Photo credit: Captivate Images
LAIRD TWP, ONTARIO-
It was as close to a full moon as it could have been at Laird Raceway last evening (July 18), when the thrills and spills returned to the 1/3 mile.
Fifty-six cars made their way pitside in five divisions and fans flocked to the 1/3 mile for the third event of the season.
Qualifying started by seeing Chase Wilson dip the Super Late Model division into the 13-second bracket for the first time this season with a blistering lap of 13.920.
JP Delpaggio was fastest by a mere 3 hundredths of a second in the Modified Division setting the mark at 15.304.
Jay Palumbo made his season debut in the Factory Stock Division and quickest to start the night with a lap of 15.988 while Dyllen Sherrard was fast qualifier in the Four Cylinder Division with a lap-speed of 17.115.
After the preliminary heat races and intermission events complete in fairly quick order, the features would take to the track around 8:30 PM and it was the Lakeway Automotive Factory Stock feature that highlighted the night and left fans on their feet.
Fast qualifier Jay Palumbo (91, Goulais River ON) and Brad Bibeau (80, Sault Ste. Marie ON) both started deep in the field and put on an epic finish to their 20-lap feature.
The latter Bibeau was leading with Palumbo chasing him down and looking to the outside as they approached heavy lap traffic.
An incident with just a few laps to go would result in caution and both cars retaining their first and second positions on the field on the restart.
As the white flag flew the two veteran pilots side-by-side for nearly the entire circuit of the track and the race would be determined at the line in favour of Palumbo.
Bibeau finished second while his brother Daniel Bibeau (08, Sault Ste. Marie ON) rounded out the top 3.
LAKEWAY AUTOMOTIVE FACTORY STOCK DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS
1. 91 Jay Palumbo 2. 80 Brad Bibeau 3. 08 Daniel Bibeau 4. 12 Owen Brown. 5. 4 Dale Tucker. 6. 51 Jamie Fox. 7. 77X Ed Lapish. 8. 88 Rob Wagner. 9. 29 Xavier Carter 10. 57 Rick Ellis 11. 15 Andrew Givens
Heat 1 Winner - 08 Daniel Bibeau
Heat 2 Winner - 80 Brad Bibuea
Ten Super Late Models took the green flag for their feature event but it was an unfortunate incident on just lap 2 would result in a trio of drivers - Jordan Sims (47, Sault Ste. Marie ON) , John Ross (01, Echo Bay ON) and Jordan Parniak (826, Sault Ste. Marie ON) being forced to retire pitside.
When action resumed, fast qualifier Chase Wilson (77, Sault Ste. Marie ON) continued his perfect season and made it three-for-three with the feature win despite being chased by veterans Jeremy Van Hoek (51, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Dustin Jackson (61, Sault Ste. Marie ON).
Notably the division saw three drivers make their debut Thursday in Tyler Praysner (05), Jordan Rocchetta (33) and Ryan Rocchetta (15).
SERVICE RENTALS AND SALES SUPER LATE MODEL DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS
1. 77 Chase Wilson 2. 51 Jeremy Van Hoek. 3. 61 Dustin Jackson. 4. 20 Mike Hearty. 5. 15 Ryan Rocchetta. 6. 05 Tyler Praysner. 7. 826 Jordan Parniak. 8. 47 Jordan Sims. 9. 01 John Ross
DNS - 33 Jordan Rocchetta
Heat Race Winner - 61 Dustin Jackson
The night would see three different race winners in the NAPA Reyco Automotive Modified Division and a new feature winner on the season.
Defending track champion Jason Herrington (78, Thessalon ON) would be the first this summer to dethrone Jerry Ross (01, Echo Bay ON) who had won back-to-back main events.
Herrington withstood the pressure of JP Delpaggio (22, Sault Ste. Marie ON) and Mark Laakso (84, Echo Bay ON) to find his way to victory lane while the other two followed closely in the P2 and P3 spots.
NAPA REYCO AUTOMOTIVE MODIFIED DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS
1. 78 Jason Herrington. 2. 22 JP Delpaggio. 3. 84 Mark Laakso. 4. 01 Jerry Ross. 5. 7 Terrence Devon. 6. 28 Mark Porpealia. 7. 15 Chris Miller. 8. 21 Jake Irwin
DNF - 20 Matt Lewis
Heat Race 1 Winner - 7 Terrence Devon
Heat Race 2 Winner - 22 JP Delpaggio
It was all the Viotto brothers in the Northland Autobody Four Cylinder Division.
After both Christopher and Gianni won a heat apiece, the Sault Ste. Marie duo would be on a mission come the divisions 20-lap feature.
Starting side-by-side in row three, the Sault Ste. Marie brother duo rocketed out to the top two spots and managed their way through some lap traffic before Gianni Viotti captured his first career feature win.
Christopher Viotto was second while Shuan Desjardins (17) finished a solid third place.
It was the third different feature winner in three weeks at Laird.
NORTHLAND AUTOBODY FOUR CYLINDER DIVISION FEATURE RESULTS
1. 7 Gianni Viotto. 2. 24 Christopher Viotto. 3. 17 Shaun Desjardins. 4. 51 Kenn Schwarz. 5. 21 Daryl Whitmel. 6. 38F Dylan Couturier. 7. 8 Alex Lapensee. 8. 4 Kayleigh Tucker. 9. 16 Dyllen Sherrard 10.6 Wayne Devon
DSN -22 Shanna Harten,42 Jack Lannigan
Heat Race 1 Winner - 24 Christopher Viotto
Heat Race 2 Winner - Gianni Viotto
Chuck Siddel entertained the fans and captured a photo finish victory over Al Lowen in the Algoma Lawn Mower Association feature on the infield dirt oval at intermission.
While Eric Sylvestre (44) finished nearly two-seconds ahead of his closest competitor in the AIM Recylcing Enduro feature event to cap off the night for his first win of the season.
Two-time feature winner Dylan Connolly (86) finished second while Jon Hill (83) ended in the third position.
'Thursday Night Thunder' returns to Laird Raceway this coming Thursday, July 25th.
Time trials at 6 PM with racing to follow at 7:15 PM.
For further information visit their website at www.lairdraceway.com or visit the track Facebook page (lairdraceway).
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