OHSWEKEN, Ontario – Rain was all around Ohsweken Speedway on Friday night, but the wet weather held off just long enough for all of the scheduled racing to be completed in the Night Before the Nationals.
Cory Turner, Jason Barney, and Parker Price-Miller took full advantage of their opportunity by claiming wins in the Triple 15’s for the Kool Kidz-Corr/Pak 360 Sprint Cars, locking themselves into Saturday night’s Canadian Sprint Car Nationals A-Main in the process.
The first of the three Triple 15’s began with Mark Smith and Cory Turner on the front row. Smith was looking for the third Night Before the Nationals win of his career, but Turner had other ideas and took the lead from Smith on lap three.
Smith spent the remainder of the caution-free race unsuccessfully trying to chase Turner down, but Turner took his first Night Before the Nationals win by 1.239 seconds. Smith settled for the runner-up spot, followed by Jared Horstman, Shone Evans, and Ryan Turner.
Dylan Westbrook and Jason Barney made up the front row for the second Triple 15, but third place starter Max Stambaugh quickly entered the fray to lead the first lap. Barney did not allow Stambaugh to get away though, and took the lead at the start/finish line at the completion of lap two.
Yellow flags for Tyler Rand and Al Gilleta Jr. followed, but Barney stayed ahead of the field to take the win by 1.232 seconds over Mitch Brown. Stambaugh, row four starter Sam Hafertepe Jr., and row five starter Jordan Poirier rounded out the top five.
The third Triple 15 of the night started with Parker Price-Miller and Jonathan Preston on the front row. It appeared two-time Canadian Sprint Car Nationals winner Price-Miller was going to run away with the win, but Matt Farnham had other ideas; the rookie 360 Sprint Car driver drove past Price-Miller on lap five and began to open a lead. Farnham’s lead shrunk as he negotiated traffic and Price-Miller adjusted his line.
Disaster almost struck for the leaders with two laps to go, as Price-Miller had a big run out of turn four and almost got squeezed into the wall as Farnham drifted up the track. Farnham fought off a slide job from Price-Miller in turn one on the last lap, but Price-Miller drove around the outside to take the win in turns three and four. Farnham settled for second, followed by Preston, Jake Brown, and Billy VanInwegen.
In other action, Logan Shwedyk and Kyle Wert finished their seasons off with wins in the Middleport Mechanical Thunder Stock and HRW Automotive Mini Stock divisions, respectively.