat tire while Zardo managed to save it and continue. Zardo would go on to score the victory ahead of Liscum, Semple, Chris Howse, Mike Weeda, Coltin Everingham, Dwight Bell, Brendan Adams, Chris Allard and Ric Watson.
The b-main would also feature a caution as Watson went for the spin on lap eight in turn four; Keith Temple would pull off with a problem mid-race. Coltin Everingham would score the victory ahead of Archibald, Franklin, Morrison, Coe, Adams, Allard, Mombourquette, Watson and Candiss Everingham.
Matt Bentley would win the fast qualifier’s dash ahead of Zardo, Lapcevich, Martin, Semple, Liscum, Weeda, Rusnell, Gignac, Bell and Howse.
Come feature time, it’d be Mike Weeda starting on pole behind the wheel of the No. 6 Humberview Farms, Kenspin Ltd., Cedar Lawn Farms and Ken Lawnmower Repair Mustang ahead of Adam Martin, Randy Rusnell, Jade Franklin, Luke Gignac, Tyler Liscum, Chris Howse, Ryan Semple, Dan Archibald, Coltin Everingham, Johnny Morrison, Matt Bentley, Cayden Lapcevich, Dwight Bell, Lane Zardo, Stan Coe, Brendan Adams, Phil Allard, Ric Watson, Candiss Everingham and Dustyn Mombourquette.
Weeda would get a good start, grabbing the advantage ahead of Martin, Rusnell, Gignac, Howse, Archibald and Semple. The first battle off the drop of the green would be for eighth between Franklin and Liscum, while Mombourquette pitted at lap three. Liscum would grab eighth, but was then challenged by Lapcevich for the spot at lap four. Lapcevich would complete the pass a lap later.
At the front, Rusnell (pictured right) would catch Martin for the second spot, getting alongside him on lap five. The pair would run side-by-side over the next couple of laps, with Rusnell clearing Martin for the spot. Gignac would then get alongside Martin for third, with the pair battling till the first caution flew at lap 10. Archibald and Lapcevich were running side-by-side for position when they came up on the lap car of Candiss Everingham; Archibald then pushed Lapcevich up out of the groove, causing a flat tire for the defending series champion. With 21 laps to go, Weeda led Rusnell, Martin, Gignac, Howse, Semple, Zardo, Archibald, Liscum, Bentley, Morrison, Franklin, Bell, Adams, Coltin Everingham, Coe, Allard, Watson, Penny and Candiss Everingham.
Weeda would get a good restart to maintain the lead, while Martin would get alongside Rusnell for second. His chance at grabbing the spot would be caught short, though, as the second caution flew for Adams getting sideways on the backstretch. The restart would bring a battle for the lead between Weeda and Rusnell with the pair running side-by-side till the caution flew again at lap 12 for Bell spinning. Bell’s incident started about a lap prior when Zardo and Archibald made contact. The pair made contact going into turn one, causing Archibald to slow up and become a ping pong as he fell back a couple spots in the field. He would first made contact with Liscum on the frontstretch, before sending Bell around in turn two. With 18 laps to go, Weeda led Rusnell, Martin, Gignac, Semple, Lapcevich, Bentley, Howse, Liscum, Coe and Franklin.
The restart allowed Weeda and Rusnell to resume their battle for the lead, only to be stalled again as Gignac would go around in turn four, collecting Bell in the process. The second attempt at a restart was not much better, resulting in the fifth caution. Adams would go around, with Gignac going around shortly after; Archibald would be warned for aggressive driving in the process.
The restart allowed Weeda to grab the lead while Martin, Rusnell and Zardo ran three-wide for second. Zardo would come out with the spot, while Martin battled three-wide with Bentley and Semple as Rusnell fell back a couple spots. Martin would hold off the pair to keep third, with Bentley holding fourth ahead of Semple. Bentley would then get alongside Martin for third at lap 17.
Back at the front, though, Zardo was able to track down Weeda, getting alongside him for the lead at lap 18. However, the caution would then fly as Morrison hit the turn one wall – done for the evening. With 13 laps to go, Weeda led Zardo, Bentley, Martin, Semple, Lapcevich, Liscum, Rusnell, Coe, Howse, Coltin Everingham, Bell, Archibald, Adams, Franklin, Allard, Watson and Candiss Everingham.
The first attempt at a restart would result in the seventh caution as Adams would get pushed out. The second attempt went smoother with Zardo grabbing the lead on lap behind the wheel of the No. 46 Holmes on Holmes, National Exhaust and Shelby Roofing Monte Carlo while Weeda battled Bentley for second. Bentley would grab the second spot on lap 22, with Lapcevich following him through for third. Weeda now ran fourth ahead as Martin and Semple battled for fifth. Semple would grab the spot with five laps to go ahead of Martin, Liscum, Rusnell, Coe, Bell and Archibald.
Archibald was working on passing Bell for the 10th spot when he caught the lap car of Candiss Everingham. He would try to force the issue, resulting in Everingham going for the spin and the eighth caution of the night. With four laps to go, Zardo led Bentley, Lapcevich, Weeda, Semple, Martin, Liscum, Rusnell, Coe, Bell, Howse, Coltin Everingham, Franklin, Allard, Watson, Archibald, Adams and Candiss Everingham.
The restart would bring forth a side-by-side battle between Zardo and Bentley. As the pair headed into turn one, Lapcevich would make slight contact with Zardo’s back bumper, causing him to make contact with Bentley. The result would be both Zardo and Bentley going up the track sliding, with both drivers managing to keep their cars off of the wall and going straight. The contact would cause a ripple effect through the field, with other drivers sliding sideways, resulting in the ninth caution of the night.
The first attempt at a restart wouldn’t go smoothly, resulting in the 1-th caution as Franklin and Watson would go around in turn two. Watson would be done for the night.
The second attempt at a restart went smoothly with Lane Zardo getting a good restart to claim the victory and start off the season with a pair of top-two finishes. Matt Bentley finished second for his first top-five of the season, followed by last week’s winner Cayden Lapcevich, Ryan Semple and Mike Weeda. Adam Martin finished sixth, topping last week’s eighth place finish, followed by Tyler Liscum, Stan Coe, Randy Rusnell, Chris Howse, Coltin Everingham, Dwight Bell, Jade Franklin, Dan Archibald and Candiss Everingham.
