Thorold, Ontario – Baron Roofing & Siding hosted the second round of the Triple Crown Series for the Van Raine Construction 4 Cylinders. Tyler Lafantaisie scored the natural hat trick as the Welland driver won his third straight feature.

Also winning his third was Mark Fawcett of Canfield in the Hoosier Stock Division while Cody McPherson of St. Catharines made it two straight in the Yager Bros Trucking Sportsman Division.

Two drivers would win their first Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series Features – Derek Wagner of Spencerport NY in the Rev’s Full Throttle Powersports Modified Lites and Mark D’Ilario in the Pinty’s Delicious Foods 358 Modifieds.

After an early caution at the start of the second 20 lap Triple Crown Series Event of the season, Sam Iftody was the leader before Tony

Kelly and Garnet Wilson went side by side for top spot.

Before a lap 7 caution, Kelly and Wilson were joined by Kyle Rothwell with Lafantaisie also closing. On the restart, Kelly would resume control of top spot with the top three quickly all VWs with Rothwell followed by Lafantaisie.

Rothwell would take over top spot on lap 8 with Lafantaisie taking over the runner-up spot at halfway. Two laps later, Lafantaisie would pull alongside Rothwell and on lap 13 was the new leader.

Lap 16 would find the leaders into lap traffic but there was no slowing down Lafantaisie who would go on to his third straight win.

Rothwell and Kelly followed as the top 3 while Mike Sadusek and Iftody closed out the top 5.

The Triple Crown Series Finale is set for Avondale Food Stores Night Saturday August 13th.

Kyle Pelrine was the first to lead the 20 lap Hoosier Stock Feature with Billy Bleich the new leader down the backstretch of lap 2. Pete Reid was quick to challenge the leader and taking control of top spot.

Reid was being pressured by Bleich and Rob Murray just before a lap 7 caution.

Reid set the pace on the restart with Murray challenging before Reid would lose control after contact with Bleich. Reid’s strong run would end with a broken wheel.

Murray was the new leader on the restart until Mark Fawcett took over top spot with Jason Fontaine following into second. By halfway it was the three Camaros in a breakaway from the field with Fontaine the new leader out of turn 4 of lap 11.

The three remained three wide until caution on lap 14.

Fontaine regained top spot on the restart until Fawcett resumed the lead on lap 17. At the finish, Fawcett would drive away to a lead of some 5 car lengths over Fontaine Mark with Rob Murray, Vince Fargnoli and Chris Crawford as the top 5.

Darrell Faraway outraced Chris Watters to lead the 25 lap Feature for the Sportsman with Rob Knapp in control of top spot by lap 2.

Caution would slow the field on lap 5 with Knapp out front once again. Caution the next lap would ease a challenge from Jay Mallory with Knapp out front once racing resumed. Mallory quickly challenged the leader with Knapp keeping an edge.

Knapp and Mallory’s battle allowed Chad Chevalier to close in. Knapp and Mallory ran a number of laps side by side until caution again slowed the pace on lap 12. Kmapp was the leader on the restart with the racing quickly slowed for another caution.

Cody McPherson would join the battle for top spot – becoming the new leader just before another caution on lap 16. McPherson was the new leader on the restart.

A lap 23 caution had McPherson in front in the two lap dash to the checkered flag ahead of Mallory, Brad Rouse, Chad Chevalier and Brent Begolo.

The 10 lap Feature for the Yager Bros Trucking Novice Sportsman Division was slowed by one caution.

Chris Watters led from start to finish ahead of Tom Richau and Tyler Puchalski.

The Archer Truck Services Driver of the Week Chris Watson was first to lead the 15 lap Feature for the Rev’s Full Throttle Powersports Modified Lites until the race went red with one lap in the books.

One week after winning his first feature of the season, Rob Misener sat on his roof after flipping his car in Turn 4 in a single car incident.

The restart had Watson out front until Josh Sliter would take control down the backstretch. Quickly Sliter would run away to almost a quarter lap lead ahead of Derek Wagner and Paul Klager in second and third.

Caution on lap 7 had Sliter in top spot on the restart with Wagner and Klager once again in the battle for second. Wagner would quickly take over top spot. At the finish, it was Wagner in front of Sliter and Klager. Jeffrey May and Watson would round out the top 5.

Todd Gordon and Mark D’Ilario led the 35 lap Feature for the Pinty’s Delicious Foods 358 Modifieds with the initial start called off. It wasn’t until the first time down the backstretch that D’Ilario established a lead.

By lap 5, D’Ilario had pulled away to a comfortable lead over the battle for second spot between Tommy Flannigan, Gordon and Chris Steele. A lap 7 caution had D’Ilario in top spot once again.

Flannigan stayed right with the leader with D’Ilario keeping the advantage. Through to the halfway point, the race for third was the one to watch with Gordon holding off Pete Bicknell until lap 19.

Closing in on 10 laps to go, Bicknell was about a quarter lap behind the two leaders.

D’Ilario was able to stretch his lead over Flannigan in the closing laps with Bicknell settling for third. Erick Rudolph rebounded from an earlier race spin to take fourth with Gordon in 5th.

PIT NOTES

On behalf of Vansickle Pet Valu and the Riley Family, Merrittville Speedway would like to thank all those that participated in the Annual Dog Contest.

A huge thanks as well to Terry Keagan and Baron Roofing for the Purse Donation of $3,000.

UPCOMING AT MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY

Archer Truck Services will celebrate Merrittville Speedway’s 65th Season with the 2nd Annual Retro Race T Shirt Night Saturday June 11th.

Race Fans are encouraged to wear their Racing T Shirts from Back in the Day … whether it’s a Speedway or Driver T Shirt.

A 5 Division Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series Event will be featured in addition to a display and exhibition from the Tuesday Night Kart Racers.

Grandstands will open at 5:30 with Show Time at 7:00 PM.

To reach Merrittville Speedway call 905-892-8266 or via e mail – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Merrittville Speedway is located at 2371 Merrittville Highway in Thorold Ontario. Merrittville Speedway’s Office is open Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM and is located in the Grandstand Area on the ground floor of the Lucas Oil Tower.

For all the news on Merrittville Speedway’s 65th Consecutive Season in 2016 – visit www.merrittvillespeedway.com. Race fans and Race teams alike can follow Merrittville on Face Book (Facebook.com/Merrittville Speedway) and Twitter (Twitter.com/Merrittville

Van Raine Construction 4 Cylinder Triple Crown Series # 2 (20 laps) Tyler Lafantaisie, Kyle Rothwell, Tony Kelly, Mike Sadusek, Sam Iftody, Olivier Larocque, Jay Moulton, Alex Riley, Jeremy Smith, Vincent Pagnotta, Mike Giberson, Gary Hodason, Clinton Nicholls, Kyle Miller, Kourtney Kocarik, Cole Hardy, Tom Neale, Trevor Want, Austyn Werstroh, Jeff Hill, Garnet Wilson, Greg Lounsbury, Brian Teeple.

Hoosier Stock Feature (20 laps) Mark Fawcett, Jason Fontaine, Rob Murray, Vince Fargnoli, Chris Crawford, Billy Bleich Jr., Jim Lampman, Kyle Pelrine, Dave Bailey, Stev e Shaw, Jack Myers, Chris Schneider, Nick Dennis, Tony Shintani, Robin Mortensen, Jonny Lowenberg, Pete Reid, Marcel Michaud, Rob Sauder.

Yager Bros Trucking Sportsman Feature (25 laps) Cody McPherson, Jay Mallory, Brad Rouse Chad Chevalier, Brent Begolo, Darrell Farraway, Paul Gaboury, Rob Knapp, Mark Chiddy, Justin Sharp, Joey Mastroianni, Charlie Lynch, Jordan Cosco, Chris Bellamy, Paul Williamson, Chris Watters, Tom Richau, Trevor Wright, John Babion, Robbie Johnston, Paul Cunningham, Derek VanMil, Tyler Puchalski, Sean Dominey.

Yager Bros Trucking Novice Sportsman Feature (10 laps) Chris Watters, Tom Richau, Tyler Puchalski, Sean Dominey, Trevor Wright, Derek VanMil.

Rev’s Full Throttle Powersports Modified Lite Feature (20 laps) Derek Wagner, Josh Sliter, Paul Klager, Jeffrey May, Chris Watson, Steven Beckett, Marty deMoel, RJ Pietz, Ray Sliter Jr., Craig Martin, Ryleigh Sliter, Rob Misener.

Pinty’s Delicious Foods 358 Modified Feature (35 laps) Mark D’Ilario, Tommy Flannigan, Pete Bicknell, Erick Rudolph, Todd Gordon, Chris Steele, Fred Carleton, Tim Jones, Ryan Susice, Gary Lindberg, Chad Brachmann, Scott Wood, James Friesen, Mike Bowman, Tyler McPherson, Wayne Conn, David Flannigan Jr.,

MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY SPONSORS The 2016 65th Anniversary Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series for Merrittville Speedway’s 5 Divisions is brought to race fans and racers by division sponsors – Pinty’s Delicious Foods, Yager Bros Trucking, Rev’s Full Throttle Powersports, Hoosier Tire Canada and Van Raine Construction in addition to many marketing partners Visit them at . http://www.merrittvillespeedway.com/sponsors.htm and visit them when you require their products and/or services.

Lucas Oil Products, Inc., is the world leader in the production high performance oils, fuel treatments and problem solving additives with the largest variety of shelf products of any oil company in North America. Lucas Oil’s premium formulas are marketed worldwide and retail at more than 40,000 auto parts stores across the continent and at virtually every truck stop across Canada.

Race fans can look for Lucas Oil Products at their favourite automotive retailer or maintenance center including Kala’s Home Hardware, St. Catharines Discount Auto Parts and RCM Racing Equipment.