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Bicknell Claims Winger Memorial 50 at Merrittville

By Dave Sully

(Thorold, Ontario) With rain blanketing the area early and a stray shower interrupting proceedings during the evening, Merrittville Speedway was able to complete the program, with Pete Bicknell’s win in the Modified 50 lap Gerry Winger Memorial and the induction of two new members to the Wall of fame the highlights on Saturday, July 24^th. Bicknell, from St. Catharines, was able to hold off a determined Mat Williamson early and a last lap charge by Chad Chevalier to turn the trick.

Todd Gordon set the early pace from the outside pole, surrendering the lead to Williamson, just before a lap five caution, which saw Rob Pietz make heavy contact with the front stretch wall after contact with Rick Richner.

The restart saw Bicknell, who started twelfth, courtesy of the redraw, now lying fourth. He wasted no time, moving to second when the race resumed, and then taking the lead on lap nine, after stalking Williamson for three laps. Williamson did not go quietly, hanging with Bicknell and actually getting under him in turn four on lap seventeen, but couldn’t complete the pass.

Bicknell finally opened a lead, but entered lap traffic on lap 38, which allowed Chevalier, who had gotten by Williamson on lap 26, to inch closer. He chased Bicknell through the slower cars and was able to close on the leader, but not enough. At the line, it was Bicknell by less than a car length over Chevalier, followed by Williamson, using a borrowed motor after his blew up in practice Thursday, Mike Bowman, and Scott Wood, who came from seventeenth, to round out the top five.

Bicknell, who turned a few laps on the grader during the rain delay, noted, “Chad was right there. I knew he was there. I could hear him. The car kept getting looser, so I’m glad I got to the front quick because the top was going away a little bit and I didn’t want to hit the cushion too heavy because I was afraid of loading the right rear with mud. Then you get a vibration. I heard that was what happened to some of the other guys. All in all, it was a great night.”

Chevalier commented, “It was a good run. We’re not usually that good on tacky tracks, but we through something at it and it worked. I was trying to get Pete there at the end, but didn’t have enough laps. I tired to run as hard as I could every lap and that’s how it ended up.”

Williamson, in addition to running a borrowed motor, revealed, “We just put this motor in today. I’d go into the corner and have an extra two seconds of throttle, so I had to get it into my head not to hop the cushion. It wasn’t a major problem, but it was enough that when I was running the outside that I did hop the cushion. I think it hurt us. I did it four or five times, and you can’t have mistakes like that here, but I’ll take third any night.”

The 25 lap Sportsman Feature had a dramatic ending as, Greg Panunte, from Pt. Colborne, took the lead from Jamie Gilbert, who had led the entire race, on the white flag lap and went on to the win. The two had sparred mightily for the previous five laps before Panunte finally eased in front. Gilbert settled for second.

Other winners were Graham McKay, from Welland, who took the lead on lap three and cruised to the win in the Hoosier Stocks, Josh Sliter, from Ridgeway, who came from twelfth in the Mod Lites, and Garnet Wilson, from Canfield, who wired the field in the Mini Stocks.

NOTES: Two new members were inducted into the prestigious Merrittville Wall of Fame in a ceremony before the racing program. Car owner Al Willard, father of sportsman stars Bill Willard Jr. and Tammy Willard and integral part of the famed “Willard Clan,” that also includes son-in-law Guy McPherson, Tyler McPherson, and current drivers BJ Willard, and Cody McPherson was the first. The other was racing pioneer driver, Bob Hatt, who began racing at the Speedway in 1952………… It was important that Merrittville try to get the show in on Saturday, as there was some criticism of an early cancellation the week before, which saw threatening weather dissipate shortly after they called the show, despite weather forecasts of severe weather. Such are the trials and tribulations of promoting racing. Rain fell during the first Hooiser stock heat, resulting in about and hour and a half delay, after which the program proceeded without incident.

Gerry Winger Memorial Modified: (50 laps)

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown	Race Points
1	12	42	Pete Bicknell	St. Catharines, On	60.00
2	8	12	Chad Chevalier	Port Colborne, On	56.00
3	3	6	Mat Williamson	St. Catharines, On	52.00
4	6	71	Mike Bowman	St. Catharines, On	50.00
5	17	38	Scott Wood	Thorold , On	48.00
6	2	1	Todd Gordon	St. Catharines, On	46.00
7	5	76	Travis Braun	St. Catharines, On	44.00
8	15	96	Fred Carleton	Niagara On, On	42.00
9	21	17C	Chris Steele	Fenwick , On	40.00
10	1	26	Rick Richner	Niagara Falls, NY	38.00
11	13	108	Bill Bleich	Port Robinson, On	36.00
12	11	52	James Friesen	St. Catharines, On	34.00
13	18	15J	Tim Jones	Sanborn , Ny	32.00
14	25	82	Kenny Winfield	Ridgeway , On	30.00
15	16	88	Shayne Pierce	Welland , On	28.00
16	20	13	Dennis Giancola	St. Catharines, On	27.00
17	19	08	Mark D'ilario	Smithville , On	26.00
18	9	83	Darren Latimer	Australia	25.00
19	24	16W	Derek Wutzke	Fenwick , On	24.00
20	22	71S	Shawn Sliter	Port Colborne, On	23.00
21	10	37	Boyd Mactavish	Ransomville , NY	22.00
22	4	72	Tommy Flannigan	St. Catharines, On	21.00
23	7	69	Rob Pietz	Port Colborne, On	20.00
24	23	8S	Justin Sharp	St. Catharines, On	10.00
25	14	1F	Adam Ferri	Port Colborne, On	0.00
Heat winners were Richner, Pietz, and Latimer.

Sportsman - LOWRS Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown	Race Points
1	5	99P	Greg Panunte	Port Colborne, On	60.00
2	2	53X	Jamie Gilbert	Welland , On	56.00
3	3	2K	Rob Knapp	Niagara Falls, On	52.00
4	13	06	Brandon Easey	St. Catharines, On	50.00
5	6	MR18	Brad Rouse	St. Catharines, On	48.00
6	8	99C	Nick Cupolo	Thorold , On	46.00
7	10	21JJ	Jim Johnstone	Niagara On, On	44.00
8	7	77JR	Bj Willard	St. Catharines, On	42.00
9	9	7	Cody Mcpherson	St. Catharines, On	40.00
10	16	9	Paul Gaboury	Welland , On	38.00
11	11	95	Len Dignard	Sherkson , On	36.00
12	4	38	Ryan Susice	Ransomville , NY	34.00
13	12	M1	Rob Murray	St. Catharines, On	32.00
14	1	53	Richard Farraway	Hamilton , On	30.00
15	20	68P	Paul Jorgensen	Binbrook , On	28.00
16	15	69P	Bill Podwinski	Caistor Centre, On	27.00
17	14	14	Paul Williamson	Brampton , On	26.00
18	18	26H	Luke Carleton	Port Colborne, On	25.00
19	17	15	Adam Leslie	Port Colborne, On	24.00
20	19	69X	James Mercer	Grimsby , On	10.00
Heat winners were Cupolo and Susice.

Hoosier Stocks - LOWRS Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown	Race Points
1	3	85	Graham Mackay	Welland , On	60.00
2	5	2	Al Sleight	Fenwick , On	56.00
3	1	90	Vince Fargnoli	Niagara Falls, On	52.00
4	13	21	Paul Wichert	Allanburg , On	50.00
5	11	4K	Kevin Knapp	Thorold , On	48.00
6	8	25	Ken Sargent	Smithville , On	46.00
7	17	3	Kevin Aube	St. Catharines, On	44.00
8	10	16	Brent Begolo	Thorold , On	42.00
9	18	27	Dolf Mccready	St. Catharines, On	40.00
10	4	97	Ron Loggie	Cooks Mills, On	38.00
11	15	1J	Jason Fontaine	Port Colborne, On	36.00
12	21	8	Ryan Dinning	Caledonia , On	34.00
13	22	710	Mike Dooley	St. Catharines, On	32.00
14	9	31	Barry Blanchard	Welland , On	30.00
15	23	08JR	Shawn Wilson	Port Robinson, On	28.00
16	24	10	Mike Calaguiro	Niagara Falls, On	27.00
17	6	05	Pete Reid	Stevensville , On	26.00
18	7	108	Billy Bleich Jr	Port Robinson, On	25.00
19	2	34	Ron Macaulay	St. Catharines, On	24.00
20	20	K51	Ed Mcnamara	Sherkston , On	23.00
21	14	19	Charlie Lynch	St. Catharines, On	22.00
22	19	14	James Thompson	St. Catharines, On	21.00
23	16	16B	Brett Robins	Port Robinson, On	20.00
24	12	9	Tyler Anderson	St. Catharines, On	10.00
25	25	39	Isaac Pelisseo	-	10.00
Heat winners were Fargnoli, Begolo, and McKay.

Open Wheel Lites - LOWRS Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown	Race Points
1	12	17	Josh Sliter	Ridgeway , On	60.00
2	13	1	Paul Klager	Beamsville , On	56.00
3	5	77	Randy Hollingshead	Stoney Creek, On	0.00
4	4	2EZ	Blair Young	Niagara Falls, On	50.00
5	6	87	Ryan Grady	Beamsville , On	48.00
6	7	5C	Jordan Curran	Welland , On	46.00
7	1	117	Derek Bredin	Niagara Falls, On	44.00
8	10	33	Kory Howe	St. Catharines, On	42.00
9	8	76	Dan Kviring	Brantford , On	40.00
10	3	116	Bob Bredin	Niagara Falls, On	38.00
11	16	91	Derek Moore	Welland , On	36.00
12	2	4	Greg Mills	Niagara Falls, On	34.00
13	14	82	Mark Brighton	Ariss , On	32.00
14	11	14	Kellie Mason	St. Catharines, On	30.00
15	9	27	Ray Sliter Jr	Ridgeway , On	28.00
16	15	18	Andy Tallman	Vineland , On	27.00

Heat winners were Josh Sliter and Grady.

4 Cylinders - LOWRS Feature

Finish	Start	Car	Driver	Hometown	Race Points
1	2	71	Garnet Wilson	Canfield , On	60.00
2	1	12	Tony Kelly	Niagara Falls, On	56.00
3	3	38	Austin Wood	Thorold , On	52.00
4	8	48	Rob Overholt	Fort Erie, On	50.00
5	13	7W	Aaron Wiley	Wellandport , On	48.00
6	14	6	Trevor Goulding	Welland , On	46.00
7	12	34	Rocco Conte	Welland , On	44.00
8	6	07	Jocelyn Wiley	Wellandport , On	42.00
9	9	17	Chris Laskey	Welland , On	40.00
10	4	33	Greg Wilson	Canfield , On	38.00
11	10	8	Terry Larmet	St. Catharines, On	36.00
12	5	47X	Kyle Pelrine	Beamsville , On	34.00
13	17	88	Brandon Boychuck	Welland , On	32.00
14	19	99	Sam Rodgers	Thorold , On	30.00
15	7	5	Damian Gore	Fort Erie, On	28.00
16	15	4	Jason Coutu	St. Catharines, On	27.00
17	11	16	Robert Goulding	Port Colborne, On	26.00
18	16	11	Mike Giberson	Caledonia , On	10.00
19	18	8L	Tim Gilby	Thorold , On	10.00
Heat winners were Overholt and Wood.