Photo by Dale Calnan/www.imagefactor.ca
By Tommy Goudge
PORT COLBORNE, Ont. (October 2, 2021) – Allan Downey was in the right place at the right time on Saturday night at Humberstone Speedway. Downey inherited the lead in the second night of The Fall Classic after an incident on lap 19. The university professor stayed up front to claim his first Pinty’s Action Sprint Tour win of the season and cut into Jacob Dykstra’s championship points lead in the process.
Brett Stratford and Rob Neely drew front row starting positions for the 25 lap A-Main, and Stratford took the lead with Darren Dryden in tow. Those two opened a gap on the field while Neely, Downey, Austin Roes, Dykstra, and Lucas Smith raced closely for spots in the top five. Dryden was just about to mount a challenge for the lead on lap eight when an Ashton VanEvery spin brought out the yellow flag.
Stratford continued to hold Dryden off after the restart, while Dykstra took over third from Neely and began to reel in the two leaders. Dykstra then went after the second position, but Dryden fought off the challenges as the leaders began to approach traffic. Both drivers closed in on Stratford as the traffic became heavy, and a wild exchange on lap 15 ended with Dykstra making contact with Matt Hill; Dykstra’s car suffered suspension damage as a result of the contact, and the situation went from bad to worse for Dykstra when his left front wheel went under the inside guardrail and did even more damage.
A new challenger went after Dryden and Stratford after the restart, as Lucas Smith had inherited third from Dykstra. Downey had fallen outside the top five at that point, but began to move forward again while Nick Sheridan stayed close behind Smith. Smith slid Dryden for the second position with ten laps to go and worked to track down Stratford, while Sheridan and Dryden raced for third.
Smith was right behind Stratford with seven laps to go and made slight contact with Stratford’s rear nerf bar in turn one; it was enough to send Stratford into a spin, and Dryden got the worst of the resulting chain reaction as he was collected by Stratford’s spinning car end flipped end-over-end in turn two. Sheridan also caught a piece of the incident and suffered minor top wing damage, but he and Stratford both kept moving while the red flag came out for Dryden.
Officials determined that Downey, who was running fifth at the time of the incident, was the first non-involved car and he was given the lead for the restart while Smith was sent to the rear. Stratford and Sheridan were given the second and third positions for the restart, while Dale Curran and Rob Neely inherited top five positions. Meanwhile, Dykstra’s crew had made repairs and he rejoined the race several laps down. Dykstra’s bad night continued when he and Ryan Hunsinger tangled in turn three, which resulted in more damage to Dykstra’s front end and finished his night.
Downey cruised to the win by 1.2 seconds after the final restart, while Stratford and Sheridan nursed their damaged cars home to finish second and third. Curran took fourth after starting in row six, while Dereck Lemyre made a late charge to take a top five in the final race of his lengthy career. Eric Gledhill, Neely, Jonah Mutton, Joshua Hill, and Dan Nanticoke rounded out the top ten. Heat races wins were claimed by Dykstra, Roes, and Downey, each earning $100 from the Friday Night Thunder TV crew.
Jacob Dykstra’s lead in the championship standings now stands at 32 points over Allan Downey, while Nick Sheridan is a further 36 points back in third. Eric Gledhill is 15 points behind Sheridan, followed by Brett Stratford, Lucas Smith, Rob Neely, Darren Dryden, Dereck Lemyre, and Dale Curran.
The Action Sprint Tour will finish the 2021 season and crown a champion at Brockville Ontario Speedway’s Fall Nationals weekend coming up on Friday, October 15 and Saturday, October 16. Visit www.actionsprinttour.com for more information.
Pinty’s Action Sprint Tour Crate Sprint Car Series
Race Report – Saturday, October 2, 2021
Humberstone Speedway
Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada
Roster
2M Steve Murdock – Georgetown, Ontario
3S Austin Roes – Mossley, Ontario
5D Jacob Dykstra – Port Colborne, Ontario
7 Eric Gledhill – Thamesford, Ontario
MK8 Matt Hill – Ohsweken, Ontario
9C Brian Nanticoke – Ohsweken, Ontario
12DD Darren Dryden – Freelton, Ontario
19D Allan Downey – Waterloo, Ontario
20 Johnny Miller – Six Nations, Ontario
31 Dale Curran – Bowmanville, Ontario
38 Derek Miller – Six Nations, Ontario
39 Jonah Mutton – Brighton, Ontario
BS39 Brett Stratford – Wainfleet, Ontario
45 Nick Sheridan – Mount Brydges, Ontario
48 Lance Erskine – Brantford, Ontario
49L Lucas Smith – Brantford, Ontario
50LS Adrian Stahle – Kitchener, Ontario
51 Trevor Young – Ancaster, Ontario
52 Ryan Hunsinger – Stouffville, Ontario
56 Dereck Lemyre – Hamilton, Ontario
70MM Dave McKnight – Brampton, Ontario
74 Rob Neely – Rockwood, Ontario
77E Ashton VanEvery – Ohsweken, Ontario
77T Tyeller Powless – Ohsweken, Ontario
94 Ryan Fraser – Rockwood, Ontario
99 Joshua Hill – Ohsweken, Ontario
Heat Race 1 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 5D-Jacob Dykstra[2]; 2. 45-Nick Sheridan[1]; 3. 56-Dereck Lemyre[4]; 4. 31-Dale Curran[5]; 5. 7-Eric Gledhill[7]; 6. 99-Joshua Hill[3]; 7. 50LS-Adrian Stahle[9]; 8. 94-Ryan Fraser[8]; 9. 20-Johnny Miller[6]
Heat Race 2 [Started] 8 laps – 2:08.676
1. 3S-Austin Roes[1]; 2. 74-Rob Neely[5]; 3. BS39-Brett Stratford[7]; 4. 49L-Lucas Smith[9]; 5. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[2]; 6. 48-Lance Erskine[6]; 7. 52-Ryan Hunsinger[3]; 8. 38-Derek Miller[8]; 9. MK8-Matt Hill[4]
Heat Race 3 [Started] 8 laps – NT
1. 19D-Allan Downey[1]; 2. 12DD-Darren Dryden[4]; 3. 39-Jonah Mutton[3]; 4. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[5]; 5. 2M-Steve Murdock[7]; 6. 51-Trevor Young[8]; 7. 70MM-Dave McKnight Jr[6]; 8. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]
A-Main [Started] 25 laps – NT
1. 19D-Allan Downey[3]; 2. BS39-Brett Stratford[1]; 3. 45-Nick Sheridan[5]; 4. 31-Dale Curran[11]; 5. 56-Dereck Lemyre[9]; 6. 7-Eric Gledhill[13]; 7. 74-Rob Neely[2]; 8. 39-Jonah Mutton[10]; 9. 99-Joshua Hill[19]; 10. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[17]; 11. 48-Lance Erskine[18]; 12. 3S-Austin Roes[6]; 13. 49L-Lucas Smith[8]; 14. 77T-Tyeller Powless[24]; 15. 2M-Steve Murdock[14]; 16. 20-Johnny Miller[25]; 17. 94-Ryan Fraser[22]; 18. 38-Derek Miller[23]; 19. 51-Trevor Young[15]; 20. 77E-Ashton VanEvery[12]; 21. 70MM-Dave McKnight Jr[20]; 22. (DNF) 50LS-Adrian Stahle[16]; 23. (DNF) 52-Ryan Hunsinger[21]; 24. (DNF) 12DD-Darren Dryden[4]; 25. (DNF) 5D-Jacob Dykstra[7]; 26. (DNF) MK8-Matt Hill[26]
A-Main Lap Leaders – Brett Stratford 1- 18; Allan Downey 19-25
Margin of Victory – 1.236 seconds
Hard Charger – Joshua Hill +10
Up Next:
Friday, October 15, 2021 – Brockville Ontario Speedway – Brockville, Ontario
Saturday, October 16, 2021 – Brockville Ontario Speedway – Brockville, Ontario
ACTION SPRINT TOUR MEDIA
Website: www.actionsprinttour.com
Facebook: ActionSprintTour
Twitter: @ActionSprints
Instagram: @actionsprinttour
YouTube: GForceTV
About the Action Sprint Tour fueled by Pinty’s: Founded in 2018, the Action Sprint Tour is a traveling Winged Crate Sprint Car Series based in Ontario, Canada. Action Sprint Tour cars are powered by GM 602 crate engines modified specifically to fit a Sprint Car chassis. The championship winner will be rewarded with $5,000 and a Pinty’s VIP package for the 2022 Bristol Dirt Race, while 10th place in the championship standings will pay $1,000. The 2021 Action Sprint Tour is made possible with the support of Pinty’s Delicious Foods. Visit www.actionsprinttour.com for more information.