Josh Verne Jr. & Jock Symonds Victorious Friday Night At The Can-Am Speedway

Story By: TIM BALTZ / CAN-AM SPEEDWAY – LAFARGEVILLE, NY – Josh Verne Jr. and Jock Symonds were winners Friday night at the Can-Am Speedway.

The final night of the season saw a great crowd and a full pit area with the stars of the DIRTCar 358 Modified Series, DIRTCar Sportsman Series, Action Sprint Tour and the Sundance Leisure Thundercars. O.D. Greene, FX Caprara Family of Car Dealerships and BT Construction were on hand to see some great action as the drivers were up on the wheel all night.

The 9th running of the Ron White Memorial for the Sundance Leisure Thundercars saw complete domination by Jock Symonds. The Lafargeville New York driver jumped to the lead with Steve Smith and Francis White trying to track him down. Symonds was on cruise control and looking to claim another Can Am win, but a red flag slowed the field before halfway. In turn 4 Daniel Valade made contact with another car, sending him upside down in a slow roll over in turn 4. Valade climbed out uninjured, but the car was done for the night. On the restart Symonds was in control again with Francis White taking second, while Corey Valade made his move to third around Steve Smith. With driver battling hard for the second spot in the closing laps, Jock Symonds was in a class of his own as he dominated the entire event to score the Ron White Memorial victory. Francis White would hold off a late race charge by Damien Bechler to come home second, with Corey Valade and Steve Smith rounding out the top 5.

The Action Sprint Tour East Series was making their debut on American soil, but the tour regulars would have to deal with track champion Josh Verne Jr. The 2023 champion took the lead on lap 5 and authored a dominant performance on the night leading by over a straight away with Andrew Hennessy and Cam McKinnon trying to close the gap. With Verne in control the battle was on for second with Hennessy and McKinnon, while East Series points leader Lee Ladouceur made his way into the battle as well running in 4th. Over the remaining laps, Josh Verne Jr. was not going to be denied as he accomplished a season long goal, winning on the Action Sprint Tour for the very first time and claiming his 6th win of the year. Andrew Hennessy, who claimed his first series last weekend at Brighton on the National Tour, claimed the runner up spot, with Lee Ladouceur, Tucker Donath and Cam McKinnon completing the top 5.

The 2023 season is now complete at the Can Am Speedway and plans are already in the works for 2024. The Bartlett family, staff and Management, want to thank all the drivers and teams for their support this past season. Most importantly, Can Am Speedway thanks all the dedicated race fans, who turned out each week to see some exciting racing action, as we look forward to bringing you another action-packed season next year.

602 Crate Sprint Cars

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[6]; 2. 87-Andrew Hennessy[3]; 3. 51-Lee Ladouceur[2]; 4. Z28-Tucker Donath[5]; 5. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[1]; 6. 19-Mathieu Bardier[9]; 7. 30-Ken Klinkowsky[7]; 8. 00-Ryan Poole[4]; 9. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[8]; 10. 93-Guy Gosselin[11]; 11. 73-Michael Cousins[10]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 85C-Cam MacKinnon[2]; 2. 87-Andrew Hennessy[3]; 3. Z28-Tucker Donath[6]; 4. 30-Ken Klinkowsky[1]; 5. 19-Mathieu Bardier[4]; 6. 93-Guy Gosselin[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Lee Ladouceur[2]; 2. 00-Ryan Poole[1]; 3. 1V-Josh Verne Jr[3]; 4. 9C-Brian Nanticoke[4]; 5. 73-Michael Cousins[5]

Hot Laps: 1. 1V-Josh Verne Jr, 00:17.750[11]; 2. 51-Lee Ladouceur, 00:18.188[7]; 3. 87-Andrew Hennessy, 00:18.243[5]; 4. 00-Ryan Poole, 00:18.360[10]; 5. 73-Michael Cousins, 00:18.636[2]; 6. 19-Mathieu Bardier, 00:18.701[1]; 7. 30-Ken Klinkowsky, 00:18.731[6]; 8. 93-Guy Gosselin, 00:19.023[4]; 9. 85C-Cam MacKinnon, 00:19.037[8]; 10. 9C-Brian Nanticoke, 00:19.567[9]; 11. (DNS) Z28-Tucker Donath

ThunderCar

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 8X-Jock Symonds[6]; 2. 60-Francis White[4]; 3. 21V-Corey Valade[15]; 4. 26R-Damien Bechler[9]; 5. 16-Steve Smith[3]; 6. 17-Michael Greenfield[8]; 7. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[18]; 8. 02-Jr Durham[11]; 9. 171-Jacob Kimball[7]; 10. 20-Nick Galusha[1]; 11. 96T-Tim Dunn[5]; 12. 11A-Kevin Greenfield[13]; 13. 11J-Justin Burns[21]; 14. 22J-Jared Gilson[14]; 15. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[12]; 16. 5M-Ray Bechler[10]; 17. 100-Dewayne Mullins[23]; 18. R1-Donny Rider Jr[17]; 19. 9-Dylan Burdick[24]; 20. 94-OJ White[19]; 21. 19-Collin Bauter[16]; 22. 13-Gary Sharlow[20]; 23. 22-Daniel Valade[22]; 24. (DQ) 27-Justin Pope[2]

LCS 1 (8 Laps): 1. 94-OJ White[6]; 2. 11J-Justin Burns[2]; 3. 100-Dewayne Mullins[1]; 4. 99-Walt VanEpps[4]; 5. 60R-Ron White[3]; 6. 27A-Alexandra Parker[5]; 7. 43-Richard Thorton[7]; 8. 64C-Brad Jerome[8]

LCS 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Gary Sharlow[1]; 2. 22-Daniel Valade[3]; 3. 9-Dylan Burdick[2]; 4. 0D-Tyler Woods[6]; 5. 4H-Steven Burdick[4]; 6. 99M-Dustin Murphy[7]; 7. (DNS) 113-Nathan Powers

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 96T-Tim Dunn[2]; 2. 20-Nick Galusha[1]; 3. 171-Jacob Kimball[10]; 4. 5M-Ray Bechler[9]; 5. 11A-Kevin Greenfield[7]; 6. 19-Collin Bauter[6]; 7. 100-Dewayne Mullins[11]; 8. 9-Dylan Burdick[5]; 9. 99M-Dustin Murphy[8]; 10. 113-Nathan Powers[3]; 11. (DNS) 43-Richard Thorton

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 27-Justin Pope[11]; 2. 16-Steve Smith[4]; 3. 17-Michael Greenfield[1]; 4. 02-Jr Durham[3]; 5. 22J-Jared Gilson[2]; 6. R1-Donny Rider Jr[9]; 7. 13-Gary Sharlow[10]; 8. 60R-Ron White[6]; 9. 4H-Steven Burdick[5]; 10. 94-OJ White[8]; 11. 99-Walt VanEpps[7]

Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 60-Francis White[11]; 2. 8X-Jock Symonds[9]; 3. 26R-Damien Bechler[8]; 4. 16B-Chris Bonoffski[1]; 5. 21V-Corey Valade[4]; 6. 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr[3]; 7. 11J-Justin Burns[2]; 8. 22-Daniel Valade[7]; 9. 27A-Alexandra Parker[5]; 10. 0D-Tyler Woods[10]; 11. (DNS) 64C-Brad Jerome

Redraw Order: 1. 20-Nick Galusha[4]; 2. 27-Justin Pope[2]; 3. 16-Steve Smith[5]; 4. 60-Francis White[3]; 5. 96T-Tim Dunn[1]; 6. 8X-Jock Symonds[6]

Hot Laps (3 Laps): 1. 113-Nathan Powers, 00:22.885[18]; 2. 96T-Tim Dunn, 00:23.600[8]; 3. 26R-Damien Bechler, 00:24.156[2]; 4. 22-Daniel Valade, 00:24.283[25]; 5. 171-Jacob Kimball, 00:24.471[15]; 6. 11A-Kevin Greenfield, 00:24.699[12]; 7. 11J-Justin Burns, 00:24.775[7]; 8. 20-Nick Galusha, 00:24.794[10]; 9. 21V-Corey Valade, 00:24.824[24]; 10. 99-Walt VanEpps, 00:25.642[26]; 11. 16B-Chris Bonoffski, 00:26.726[4]; 12. 19-Collin Bauter, 00:26.914[1]; 13. 27A-Alexandra Parker, 00:27.161[17]; 14. 4H-Steven Burdick, 00:27.634[6]; 15. (DNS) 5M-Ray Bechler; 16. (DNS) 9-Dylan Burdick; 17. (DNS) 02-Jr Durham; 18. (DNS) 22J-Jared Gilson; 19. (DNS) 17-Michael Greenfield; 20. (DNS) 64C-Brad Jerome; 21. (DNS) 99M-Dustin Murphy; 22. (DNS) R1-Donny Rider Jr; 23. (DNS) 16-Steve Smith; 24. (DNS) 111J-Anthony St Mary Jr; 25. (DNS) 8X-Jock Symonds; 26. (DNS) 43-Richard Thorton; 27. (DNS) 94-OJ White; 28. (DNS) 60R-Ron White; 29. (DNS) 13-Gary Sharlow