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Lots of Cars, Lots of Fans and Lots of Action on Thursday July 18th!

Racenight Recap for Thursday July 18, 2024

Thursday Night Thunder at Laird International Raceway on Thursday July 18th, 2024 marked the third racenight of our season. We had another full show of Service Rental and Sales Super Late Models, Lakeway Automotive Factory Stocks, NAPA Reyco Automotive Modifieds, Northland Autobody Factory Fours, and AIM Recycling Enduros. The night was sponsored by Lajambe Financial Services.

The grandstands and the pits were once again packed. More new drivers and new cars showed up as well. Weather at the beginning of the evening was ideal then as the evening progressed it cooled off a bit below normal for this time of year. Just before sunset the gibbous waxing moon popped up above the hills, still three nights until it is full. Did that have an effect?

Announcer Greg Brazeau was accompanied in the announcer booth by Oval Reving. We had our national anthems, and racing got started promptly afterwards.

Service Rentals and Sales Super Late Models:

In the Service Rentals and Sales Super Late Model division there were 10 cars out for the night, including two rookie drivers; brothers Jordan Rocchetta in the yellow #33, and Ryan Rocchetta in the black #15. Tyler Praysner was also out for the first time in the division in his #05 late model. Mike Hearty in the #20 was also back out for the night. We had a computer glitch during qualifying which affected the first four late models out during the qualifying session. Those drivers were invited back out to redo their qualifying laps, #77 Chase Wilson and #47 Jordan Sims declined the offer, opting to start at the back during the night’s races. Of the cars that qualified, #51 Jeremy Vanhoek posted fast time of 14.456 seconds around the quarter mile. Correction - July 22 - Although the qualifying times for Wilson and Sims were not recorded in the timing system they were manually recorded by the scoring official. Wilson was actually the fast qualifier with a time of 13.920 sec, and Sims was second fastest with a 14.308 sec. The Super Late Models ran a single 10 lap heat, and a feature during the night.

All 10 cars were on track during opening ceremonies. Announcer Brazeau had fans do a countdown and give the start command and drivers fired ‘em up. During the hot lap/tire warming laps the first incident of the night happened. Rookie #33 Jordan Rocchetta went into corner 3 a bit too hot, then slid up and off corner 4 sideways into the tire bales in front of fans in the beer gardens. After a few minutes of delay while the car was removed, the remaining 9 drivers took the green flag.

Leading them off were #826 Jordan Parniak and #61 Dustin Jackson. Jackson took the lead position quickly and led all laps with no challengers, while Parniak fell back through the race. The race ran caution free. Jackson took the first checkered flag for the night. A bit more than a second later #01 John Ross came across the line to take 2nd, #51 Jeremy Vanhoek 3rd, #47 Jordan Sims 4th, #77 Chase Wilson 5th.

The nine Super Late Models were first out after intermission for what was to be a 30 lap feature. At the front was Parniak inside and Jackson outside. Row two was Vanhoek inside and #01 John Ross outside, inside row 3 was Sims with Wilson outside. The parade lap (white flag lap) coming to the green was faster than normal with cars not tightly grouped. As they came around corner 4 to the green the four front cars were up higher than normal. Ross, outside row 2, was pushed up and slid a bit in the marbles at the top of the track, he was forced to slow, falling back a few rows as they moved up the front stretch at the green.

As they were coming down the back stretch Parniak was in the lead, straddling two lanes, with Jackson outside right behind, and Vanhoek inside also behind. As they slowed at the end of the backstretch, just before corner 3, Vanhoek may or may not have got his nose under Parniak’s rear, which in turn may have caused Parniak to be a bit high coming out of corner 4. Coming out of 4, Vanhoek was under and a bit inside Parniak, they touched at the exit of corner 4, sending Parniak up the track sideways. Dustin Jackson, outside behind Parniak somehow managed to get past the mayhem. Sim’s went up higher, but Parniak came up further, pointed towards the guardrail, and tagged Sims nose sending Sims head first into the guardrail. Ross on the outside, with nowhere to go then went nose in to Sims left rear. When it was all over (about three seconds), Sims was backwards against the guardrail with heavy damage to the entire car. Ross had bad damage to the front right, and Parniak was also crunched at the back right, with lesser damage to his front right. Amazingly the drivers were all ok. It took track crews about 20 minutes to remove Sims’ and Ross’ cars. Parniak was able to drive off track under his own power.

With the race delayed due to cleanup, and only 6 cars remaining, officials decided to cut the race down to 20 laps instead of the originally scheduled 30. On the full race restart it was #61 Dustin Jackson single out front, and #51 Jeremy Vanhoek inside, #77 Chase Wilson outside row two. On the restart lap, caution flew with #15 Ryan Rocchetta looping it in the back coming out of corner 2.

On the full restart, Jackson led the first two laps then was passed by Wilson on lap 3. A lap later Jackson dropped back one more position to Vanhoek.

Caution flew on lap 17 as #05 Tyler Praysner lost power and stopped at the bottom of the backstretch near corner 3. At the time of the caution Wilson had a ¼ lap lead over Vanhoek, with Jackson a dozen or so car lengths behind Vanhoek.

The restart with three laps remaining gave Vanhoek and Jackson one more chance to get Wilson. No go though. Wilson took the checkered flag, that’s three feature wins in three race nights this season for him – will anyone beat him? Vanhoek snagged 2nd, a bit more than a second behind the leader; Jackson 3rd another second behind. #20 Mike Hearty was 4th and #15 Ryan Rocchetta 5th.

Lakeway Automotive Factory Stock Division:

In the Lakeway Automotive Factory Stock division we saw 11 cars out to qualify. One other was in the pits, #44 to be driven by rookie Christian Medaglia, but he may have had a car issue preventing him from running.

New to the division is another beautiful build, a #91 red 1963 Chevy Nova driven by Jay Palumbo, built by his dad Brent. Jay turned the fast qualifying time of 15.988 seconds around the paved oval. Fans saw two 10 lap heats and a 20 lap feature in the division during the night.

In the first heat, the field of 11 cars was led at the green by #77 Ed Lapish inside, and #15 Andrew Givens outside. Givens ran a great race, leading through to lap 7 when he was passed by #08 Daniel Bibeau, who had started in the 4th row. On the last lap of the race, #80 Brad Bibeau, running 4th at the time spun in corner 2. Flagman Ron Schmidt opted not to pull the caution as it was the final lap of the heat. Daniel Bibeau once again carried the checkers, Givens pulled up 2nd, just shy of 2 seconds later. Lapish snagged 3rd. Palumbo took 4th, having started at the back, and #29 Xavier Carter was 5th.

In their second heat 10 cars took part – missing was #51 Jamie Fox. Lapish started at the front again, this time with #57 Rick Ellis alongside, with Givens starting at the rear. By the end of the first lap, #80 Brad Bibeau, who started 4th row was at the front. Lapish and Ellis held 2nd and 3rd for a couple laps, then began to drop back in positions. Givens and Lapish both left on lap 3. #29 Xavier Carter ran 2nd place for a couple laps, then #91 Jay Palumbo took over that position, moving up from his start towards the back. Caution flew on lap 6 with a spin by #88 Rob Wagner in corner 2.

There were 5 laps remaining on the restart, with Brad Bibeau and Palumbo up front. The pair duked it out and traded top spot a number of times. At the end though it was Brad Bibeau winning out, with Palumbo alongside for 2nd, just 5/100ths of a second after. Daniel Bibeau took 3rd, #12 Owen Brown worked his way to 4th, #4 Dale Tucker 5th, and Carter 6th.

The Factory Stock feature was a bit of a nail biter. Starting up front again were Lapish and Ellis. The pair led the front for the first lap, then caution flew before the end of lap 2 with #51 Jamie Fox looping it through corner 4.

On the restart Lapish was single up front, with Ellis inside row two, and #4 Dale Tucker outside. Tucker got a great start and passed Lapish quickly on the outside. A couple laps later #80 Brad Bibeau got by Lapish and Ellis and started to catch up and challenge Tucker for the lead.

On lap 5 we saw #91 Jay Palumbo get past #12 Owen Brown for third spot. By this time Tucker was about a ¼ lap ahead of Palumbo. Bibeau got by Tucker on lap 9. Palumbo was fast and closing the gap on the two leaders. Palumbo and Tucker were nose to tail for a couple laps then Palumbo got by Tucker on lap 15. The three leaders were now headed in to a grouping of lap traffic. On lap 17 as they rounded corner 3 & 4 Palumbo got loose, spun and brought out the caution. Palumbo kept his spot on the restart.

With 3 laps remaining, Brad restarted single out front, with Palumbo inside 2nd row, and Tucker outside. Palumbo spent a lap and a half to get up beside Brad on the outside. On the final lap the two were side by side on the backstretch, Brad leading by a half car length. As they came out of corner 4 it was a drag race to the finish line. Palumbo won it by a quarter car length, just 1/10th of a second in front of Bibeau. Brother Daniel Bibeau took 3rd in the #08. #12 Owen Brown 4th, Tucker 5th, #51 Jamie Fox 6th, #77 Ed Lapish 7th, #88 Rob Wagner 8th. #29 Xavier Carter and #57 Rick Ellis were 9th and 10th respectively, both a lap down. #15 Andrew Givens had left the track on lap 17.

NAPA Reyco Automotive Modified Division:

In the Reyco Automotive Modified division we saw 8 cars on the track for qualifying, including #28 Mark Porpealia out to race for the first time this season. All 8 cars posted times within 0.5 seconds of each other which promised some close racing for the night. JP Delpaggio posted fast time of 15.304 seconds. The division had two 10 lap heats and a 20 lap feature.

In their first 10 lap heat all 8 qualifiers were up, plus #21 Jake Irwin, also out for his first run this season. The cars were led off by #28 Mark Porpealia, and #7 Terrence Devon. On the first lap, both pole sitters were passed by #84 Mark Laakso who had started second row. The race ran fast and caution free, with Laakso leading all laps to take the checkered flag for a roll around the track. #7 Terrance Devon showed 2nd, #78 Jason Herrington placed 3rd, #22 JP Delpaggio 4th and #20 Matt Lewis 5th. Note: At the track it was announced that Laakso had received a black flag during this race for exceeding his qualifying time by more than a quarter second. A post race review determined that it was not so. More about this later in this article.

In the second modified heat 8 cars were on track, missing was Irwin. Porpealia and Devon started at the front. Devon led the first couple laps then caution was out on lap 3 with a spin by JP Delpaggio into corner 4. Porpealia was sent to the back for the restart. Delpaggio restarted 2nd.

After the restart Devon and Delpaggio raced it out trading places a couple times. On lap 7 Devon regained the lead to take the win 4 laps later. Delpaggio pulled up 2nd, 2/10ths of a second afterwards. #78 Jason Herrington showed 3rd, #20 Matt Lewis 4th, & #84 Mark Laakso 5th. Note: As in the 1st modified heat, it was announced at the track that Devon had received the black for the quarter second rule. Post race it was determined that this was an incorrect assessment. Read more below.

All 9 cars came out later for the 20 lap modified feature. Before hot laps started #20 Matt Lewis broke down at the top of corner 1 and was pushed off the track unable to start the race. There was also a little delay as #15 Chris Miller struggled with his clutch or transmission on the front stretch. Leading off the race was #28 Mark Porpealia with #01 Jerry Ross outside. The race was caution free.

Porpealia led the first 4 laps of the race before being overtaken by #78 Jason Herrington with an inside pass on the backstretch.. At the first part of the race announcer Greg Brazeau said over the PA system, “They’re bunched up like bananas out there going through corner three!”. With 4 laps in #21 Jake Irwin left the track with problems. Porpealia was hanging on to second until the midway point when he was overtaken by #22 JP Delpaggio with an outside pass coming out of corner 4. At this point Herrington was about a dozen car lengths ahead. As the race progressed Delpaggio was unable to make any gains on Herrington. Herrington, last season’s track champion got the checkers. Delpaggio 2nd, #84 Mark Laakso had moved up to take 3rd, #01 Jerry Ross 4th, #7 Terrance Devon 5th, #28 Mark Porpealia 6th, and #15 Chris Miller 7th.

Northland Autobody Factory Four Division:

In the Northland Autobody Factory Four division there were a dozen cars out to qualify. For the third night in a row the qualifying record was broken again with #16 Dyllen Sherrard turning in the fast time of 17.115 seconds. There were two 10 lap heats, and a 20 lap feature in the division during the night.

In the first heat the group was led by #6 Wayne Devon and #42 Jack Lannigan. Caution was out before a lap was complete with Devon taking a loop through corner 3 into corner 4. With a full race restart Devon got his pole start position back. At the green he got a good start, but found himself passed by #24 Christopher Viotto before the first lap was complete. Lannigan drifted backwards quickly and left the track midway through the race.

Caution was out again on lap 3 with a spin by #51 Kenn Schwarz in corner 3. He was sent to the back for the restart. Christopher Viotto then had his brother #7 Gianni Viotto start beside him, with #16 Dyllen Sherrard and #21 Daryl Whitmel in row 2. Sherrard got past Gianni for 2nd on lap 5, then on lap 6 caution was out for the third time in the short 10 lap race, this time it was #8 Alex Lapensee and Devon getting together at the exit of corner 4 while running at the back. The two were locked together requiring a red flag and track crew to come up and separate the two.

With 5 laps to go the race restarted. #24 Christopher Viotto hoisted the checkered flag, #7 Gianni Viotto was 2nd, #16 Dyllen Sherrard 3rd, #22 Shanna Harten 4th, and #17 Shaun Desjardins 5th.

The Factory Four second heat ran much smoother with no cautions. Lannigan was missing so #4 Kayleigh Tucker took up the front spot for beside Devon for the start. Tucker had a great send off and led the first few laps of the race, but unfortunately, she broke the quarter second rule on more than two laps, so was being shown the black flag. Christopher Viotto who was running second at the time might have mistaken the black flag as his and departed the track with 5 laps complete. #22 Shanna Harten left a lap later, maybe for the same reason, but it might have been an engine problem as she was not able to make it out to the feature. Tucker finally got the message on lap 7 and left the track.

The lead was taken on by #7 Gianni Viotto who went on for the win. #16 Dyllen Sherrard was 2nd, #51 Kenn Schwarz 3rd, #21 Daryl Whitmel 4th, and #38F Dylan Couturier 5th.

Ten of the Factory Fours were out for the feature. Missing was Lannigan and Harten. Once again the little #6 Mini Cooper of Wayne Devon occupied the pole, this time with #21 Daryl Whitmel beside him. Devon got a less than ideal start and found himself a couple spots back right away. As they were coming down the backstretch into corner 3, #17 Shaun Desjardins tried to thread a needle between Devon inside and Gianni Viotto outside. Desjardins and Devon hit sides into corner 4, sending Devon spinning up the track. #16 Dyllen Sherrard got collected, as did #8 Alex Lapensee. Caution was pulled out with less than a lap complete. Devon left the track right away, and Sherrard followed 4 laps in.

The race was reset and with Devon gone, #24 Christopher Viotto moved up to the front row beside Whitmel. At the green the two maintained their positions for a couple laps then Whitmel lost 2nd spot to #7 Gianni Viotto. The Viotto’s battled for the next laps until Gianni won out on lap 13. Gianni went on to take the checkered flag, Christopher finishing 2nd. 3rd place went to Desjardins, 4th to #51 Kenn Swarz and 5th to Whitmel.

AIM Recycling Enduro Division:

The AIM recycling Enduro’s had a single 15 lap feature at the very end of the night. The Enduros run caution free, not because there are not incidents on track, rather because that’s the way it’s run. The only reason to stop the race would be if there was a serious safety issue. If a driver breaks down or is unable to continue, they stay put where they are until the end of the 15 laps. It’s really hard to follow these cars to see who passes who and who is in the lead. They quickly are spread out all the way around the track with some being lapped. Great thanks for an electronic scoring system!

The winner of this weeks race was #44 Eric Sylvestre. #86 Dylan Connolly took second, about 2 seconds behind. #83 John Hill was 3rd, #4 Madison Tucker 4th, and #79 Cody Herrington 5th.

A Little More About the ¼ Second Rulings:

The Laird rules contain something commonly known at the quarter second rule, which states:

“If you are timed running ¼ second or more faster than your qualifying time on any two (2) laps during any event (does not have to be consecutive laps), you will be sent to the pits and start any other events you are qualified in at the rear of the field. (**The top qualifier in each division is exempt from this rule)”

The rule is put in place to prevent drivers from purposely qualifying slow so they can start the night’s races at the front (known as “sandbagging”). Qualifiers are lined up at the start of races with fast qualifiers to the rear and slowest to the front (an inversion).

Earlier in the week we changed out our laptop computer used for the timing system, and on Wednesday afternoon, I was out at the track with the scorekeeper Michelle to test and make sure everything was running ok. When configuring the timing software on the new machine I missed a setting relating to the ¼ second rule (breakout time) and the consequence was that drivers on Thursday night with lap times anything less than their qualifying time were being flagged.

A post race review determined that during the modified races this incorrect setting had Terrance Devon and Mark Laakso being shown a black flag when they shouldn’t have. The official race results have been corrected for both Terrance and Mark. Unfortunately, both started later races in the evening at the rear of the field instead of their proper spots as determined by their qualifying time and there is no way to modify results to account for this. I extend my sincere personal apology to both Mark and Terrance for my error.

In the second Factory Four heat a black flag was shown to Kaleigh Tucker in the #4 for the same rule. It was confirmed that she indeed had four lap times during the race that were more than a ¼ second less than her qualifying time.

On a more positive note, fans may have noticed that we have the lap counter working properly now at the top of the backstretch scoreboard.

Intermission Activities:

During the intermission once again we watched a Lawnmower Race, courtesy of the Algoma Lawnmower Racing Association (ALMRA). Chuck Siddall was the race winner and was interviewed by Announcer Brazeau following their race. For information about ALMRA visit their facebook group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/101494564073784

Also during the intermission the School Buses were out for a race with 6 drivers taking part. At one point they were three-wide going around a corner. One bus slid up off the corner near the track exit. Pat Secord was the winner of the race.

Our next Thursday Night Thunder is set to be another full show, running on Thursday July 25th. Come on out and join us for more edge of your seat action!

Photos from the night can be found on our website under the “media” menu item - https://www.lairdraceway.com/gallery/

Fans are invited to view the Laird Raceway Facebook page to get current news and updates including weather cancellations, announcements, and more at https://www.facebook.com/lairdraceway

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