OHSWEKEN, Ontario – Ohsweken Speedway finally got the season started Friday, with Dylan Westbrook winning the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars headlining feature.
Jim Huppunen and Chris Steele started on the front row for the 20-lap Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Car A-Feature. Huppunen grabbed the early lead but fourth-starting Dylan Westbrook jumped to second through the opening two corners.
The top two raced nose-to-tail until Westbrook drove under Huppunen off turn four on lap seven and had the lead at the start-finish line. The leaders had worked their way into lapped traffic and on lap nine Westbrook darted through the middle of two slower cars to hold his advantage.
A lap later at the halfway point, Steele and Mack DeMan got passed Huppunen for second and third, respectively. By lap 12, Westbrook had grown his lead to 2.9 seconds, but saw it erased after lap 13 was complete when the caution flag waved for a slowing Cole MacDonald.
There were no lapped cars between Westbrook, Steele and DeMan on the ensuing restart, but Westbrook had no problem establishing a lead again. However, the red flag was displayed on lap 14 when Mike Thorne and Scott Kreutter came together in turn two, sending both cars flipping. Both drivers were uninjured and walked away from their cars under their own power.
The restart with six laps to go proved no problem for Westbrook who drove to the victory by 1.9 seconds over Steele and DeMan. Huppunen and Cory Turner completed the top-five. The victory was Westbrook’s 23rd 360 Sprint Car triumph at Ohsweken, putting him four back of Glenn Styres’ all-time record of 27. Westbrook, Huppunen and Steele won their qualifying heat races to start the night.
Other feature winners on Friday included Liam Martin (crate sprint cars), Dave Bailey (thunder stocks) and Sean Iftody (mini stocks).