660 SPORTSMAN NAT’LS AT GRAND BEND

With files from Drew and Vicki Buchner

The third annual 660 Sportsman Nationals were held August 17-20 at southwestern Ontario’s Grand Bend Motorplex. It was the second event of the season for 660, following the successful season opener at Toronto Motorsports Park, two months earlier.

The four-day August event saw racers competing in Box, No Box and Junior Dragster classes. Other than some of Thursday’s Comprehensive Mechanical Services (CMS) Warm-Up races being impacted by wet weather – which saw the remaining Box competitors split the pot – the rest of the event took place under ideal conditions.

The No Box race was completed and saw Joe Cicalo make his first trip of the weekend to the Winner’s Circle with a win over Jason Boyd.

Thursday’s CMS Warm-Up Junior Dragster race was down to the final, at which point the finalists agreed to split and run for the big cheque the following day. In the end, local racer Austin Vermeulen earned the win over New York’s P.J. Marston.

Friday’s action was another Warm-Up race presented by CMS. The Box winner was Jamie Champ over Dylan Hache. Tom Aretakis Jr. took the win over Andrew Stirk in No Box. And the Junior Dragster winner was Connor Ridler, over Brandon Ferstl.

JENNINGS WINS $10K SHOOTOUT

The 32 Car Shootouts were held on Friday evening. ‘Big Cheque’ Bob Jennings captured the win over Dominic Ciancirelli in the southerntruckboxes.com Box $10K Shootout!

The Blu Electric No Box $5K Shootout saw Tim Blyde take the victory over Tom Aretakis Jr. And Zoe Gauld claimed the win over Owen Buchner in the Jr. Dragster $5K shootout presented by Quest Manufacturing and Essex Weld Solutions.

And then things go busy for the weekend. The Saturday and Sunday main events saw the highest No Box 660 car count to date. The weather was perfect and the racing was non-stop. Dominic Ciancirelli took the win over Will Steckly in Saturday’s Cheapside Auto Care Box $7,500 Main Event.

Joe Cicalo made his second trip of the weekend to the Winner’s Circle following his win over Jay Talbot in the Twin Oaks Towing No Box Main Event.

And Jacob Ferstl captured the win over Alexis Grasby in the Jr. Dragster Main Event presented by Western Overhead Door and Essex Weld Solutions.

Saturday’s Main Event races were completed in enough time to offer a Box/No Box Combo Gambler Race. The last No Box car standing was Fort Erie, ON’s Joe Muro after he faced off against Quebec’s Fred Angers, with Angers taking the ‘W.’ The Jr. Dragster Gambler winner was Brandon Ferstl, over Madison DeJong. The day concluded with a racer appreciation dinner, at the track.

Sunday’s Main Event produced the most interesting race of the four-day meet. Fred Angers took his Nova back to the Winner’s Circle for a win – over himself! – in the Cheapside Auto Care Box Main Event.

With five cars left in contention, Angers had two entries remaining at 5 cars. When whittled down to three cars, Fred still had two entries left, so he earned a ‘bye’ to the Final with one of his entries.

With his second entry, Fred took the win over Trevor Deeks in the Semi-Final... setting up a ‘Fred vs. Fred’ Final! No Box Twin Oaks Towing Main Event winner was Brad Gibbs, over Tom Aretakis Jr. Brandon Ferstl and Zoe Gauld found themselves in Jr. Dragster Final, again, with Ferstl taking the win in that class’s Main Event.

Based on the success of this summer’s inaugural TMP and the third annual GBM 660 Sportsman Nationals, planning is already underway for next season’s 660 Sportsman events. IT