BRIGHTON, Ont. — Perfect weather greeted the fans and some of the top drivers in the DIRTCar Sportsman division to kick off Applefest weekend at the Brighton Speedway on Friday night.
27 of the top drivers across the Northeast came in with high hopes of taking the top prize but one familiar face stood above the rest once again.
The 35-lap event saw Brennan Moore jump into the lead with former Brighton regular Dan Ferguson right there with him. Ferguson would move by on lap four and would run away from the field in the early laps while Dave Rogers Michael Dillon and Cody McPherson making up the top five early on.Â
With Ferguson dominant early on the battle was on for the runner up position with Moore, Rogers McPherson and former Applefest winner Bobby Herrington in the mix also. Lapped traffic became the nemesis for Ferguson just past the halfway point with drivers double file in front of him, which allowed Moore and McPherson to close in. On lap 29 the yellow flew as Moore’s great night ended with transmission issues.Â
This brought Cody McPherson to the second spot as the field went back to green, however several yellow flags and even a red flag for a flip on the backstretch for Domonick Merkley slowed the field.
Merkley was not hurt in the accident. On the lap 30 restart McPherson used the outside lane to get by Ferguson for the lead after a great side by side battle with Bobby Herrington moving in from third. In the end Cody McPherson survived several late yellows to roll on to victory, his record seventh Applefest Shootout win and third in a row.
Dan Ferguson finished an event-best second with Bobby Herrington, Shane Stearns and Gavin Eisele completing the top five.
In other action the Thunderstocks ran a special 20-lap feature event. Jason Fontaine held off a tough field of 25 drivers to score the win over Carter Rhodes, Justin Ramsey, Shawn Gregory and Brock Gregory.
The Mini Stock 25-lap event saw several late race cautions. At the finish it was Jason Tolton taking the feature win after a great battle with Travis McLean. Landon Mutch, Tyson Gregory and Caleb Severin rounded out the top five. Alex Riley won the Duel on the Dirt Champion.
The DIRTCar 358 Modifieds were in town and held a special 10-lap dash and hot lap session during Apples-Eve in preparation for their 75-lap $5,000 to win event on Saturday. Kyle Dingwall had no problems leading all 10 laps for the win over Corey Wheeler, Tristan Draper, Ryan Stabler and Kalen Draper
The Crate Late Models also ran a Dash for Cash. Charlie Sandercock was unstoppable claiming the 10-lap contest over Anthony Rinaldi and Caley Weese
The Canadian Mods also had a 10-lap dash and Charlie Sandercock enjoyed the win in the late models, that he decided to do it again in this division.