SOUTHERN ONTARIO SPRINTS

Westbrook Wins at Southern Ontario Motor Speedway

With files from SOS Media (SOMS), Brent Otchere (Ohsweken) and Steven Petty (Ransomville)

Dylan Westbrook took his fourth Southern Ontario Sprints win of the season on July 29 at Southern Ontario Motor Speedway. Despite heavy rain in the days leading up to the event, the Chatham-Kent area track surface was smooth and wide, and a large crowd filled the spacious grandstands.

Westbrook drew the pole position and led flag-to-flag for the win on a track that he says has quickly become one of his favourites. Ryan Turner, Shone Evans, Liam Martin, and Mitch Brown rounded out the top-five.

Next up were races at Ohsweken Speedway, as part of the local 360 Sprint Cars division. Eric Gledhill and Cory Turner started on the front row to begin the 25-lap A-Main, on August 14. Turner was able to get around Gledhill and lead the first seven laps. NASCAR Truck Series regular Stewart Friesen quickly entered the top-five, after starting in 11th, while Mike Bowman swept into the lead on Lap 7.

Friesen hunted down Turner for the second spot, eventually overtaking him. Bowman took advantage of their battle and extended his lead further, picking up the victory. Friesen, Turner, Westbrook, and Matt Farnham completed the top-five.

On August 16, Brown started on pole, alongside Nick Sheridan. Despite Sheridan’s best efforts, he only led the first seven laps before Bowman moved up from his row three starting spot to claim the lead. Friesen slotted into second, setting chase to Bow-

Mike Bowman On A Tear

man; however, Bowman opened the margin by over four seconds.

Bowman won in dominating fashion, with Friesen, Farnham, Martin, and Cory Turner rounding out the top-five.

The series then went stateside to race at Ransomville Speedway on August 18. Martin and Westbrook were on the front row for the WNY Sprint Car Founders Night feature, honouring Dave MacLeod, where it was Westbrook taking the lead. On the third restart, Westbrook took off, as Farnham grabbed second on Lap 13. Farnham would hit the turn two wall to bring out the caution on Lap 18. Brown took second on Lap 20, before Westbrook came to a stop, in turn one, to bring out the caution on Lap 23. The restart saw Brown in the lead, before Martin took the spot on Lap 26. Martin would win his first race on American soil, followed by Brown, D.J. Christie, Ryan Turner, and Kyle Phillips. Westbrook left the track with a 32-point advantage over Ryan Turner in the championship standings. IT thinking about what’s behind you as much…I battled Nick Sheridan for the lead and that’s about the most fight we had in the two days.”

By Bryce Turner

Long-time dirt modified racer Mike Bowman made the transition to full-time sprint car racing this season and didn’t take long to get up to speed. Bowman won six of seven races in the Action Sprint Tour (AST) West to claim the championship.

Three of those wins came with a Glenn Styres Racing chassis. The new partnership opened the door to 360 sprint car opportunities, which included Bowman competing in and sweeping the AST and Southern Ontario Sprints races at his home track of Ohsweken Speedway in mid-August.

“I got to the lead fairly early in both of the 360 races and just tried to hit my marks and not waste time in lap traffic,” said Bowman. “When you’re running good and you’re winning, you’re not

Bowman says the biggest challenge of a double-duty race night is the lead-up to feature time, but that running features back-toback is a bit of an advantage, as he’s already dialed in. He’s also found a couple of benefits in his move to sprint cars.

“I like the consequences of making contact on the race track… guys aren’t afraid to get into you or muscle you in a modified, whereas in a sprint car, you really need to go out there and run fast and clean,” said Bowman. “From a maintenance standpoint, me being a family guy with two young kids, it’s nice to have a car that we can get through and turn around in a night, even on a doubleheader.”

Bowman now sets his sights on the AST National Tour, which has four races remaining. IT