By Brent Otchere
OHSWEKEN, Ont. (July 7, 2023) – Strickland’s Presented Bicycle Night on Friday at Ohsweken Speedway; Mike Bowman took the Oakwood Transport Action Sprint Tour West Series A-Main win.
John Cadman and Tanner Podwinski brought the 24 car field to the green flag for the 25 lap Crate Sprint Car A-Main. Mack DeMan blasted into the front, leading the first lap after starting from the fourth position. Jesse Costa and Brett Stratford both came to a stop separately on the track to bring out the yellow flag. Stratford had to retire from the race after suffering major damage on the first lap, losing valuable points towards his championship efforts. Cautions bred cautions, as Tyler Willard and Johnny Miller collided on the restart. Lap four had yet another caution as Cam MacKinnon came to a stop.
The race finally saw some green flag racing with Mack DeMan was commanding a major lead, encountering traffic by the tenth lap. The final caution came out due to a stopped A.J. Lewis on turn two. DeMan had a great restart along with Mike Bowman and the two showcased an epic race to the end. Bowman took the lead over DeMan with six laps left to go, which turned out to be the winning move. DeMan settled for a second place finish, while Cadman finished in third, Steve Murdock fourth, and Darrell Pelletier rounded out the top five. DeMan now leads the Strickland’s Crate Sprint Car track championship standings over Costa by 67 points.
Oakwood Transport Action Sprint Tour West (36 Entries)
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 71-Mike Bowman[3]; 2. 4-Mack DeMan[4]; 3. 71C-John Cadman[1]; 4. 2M-Steve Murdock[22]; 5. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[8]; 6. 72-Tanner Podwinski[2]; 7. 74-Rob Neely[6]; 8. 45-Curtis Gartly[9]; 9. 2S-Al Sleight[10]; 10. 52-Jesse Costa[5]; 11. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[21]; 12. 14-Larry Gledhill[12]; 13. 88-Lance Erskine[16]; 14. 3S-Austin Roes[15]; 15. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[13]; 16. 28-Cameron Thomson[24]; 17. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[20]; 18. 00-Greg Smulders[19]; 19. (DNF) 24A-AJ Lewis[23]; 20. (DNF) 21-Treyten Lapcevich[17]; 21. (DNF) 20-Johnny Miller[11]; 22. (DNF) 777A-Tyler Willard[18]; 23. (DNF) BS39-Brett Stratford[7]; 24. (DNS) 29W-Tyler Ward
Hard Charger – Steve Murdock +18
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – 2:04.428
1. 71-Mike Bowman[1]; 2. 74-Rob Neely[6]; 3. 3S-Austin Roes[3]; 4. 88-Lance Erskine[5]; 5. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[2]; 6. 24A-AJ Lewis[4]; 7. 70MM-Gabby Darling[8]; 8. 420-Victor Bomberry[7]; 9. (DNS) 2-Travis Hofstetter
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 4-Mack DeMan[2]; 2. 72-Tanner Podwinski[3]; 3. 21-Treyten Lapcevich[1]; 4. 777A-Tyler Willard[4]; 5. 45-Curtis Gartly[9]; 6. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[6]; 7. 2M-Steve Murdock[8]; 8. 97-Sheldon Bender[5]; 9. 69K-Ken Hamilton[7]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – 2:08.854
1. BS39-Brett Stratford[1]; 2. 4B-Darrell Pelletier[2]; 3. 20-Johnny Miller[4]; 4. 00-Greg Smulders[3]; 5. 14-Larry Gledhill[8]; 6. 94-Ryan Fraser[5]; 7. 16X-Keegan Baker[7]; 8. 28-Cameron Thomson[6]; 9. (DNS) 99-Joshua Hill
Heat Race 4 [Started] 8 laps – 2:11.680
1. 52-Jesse Costa[5]; 2. 2S-Al Sleight[1]; 3. 29W-Tyler Ward[3]; 4. 71C-John Cadman[7]; 5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[8]; 6. 14W-Greg Wilson[2]; 7. MK8-Matt Hill[6]; 8. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[4]; 9. 11W-Jeremy May[9]
B-Main [Started] 12 laps – NT
1. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[2]; 2. 2M-Steve Murdock[6]; 3. 24A-AJ Lewis[1]; 4. 28-Cameron Thomson[11]; 5. 97-Sheldon Bender[10]; 6. 94-Ryan Fraser[3]; 7. 69K-Ken Hamilton[14]; 8. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[12]; 9. 16X-Keegan Baker[7]; 10. 70MM-Gabby Darling[5]; 11. 420-Victor Bomberry[9]; 12. 11W-Jeremy May[16]; 13. (DNF) 14W-Greg Wilson[4]; 14. (DNF) 2-Travis Hofstetter[13]; 15. (DNS) MK8-Matt Hill; 16. (DNS) 99-Joshua Hill