WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Nigel Pendykoski brought his Ivan Little-inspired DIRTcar Sportsman up on Victory Hill Sunday night at Weedsport Speedway for his first series win.
Pendykoski, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, made a memorable move with five laps to go in the Sportsman Classic 75 to secure the $2,500 DIRTcar Sportsman Series payday.
“I’m just so proud,” Pendykoski said. “I never thought I’d be standing here. We put in so much effort this year, and it’s been really up and down. I think I flipped in Turn 1 in my very first race at this track. It’s nice to be standing here instead of upside down.”
Starting sixth, Pendykoski patiently kept the top runners in his sights until he began cutting through lapped traffic with ease while following race leader Tyler Corcoran. It was clear that the No. 78JR was faster than the leader, Corcoran, but he’d need a few more chips to fall in his favor to win.
“I felt so good before that caution,” Pendykoski said. “But then the caution came out, and I didn’t have heat in the tires. The No. 72 got underneath me there [for second]. They started pulling away, and I got a little nervous. I was just trying to hang with them, and then they got racing each other. I just squeezed in a little bit, and we all checked up. Somehow it worked out in my favor. So happy to be here.”
Corcoran led nearly the entire race. He was shuffled back to fourth when Pendykoski took the lead.
“We were really good,” Corcoran noted. “We normally suck at this place really bad, so to be out in front that long was amazing. Then it started becoming bottom dominant, and I knew I just had to hit my marks on the bottom. All of a sudden, I got driven through. I wasn’t expecting it. I guess we’ll take this one and move on to Oswego.”
Second-place Cody McPherson spent very little of his race at the front. But he was there when it mattered most.
“We tried to make the top work at the beginning of the race but fell back to seventh,” McPherson said. “We jammed along on the bottom and went back to the top. Finally, at the end, I had to try something. I went to the middle, and it stuck, and I was able to get it in second. Congratulations to Nigel. Nice to see two Merrittville home track guys finish one-two.”
In third place was Derrick McGrew Jr., who drove to the podium from 14th starting position.
“It sucks that we didn’t start our night off a little bit better,” McGrew lamented. “Coming from fourteenth made it a bit hard. We knew to stay patient and make moves when we could. We got to lapped traffic a couple times early and started picking them off one by one. Cody [McPherson] and I ran side-by-side for 30 laps, so thanks to him for running me clean.”
The finish:
Feature (75 Laps): 1. 78JR-Nigel Pendykoski[6]; 2. 7-Cody McPherson[7]; 3. 26-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[14]; 4. 64-Tyler Corcoran[1]; 5. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[5]; 6. 33-Richard Murtaugh[4]; 7. 0-Tony Finch II[8]; 8. 92T-Tristan Ladouceur[17]; 9. 410-Mike Fowler[11]; 10. 711X-Connor Crane[20]; 11. 16-Matt Barbour[3]; 12. 54-Sullivan Dickey[10]; 13. 714-Chris Darling[22]; 14. 33M-Bodie Marks[12]; 15. 44-Mason Rogers[9]; 16. 51-Bryan Preville[13]; 17. 32-Joe Trichilo[24]; 18. 6-Cody Manitta[25]; 19. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[29]; 20. 113JR-Frank Guererri[15]; 21. 916-Nick Brundige[28]; 22. 07W-Taylor Wason[16]; 23. 82-David Hackett[19]; 24. 52-Jessica Power[27]; 25. 10-Trevor Houghton[31]; 26. 10G-Austin Germinio[23]; 27. 20B-Brayden Bullock[26]; 28. 2-Greg Henry[30]; 29. 21J-Justin Liechti[18]; 30. (DNF) R1-Riley Rogala[21]; 31. (DNF) 349-Garrett Chillot[2]
