INNISFIL, Ontario — In a race that saw some of the fastest car in the province do battle, and drivers make incredible saves when completely sideways on the frontstretch, it’d be Eric Yorke coming out on top with the Fall Velocity feature victory on Sunday at Sunset Speedway.
Doug Butler won the first heat in front of Connor Maltese, Chandler Bos, Will Gibbons, Allan Lankin, Charlie Smith, Chris Pendlebury, Lisa Yorke, Dylan Bowman, Curtis Stewart, and Peter Wakeling.
The second qualifier would see Jeff Laflamme run into mechanical issues on the second lap, while Cole Burrows got into Shawn Taylor two circuits later. Josh Bullen picked up the checkered flag ahead of Eric Yorke, Matt Boyes, John Bird, Rob Harrison, Burrows, Wayde Thorne, and Madisson Tiemkamp.
Doug Butler went for the daily double in front of Gibbons, Smith, Lankin, Stewart, Bos, Wakeling, and Bowman, as both Maltese and Pendlebury fell out of contention due to issues.
Eric Yorke won the last qualifier ahead of Bird, Laflamme, Burrows, Bullen, Boyes, Thorne, Harrison, Taylor, and Tienkamp. There was a quick caution for Boyes spinning out Bullen off of turn two.
Come feature time, Doug Butler started pole ahead of Eric Yorke, Josh Bullen, Will Gibbons, John Bird, Matt Boyes, Chandler Bos, Allan Lankin, Charlie Smith, Cole Burrows, Chris Pendlebury, Connor Maltese, Jeff Laflamme, Shawn Taylor, Rob Harrison, Wayde Thorne, Curtis Stewart, Lisa Yorke, Peter Wakeling, Dylan Bowman, Karl Sault, Madisson Tienkamp, Alex Stewart, Kyle D’Antimo, Carson Nagy, Cole Quinton, Bryan Penny, and Johnny Paradzinski.
Doug Butler would get sideways off the drop of the green flag, allowing Eric Yorke to grab the early advantage ahead of Bullen and Gibbons, as Butler now battled Boyes for fourth. Butler got the spot, challenging Gibbons for third on Lap 2, and completing the pass, bringing Boyes through with him. Gibbons now ran fifth in front of Bird, Smith, Lankin, Laflamme, Bos, and Pendlebury.
The race’s first caution came out on Lap 11 for Nagy stopping in turns three and four with a broken axle. With 40 laps to go, Eric Yorke led Bullen, Butler, Boyes, Gibbons, Bird, Smith, Laflamme, Lankin, Pendlebury, Burrows, Stewart, Taylor, Lisa Yorke, Maltese, Alex Stewart, Penny, Quinton, and Paradzinski.
The restart would see a battle for the lead between Eric Yorke and Josh Bullen as Boyes moved into third in front of Butler, Smith, and Bird. Yorke held serve, but it wouldn’t last, with Bullen tagging Yorke’s bumper on Lap 14. This would allow Matt Boyes to grab the lead with Yorke now second ahead of Butler, as Bullen battled Gibbons for fourth in front of Bird.
Bullen held Gibbons off, as Laflamme challenged Bird for sixth in front of Smith. The battle for sixth turned ugly, as Bird would end up spun around in turn one courtesy of contact from Smith for the second caution at Lap 20. Under the yellow flag, Laflamme would receive a mechanical back flag. With 31 laps to go, Boyes led Eric Yorke, Butler, Bullen, Gibbons, Lankin, Pendlebury, Stewart, Quinton, Paradzinski, Taylor, and Lisa Yorke.
The restart would see Burrows have issues, resulting in Harrison bouncing off the frontstretch wall as he tried to go around without contact. This would result in the yellow flag returning for the third time due to debris on the surface.
The second attempt was clean, with Eric Yorke retaking the top spot ahead of Boyes, as Butler and Bullen battled for third in front of Gibbons, Quinton, and Pendlebury. Butler took the spot, with Paradzinski getting around Pendlebury for seventh, as Lankin ran ninth in front of Stewart and Lisa Yorke.
Bullen would challenge Butler back for third on Lap 27, with Paradzinski getting alongside Quinton for sixth. However, the fourth caution came out for Smith jacking Bos up on the frontstretch, as Bos battled three-wide with Laflamme and Stewart.
Eric Yorke got a good restart, leading the rest of the way en route to picking up the checkered flag in front of Matt Boyes, Doug Butler, Josh Bullen, and Will Gibbons. Cole Quinton finished sixth, followed by Johnny Paradzinski, Chris Pendlebury, Allan Lankin, and Lisa Yorke.
Categories: mini stocks, Race Reports, Sunset Speedway