PINTY’S SPRINT CAR CHAMPS

Mitch Brown And Jacob Dykstra On Top

Stories by Bryce Turner

MITCH BROWN –PINTY’S KNIGHTS OF THUNDER 360 SPRINT CARS Mitch

Brown completed his return to racing with a championship in the Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car Series (KoT). After not racing anything in 2021, Brown returned to competition with new cars and other changes from what he was used to. He tackled the learning curve by running regular events at Ohsweken Speedway before winning the KoT opener, on June 30 at Humberstone Speedway.

Brown recorded five additional top-five finishes in the last nine features. He says that consistency was important in the KoT, especially when faced with larger car counts in the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals events.

A notable top-five came after some adversity at Brighton Speedway, where he “destroyed” a car in practice before night two of the Labour Day Classic.

“I wrecked just about every bolt and piece on that car; I think they said we got it back together within about 45 minutes…we just barely made the heat race by maybe 30 seconds or a minute,” said Brown. “We ended up finishing fifth with a bent car…if we weren’t able to complete that then we wouldn’t have been able to win the championship.”

Brown’s last title came in Ohsweken’s 360 Sprint Car division in 2016, which he ranks just ahead of his KoT triumph. He credits his crew as a key to success in winning this championship.

“It’s cool to get back there and be relevant; especially for a few years, not that we were terrible but it just didn’t seem the same,” said Brown. “To do it with your family team; I would say we’re one of the lower funded teams compared to what’s out there now, so to do that is pretty cool.”

With a newborn son at home, Brown plans to limit travel next season, where he’ll race at Ohsweken and in some Southern Ontario Sprints events.

JACOB DYKSTRA –PINTY’S ACTION SPRINT TOUR

It was a season full of new experiences that ended in a familiar result for Jacob Dykstra in the Pinty’s Action Sprint Tour. Dykstra recorded seven wins and 13 top-ten finishes in 14 races to claim his second straight championship, where he had a fresh start to the year. His familyrun operation partnered with a new team, where he didn’t know the cars or his teammate and had new shock packages to work with.

Despite the changes, Dykstra was quick to find victory lane, winning the opener at Merrittville Speedway. As the season continued, a highlight win came at Ohsweken Speedway’s first Canadian Sprint Car Nationals of the year, which he says is one of the biggest races that he’s won in a crate sprint series.

Another win that stood out, for a different reason, came in the penultimate race, at Humberstone Speedway. Dykstra and Mike Bowman were declared co-winners of the event, though Dykstra is skeptical about the finish.

“I’ve been watching racing my whole life and I’ve never heard of that before and neither has my father,” said Dykstra. “It was just kind of breathtaking that little tiny transponders can pass (the start-finish line) at the exact same time.”

The Port Colborne, ON driver then finished in fifth-place the following night, at his home track of Humberstone, to clinch the title.

“Last year, we got a lot of hate for winning the championship, everybody said it was just a fluke,” said Dykstra. “That’s why we went back into crate again this year, to prove to everyone that it wasn’t luck…we know what we’re doing around a crate sprint car.”

Dykstra plans to race as much as possible next season, including winter races in Florida, 410s at Ohio’s Sharon Speedway and 360s at Ohsweken. IT

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