"THE JUICE" WINS BRANT COUNTY NIGHT AT OHSWEKEN

by Tommy Goudge (August 13, 2010) - Jared Zimbardi returned to Ohsweken Speedway for the first time in two months on Friday night, and left with the $1,500 Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car feature winner's cheque in his pocket.  Jamie Cox won the ESSO Thunder Stock feature, Mike Taylor got his first ESSO Mini Stock win, Trevor Roszell was a first-time winner in the Bombers, and Tyler Martin won the Flagpole Race.

CORR/PAK MERCHANDISING SPRINT CARS

Jared Zimbardi and Travis Cunningham started on the front row for the twenty lap feature, and Zimbardi got the early advantage before Tom Huppunen and Mitchell Brown flipped hard in turn two.  Both drivers emerged from their heavily damaged machines uninjured.

Zimbardi again took the lead when the race restarted, while Dain Naida moved up to challenge for second after starting sixth.  Naida's night ended with mechanical problems on lap three however, and lap four found Stan Zanchin stopped against the inside wall in turn two to bring out a caution flag.

A longer green flag run followed and Zimbardi stretched his lead while Cunningham was trying to fight off the advances of eleventh starter Kyle Moffit.  Moffit took over the second spot from Cunningham on lap seven and set his sights on Zimbardi, who was about to deal with slower traffic.  Moffit inched closer, but could not gain enough to challenge for the lead before Glenn Styres went off course in turn three on lap twelve to bring out another caution.

The race restarted again with Moffit closely following Zimbardi, but disaster struck on the next lap when Moffit went up in smoke.  The last caution flag of the night flew on lap thirteen for fluid from Moffit's machine and Zimbardi was never seriously challenged over the last seven laps.  He cruised to victory over two seconds ahead of Travis Cunningham, Kevin Job, Dave Dykstra, and B-Main winner Keith Dempster.

"I didn't know where anybody was," said Jared in victory lane. "We're just happy to get a win.  We've been coming to Ohsweken for a long time, and we want to keep it that way.  Not too many of the ASCS Patriots run more than just the Patriot schedule, but you know we love racing, so that's why we come up here on our off Friday nights and it's just a bonus to get a win."

Heat races for the twenty-six car field were claimed by Moffit, James Evans, and Dykstra, while Dempster won the B-Main.

ESSO THUNDER STOCKS

Rookies Phil Nyssen and Wyatt VanWart started the ESSO Thunder Stock feature on the front row, and Nyssen led the first few laps while things got dicey behind him.  Jamie Cox and seventeen year old rookie Larry Czinege, Jr. eventually found their way to the front from deep in the pack and battled for the win.

Cox got into the lead by the halfway mark, but Czinege wasn't about to let him get away.  Czinege pounded the cushion lap after lap until he was alongside Cox and the two battled door-to-door for most of the last five laps.  The last lap still found them side by side, but Cox was able to edge ahead at the line to get his second win in a row and extend his points lead in the process.  Czinege claimed second in just his second start at Ohsweken, while Nyssen got a career best third place, Mike Thorne finished fourth, and Lee Winger rounded out the top five.

"(Larry) was running good on the outside," said Cox. "I was pretty concerned because in the heat race the 55 (Thorne) was much faster than us.  We made a couple of small changes to the car.  I have to thank my crew chief Kevin.  I wanted to change the car and he's saying 'No - small changes, small changes, no big swings, you'll do fine.'"

Heat races for the twenty-two car field were claimed by Nyssen, Thorne, and Winger.

ESSO MINI STOCKS

The ESSO Mini Stocks fifteen lap feature turned into an entertaining two car race between veteran Mike Evers and young Mike Taylor.  Evers set the pace while Taylor tried every way he could to get by, but nothing worked until the last lap. 

Taylor had previously drawn alongside the leader with a crossover move in turn two, and worked it to perfection after the white flag flew.  The two raced side-by-side through turn four before Taylor was able to edge ahead and get his first feature win at Ohsweken.  Evers settled for second, followed by Rick Emberson, Steve Hess, and Abel Castelein.