By Tommy Goudge (September 16, 2010) – The much-anticipated Sixth Annual Arrow Express Canadian Sprint Car Nationals take centre stage at Ohsweken Speedway starting Friday night and finishing up on Saturday. With seventy or more of the best Sprint Car teams in North America expected to compete for the top prize of $10,000 from the $70,000 purse, it’s not easy to pick who will make the feature field on Saturday night, let alone who might win it. That said, I’ll still give it my best shot and try to outline some of the names I think you’ll hear when it’s time to introduce the thirty starters of the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals A-Feature on Saturday, September 18.
FAVOURITES:
#2m Dustin Daggett (Grand Ledge, Michigan).
Daggett is one of two drivers who have qualified for all five previous Nationals features. He won both 360 Sprint Car events that he competed in at Ohsweken this season, including the Northern Summer Nationals on July 2, running his career total at the Speedway to eight. The twenty-seven year old took over the all-time lead in ASCS Sprints on Dirt series wins this year, and has thirteen total feature wins in 2010 after claiming the King of Michigan event last Friday.
#3gx Shane Stewart (Brownsburg, Indiana).
The identity of Joe Gaerte and Tim Norman’s drivers for the Nationals this year isn’t a mystery. The Oklahoma-born driver’s involvement with the team was kept a secret before last year’s event, until Stewart arrived and nearly swept the entire weekend on his way to the nine thousand dollar feature win. Stewart went on to claim the ASCS National Tour championship following his Nationals win, and has had a strong 2010 season, including a preliminary feature win at the Knoxville Nationals.
#14 Jessica Zemken (Sprakers, New York).
“JZ” was running third in the feature last year when a flat tire derailed her effort. This year the twenty-four year old is a member of Tony Stewart’s team, and now she has four-time Ohsweken feature winner Mike Woodring as crew chief. Woodring was also the winning car owner and crew chief in the 2005 Canadian Sprint Car Nationals with driver Kenny Jacobs. Jessica has five Empire Super Sprints feature wins this year.
#28fm Steve Poirier (Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil, Quebec).
The two-time Canadian Sprint Car Nationals champion had a rocky start to this season, but a win at Ohsweken on July 16 helped to turn his season around. Poirier has claimed four more wins since then and leads the Empire Super Sprints standings heading into the weekend as he tries to lock up a third ESS title.
#32 Justin Barger (Montrose, New York).
Barger sits second in Empire Super Sprints points heading into Nationals weekend. Justin took home his fourth feature win of the year and five thousand dollars by claiming Black Rock Speedway’s Fall Nationals on Saturday night. Barger’s best shot at a Canadian Nationals feature win came in 2006 when he took the lead for four laps in the middle portion of the race before getting caught up in a spectacular crash with Rick Wilson.
#39c Jason Solwold (Burlington, Washington).
Solwold is a former World of Outlaws series regular who will be making his first Nationals start this week. Solwold is no stranger to racing in Canada and swept both nights of the Gold Cup at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton in July driving the same Richard Samure-owned machine. Paul McMahan drove the #39c to third place in last year's Canadian Sprint Car Nationals. Jason has one career start at Ohsweken, which came with the World of Outlaws in 2007.
#45 Chuck Hebing (Ontario, New York).
“The Cobra” has been a bit quiet this season, but his performance in last year’s Nationals feature cannot be ignored. Hebing started eleventh and finished second last year, and said afterward he would like to have a few more laps. His wish was granted as the Nationals feature has been extended to thirty-five laps this year. Hebing sits fifth in Empire Super Sprints points with four feature wins heading into this weekend.
#51 Bryan Howland (Auburn, New York).
Howland just needs to show up to the last few races of the season, including the Nationals, to lock up his fourth ASCS Patriots tour championship. Bryan has four feature wins this season to run his career total to twenty, including two at Ohsweken. He’d like to change his luck in the Nationals though, as he’s had just one top five in five tries. Last year Howland had to weave through the pack in the Little Feature just to get into the show, then charged from twenty-eighth to finish eleventh.
#77x Randy Hannagan (San Jose, California).
“The Hurricane” is well-known in the Sprint Car world, but he’s making his first Nationals appearance this weekend. Hannagan, a Nor-Cal racer who now lives in Indiana, will be back behind the wheel of Miles Hill’s machine after driving it in World of Outlaws events last month. Randy would love to add a Canadian Nationals title to his resume, which already includes the 1995 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year award, and triumphs in the Dirt Cup, King of California series, and Western Australia Speedweek.
CONTENDERS:
#0 Glenn Styres (Ohsweken, Ontario).
“The Ohsweken Flyer” owns and promotes the Ohsweken Speedway and sits atop the all-time feature win list. Glenn won two features at Ohsweken this year to run his total to eleven, and claimed an unprecedented fourth career Southern Ontario Sprints championship. His best Nationals finish is fifteenth though, a number he’d like to improve upon. Last year Glenn was the fastest driver in qualifying, the first Canadian to do that at the Nationals.
#3g Darren Long (Elida, Ohio).
Darren's luck hasn't been great at Ohsweken, especially in the Nationals, but he's driving for last year's winning team with last year's winner as a teammate. Darren has two feature wins with the ASCS Sprints on Dirt series this year, and has spent the season on the road with the ultra-tough ASCS National Tour.
#5d Dave Dykstra (Port Colborne, Ontario).
Dykstra finished his third season driving a Sprint Car by claiming the Corr/Pak Merchandising title at Ohsweken on the strength of two feature wins. Dykstra's title will be official when he competes this weekend, and his large group of supporters will be up in the stands cheering. Dave and the team head into this weekend much better prepared than they were last year when two big crashes at the end of the season put them behind the eight ball.
#7 Kyle Moffit (South Dayton, New York).
Kyle was in the fight for the Corr/Pak Merchandising title for much of the season and ended up third in the standings. The twenty-two year old got two feature wins at Ohsweken this year, and his name has come up among fans and media alike when talk of who will do well in the Nationals comes up.
#12c Tom Huppunen (Fenwick, Ontario).
The 2009 Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car champion at Ohsweken has not had the best of seasons in 2010, though he did get one feature win. Crashes and other issues cost him any real chance at the title, and a hard flip in August nearly put the team out for the season. “The Fenwick Flyer” and car owner Fred Cade have decided to go different ways next season, and both would like nothing more than to finish their two-year tenure on a high note.
#21k Lou Kennedy, Jr. (Winnipeg, Manitoba).
Lou and son Thomas became the first drivers from Manitoba to compete at Ohsweken last year. Neither made the feature, but both have some experience at the track under their belts now and enter the weekend better prepared than last year. The veteran driver has three feature wins this year and is likely to greatly improve on last year's showing.
#35 Jared Zimbardi (Salamanca, New York).
“The Juice” will be racing with a broken nose this weekend suffered at Black Rock Speedway last Saturday night. Jared finished eleventh in the Corr/Pak Merchandising standings despite missing some races, and also won a Corr/Pak feature in August. He’s also second in the ASCS Patriots standings and claimed a win with that tour at Brockville in June.
#87 Jason Barney (Constantia, New York).
Jason and the Walton team have two runner-up finishes and a sixth place in four tries at the Nationals. Their most impressive performance may have come last year when Barney charged from the B-Main to get that sixth place in the feature. Jason has three top fives and six top tens in limited action with the Empire Super Sprints tour this year.
DARKHORSES:
#3w Ryan Grubaugh (St. Johns, Michigan).
Ryan is always fast at Ohsweken, and has a third place finish in the 2006 Nationals on his resume. This year he's joined forces with owner Jim Wohlfiel, and he sits atop the ASCS Sprints on Dirt points standings. He has yet to claim a feature win this year, but is consistently in the top five and got a third place in the Northern Summer Nationals at Ohsweken.
#6n Dain Naida (Tecumseh, Michigan).
Naida has been a semi-regular at Ohsweken this year, and got a feature win at the track on his birthday in June. Dain calls the Nationals the “best sprint car race of the season”, and looks forward to the big event each year. His best career Nationals finish was a fifth in 2007, and he got ninth last year. Dain has two ASCS Sprints on Dirt feature wins this year to go with his Corr/Pak Merchandising triumph at Ohsweken.
#9 Bobby Breen (Savannah, New York).
Bobby and Dustin Daggett are the only two drivers to have qualified for every Canadian Sprint Car Nationals feature in the five year history of the event. He got a feature win last Friday night at Black Rock Speedway, and a top five in Ohsweken's Northern Summer Nationals in July.
#21x Kevin Job (Campbellville, Ontario).
Kevin is one of the most consistent drivers at Ohsweken, and finished second in the Corr/Pak Merchandising standings for the second year in a row. He also claimed the Southern Ontario Sprints tour finale at Merrittville Speedway last Friday to continue his streak of years with at least one feature win to five in a row. Kevin still has the distinction of recording the highest finish for an Ontario driver in the Nationals – a third place in 2007.
#49t Gregg Dalman (Bellevue, Michigan).
“The Greatest Party on Dirt” brings his fun-loving attitude back to Ohsweken this weekend, but he'll have his game face on when the green flag drops. He's finished on the podium in each of his last three ASCS Sprints on Dirt tour races, including an August 18 win at Owendale, Michigan. Dalman and Ryan Grubaugh are locked in a fight for the Sprints on Dirt title which go down to the last race at I-96 Speedway on September 25.
#42w Rick Wilson (Joyceville, Ontario).
“The Joyceville Jet” has struggled to get to victory lane over the last couple of years, but the fan favourite from Eastern Ontario has seven career wins at Ohsweken. He got a feature win at Brighton Speedway in August, and said at the time that he's learned a few more setup tricks from running selected World of Outlaws and All Star series events.
#71 Travis Cunningham (Grimsby, Ontario).
The '09 rookie of the year at Ohsweken missed the first few races of this season due to engine problems, but made up for lost time with a string of podium finishes all over the province over the last month of the season. He also finished second in the Northern Summer Nationals at Ohsweken in July, and managed to finish tenth in the Corr/Pak standings despite missing races. He's also laid down some of the fastest laps of the year at the track and could be near the top in time trials.
SURPRISES:
#7x Mike Ling (Mount Brydges, Ontario).
Ling has not had the season he envisioned in his return to the dirt track ranks. Two blown engines on opening night, a huge crash in early June, and other issues resulted in a sixteenth place finish in the Corr/Pak Merchandising points. Ling has won two features on pavement this year though, and has been close to the top of the speed charts all year at Ohsweken.
#11 Chris Jones (Demorestville, Ontario).
Jones is another consistent driver who performs well no matter where he's racing or which series he's competing with. He got his first two career feature wins this year in Southern Ontario Sprints competition at Brighton Speedway.
#12 Tim Kelly (Rock Stream, New York).
Tim may have been one of the biggest surprises of last year's Nationals, as he led the first six laps of the feature before eventually fading to seventh. Tim has had a consistent season and sits third in ASCS Patriot tour points. He broke a seven year winless drought with a triumph at Eriez Speedway on September 5.
#33k Kyle Patrick (Tilbury, Ontario).
“The Tilbury Tornado” took a year off from driving but returned for a full season at Ohsweken this year, taking eighth in the championship chase. Patrick was one of the fastest cars at the track over the last two weeks of the season, and has a Twin 15 win in the 2006 Night Before the Nationals to his credit. He will be on board a Ron Hammonds owned machine for the Nationals and should emerge as a legitimate contender.
#84 Tyler Rand (Consecon, Ontario).
The 2009 Southern Ontario Sprints rookie of the year had several good showings this year, and almost got his first ever feature win at Brighton in May. Rand ended up third in the SOS tour standings, and also made stops at Ohsweken, in New York, and Quebec.
Please visit www.OhswekenSpeedway.com for more information on the Sixth Annual Arrow Express Canadian Sprint Car Nationals, which begin Friday night, September 17.
Friday's Night Before the Nationals has a full slate of racing, with Twin 15 lap features for Sprint Cars, the Village Pizza Ohsweken Shootout, and Dave McLeod Memorial Mr. Sprint Car Challenge, plus ESSO Mini Stocks and Bombers.
The weekend finishes with the big $10,000-to-win Arrow Express Canadian Sprint Car Nationals on Saturday night, September 18!
Ticket information, gate times, special Nationals coverage including the official entry list, past results and much more is all available on www.OhswekenSpeedway.com.
