PORT COLBORNE, Ont. — Paulie Colagiovanni didn’t take long to get accustomed to Humberstone Speedway. He might’ve never seen the track before, but he took the Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car series win on Friday night.
Mitch Brown and Nick Sheridan drew front row starting positions for the 25 lap A-Main, and Brown took the early lead. Traffic was looming for Brown, but a yellow flag came out when Jim Huppunen spun and collected Ryan Turner.
Brown had clear track again for the restart, with Sheridan, Colagivanni, row five starter Jordan Poirier and D.J. Christie in the top five. Brown stuck to the low side while Colagiovanni moved up high. Brown continued to keep Colagiovanni at bay until the red flag came out for Huppunen, who hit the inside guard rail and appeared to flip.
Poirier had advanced to third for the restart, but appeared to clip the inside guard rail exiting turn four. The resulting damage ended Poirier’s race and his bid to remain undefeated at Humberstone.
Colagiovanni pounced on Brown shortly after the restart and led the remainder of the race, although traffic did allow Brown to close in over the last few laps and keep the race in doubt.
The win was Colagiovanni’s third on the Knights of Thunder tour, and first away from Ohsweken Speedway.
Brown’s runner-up finish allowed him to pad his lead in the championship standings over Cory Turner and Ryan Turner. D.J. Christie rounded out the podium driving a Glenn Styres Racing entry — engine problems with his own car had previously threatened to end his season. Sheridan and Matt Farnham rounded out the top five.
Feature Results (25 Laps)
1. 10C-Paulie Colagiovanni[3]; 2. 10-Mitch Brown[1]; 3. 0J-DJ Christie[5]; 4. 45-Nick Sheridan[2]; 5. 7NY-Matt Farnham[6]; 6. 45H-Chuck Hebing[11]; 7. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 8. 90-Travis Cunningham[12]; 9. 110-Jake Brown[10]; 10. 68-Aaron Turkey[8]; 11. 88H-Josh Hansen[15]; 12. 87-Jason Barney[18]; 13. 9-Liam Martin[14]; 14. 87X-Shone Evans[7]; 15. 11J-Chris Jones[13]; 16. 13-Cory Turner[17]; 17. 84-Tyler Rand[22]; 18. 15-Ryan Turner[16]; 19. 11-Jamie Turner[21]; 20. 24-Ben Silliker[19]; 21. (DNF) 28-Jordan Poirier[9]; 22. (DNF) 14H-Jim Huppunen[20]; 23. (DNS) 19-Allan Downey; (DNS) 01K Mikey Kruchka
Bowman, Dykstra Declared Co-Winners
Mike Bowman and Jacob Dykstra were declared co-winners of the Action Sprint Tour fueled by Pinty’s Crate Sprint Car feature.
Lance Erskine and Tyeller Powless drew front row starting spots for the 25 lap feature.
The yellow flag quickly appeared when Powless and Allan Downey made contact, causing Downey to spin and collect championship contender Mathieu Bardier. The contact appeared to damage Bardier’s front end, but his crew made repairs to get him back on track.
Erskine took the lead on the restart, but Bowman quickly advanced to take the lead on lap four with championship points leader Jacob Dykstra in hot pursuit. Another yellow flag was needed for a Sheldon Bender spin, which collected John Cadman and Brian Nanticoke, and title contender Darren Dryden used the restart to take third from Erskine.
Bowman and Dykstra made daring moves in traffic as the race wound to a conclusion. Dykstra cleared several lapped cars in turns one and two on the last lap, but it appeared he was going to run out of time.
Bowman slowed to avoid Ashton VanEvery’s stopped car in turn four, which allowed Dykstra to cross under the checkered flag side-by-side with Bowman. Electronic timing and scoring showed a tie between the two down to the thousandth of a second, leading officials to declare a dead heat.
Bowman and Dykstra shared the win, while Dryden, Erskine and Powless rounded out the top five.
Feature Results (25 Laps)
T1. 71-Mike Bowman[5]; T1. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[8]; 3. 12DD-Darren Dryden[4]; 4. 88-Lance Erskine[1]; 5. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]; 6. 20-Johnny Miller[7]; 7. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[12]; 8. 31-Dale Curran[15]; 9. 19-Mathieu Bardier[6]; 10. 08-Steven Beckett[17]; 11. 39-Jonah Mutton[10]; 12. 19D-Allan Downey[3]; 13. 71C-John Cadman[16]; 14. 97-Sheldon Bender[11]; 15. BS39-Brett Stratford[9]; 16. 16X-Keegan Baker[13]; 17. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[19]; 18. 28-Cameron Thomson[20]; 19. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[18]; 20. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[14]; 21. 21-Braedan Burning[21]