Farnham, Wood Find Checkered Flags On Final Cunningham Memorial Night At Merrittville

Story By: JONATHON HOWE / MERRITTVILLE SPEEDWAY – THOROLD, ONT – Merrittville Speedway welcomed the Southern Ontario Sprints back to the track Saturday as Cotton Inc presented the Gary Cunningham Memorial.

Scott Wood of Thorold, ON won the Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modified feature. Port Colborne, ON native R.J. Pietz won the Rona Doidge Modified Lites. The Southern Ontario Sprints feature was won by Matt Farnham of Tonawanda, NY. Dave Bailey of Hagersville, ON won the Hoosier Stock feature and Cierra Keus who races out of Beamsville, ON won in the All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders.

Roger Winfield and Paul Gaboury led the field to green in the Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modified feature. Gaboury jumped out to the early advantage but was tracked down by Scott Wood who overtook Gaboury for the lead on lap seven. Luke Carleton followed suit, staying with Wood for much of the green flag run. Carleton even got to the inside of Wood while in lap traffic, making slight contact. Both drivers would continue on with Wood holding the lead, when Darrell Farraway stopped in turn three and four with nine laps to go. On the restart, Luke Carleton had pressure from behind from Shayne Pierce and Gary Lindberg, which left him on defense for several laps. Wood took advantage and ran away with the win to become the eighth different Modified feature winner in 2025. Carleton was second, with Lindberg, Pierce and Nelson Mason rounding out the top five.

In Rona Doidge Modified Lites, pole sitter Anthony Kelly led the races opening eight laps, until he was tracked down by Tyler Winger. The race’s first caution came at the halfway point when Chance Kotar spun in turns three and four. Two more cautions followed in short succession, and on a restart at lap 13, the division’s top talent had found themselves at the front of the field with Winger leading R.J. Pietz, Josh Sliter and Brent Begolo. Pietz got by Winger on lap 14 and held on for one last late restart with three to go to score his first win of the season. Sliter, Winger, Begolo and Shawn Sliter followed Pietz across the stripe.

Pole sitter Bailey Heard jumped out to lead the opening eight laps of the Gary Cunningham Memorial Southern Ontario Sprint feature. Matt Farnham who started third was able to get by Heard for the top spot. While passing Heard, Farnham washed up the track which allowed Bowman to get by on the inside for second. D.J. Christie jumped up to third but on lap 17, lost his track position after trying a low percentage move on Bowman to take second, spinning out and bringing out the caution. Farnham remained mostly unchallenged once he got to the top spot, however a lap car spinning in front of him with four laps to go, almost derailed his sure fire win. Farnham dodged the spin and held on to win four laps to go.

In Hoosier stock action, GoFast Teeple and George Grosul brought the field to green with Teeple leading early. Chris Crowe put the race under yellow for the first time for spinning on lap seven. Mark Fawcett was able to go get the lead on the restart. Rob Murray brought out the caution on lap 13 when he picked up a flat tire after contact with Kyle Pelrine, and again when he was turned around by Zack Bleich. After the dust settled, Fawcett was tasked with holding off Jason Fontaine, who quickly was passed by Dave Bailey. Bailey then set his sights on Fawcett, getting by Fawcett coming to the white flag. Fawcett held off Fontaine in side by side run to the checkered with Dustin Duga and Grosul finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

The All Star Concrete Four Cylinders contested their second Duel on the Dirt Home Track event of the season with Braden Keus and Connor Chambers leading the field to green. The only caution of the race came at lap two when Dave Wininger was pinched down into the inside wall and briefly getting on top of the tire barrier. The restart saw Braden Keus surrender the lead to sister Cierra Keus. She remained largely unchallenged for the win as drivers battled and jockeyed for position in the top five. With four laps to go, Alex Riley moved to third with a three wide move to get Braden Keus and Ray Cerenzia. Riley would finish second ahead of Mason Anderson, unable to catch the 7C bug for the top spot.

Next week, Bobcat of Hamilton presents the School’s Out for Summer Canada Day Celebration. The Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds, Semenuk’s Esso/Baron Roofing DIRTcar Sportsman, Hoosier Stocks. Rona Doidge Modified Lites, and All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders will all be in action, while a massive Fireworks Show will light up the night sky. Pit Gates will open at 5pm, with grandstands opening at 5:30pm, and racing will get underway at 7pm.

RACE RESULTS –- June 21st, 2025.

Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds – SCOTT WOOD, Luke Carleton, Gary Lindberg, Shayne Pierce, Nelson Mason, Pete Bicknell, James Friesen, Brad Rouse, Dave Flannigan Jr., Fred Carleton, Justin Sharp, Paul Gaboury, Jay Mallory, Todd Gordon, Darrell Farraway, Ken Winfield, Dylan Davidson, Brian Page, Derek VanMil, Bill Gill, (DNF) Martin Polhill

Qualifying Heats – Scott Wood, Paul Gaboury, Pete Bicknell

Rona Doidge Modlites – R.J. PIETZ, Josh Sliter, Tyler Winger, Brent Begolo, Shawn Sliter, Sean Iftody, Anthony Kelly, Leroy Buscumb, Chris Watson, Dan Kviring, Dave Cornish, Roger Olschewske Jr., Evan Leonard, Dillan Sliter, Cohen Corbett, Chance Kotar, Nick Sarantakos, Cole Hardy, Bella General, Greg Zack, (DNF) Roger Pardis

Qualifying Heats – Roger Olschewske Jr., R.J. Pietz, Brent Begolo

Southern Ontario Sprints – MATT FARNHAM, Mike Bowman, Baily Heard, Josh Hansen, Darren Dryden, Allan Downey, Jacob Dykstra, Todd Hoddick, Jamie Turner, Ryan Turner, Kyle Phillips, Ashton VanEvery, Tyeller Powless, Scott Hall, (DNF) D.J. Christie, (DNF) Jeremy Hughes, (DNF) Alex Bergeron, (DNF) Travis Cunningham, (DNS) Allen Gilleta

Qualifying Heats – Mike Bowman, Tyeller Powless, D.J. Christie

Quick Time – Matt Farnham 13.320

Hoosier Stocks – DAVE BAILEY (5), Mark Fawcett, Jason Fontaine, Dustin Duga, George Grosul, Kyle Pelrine, Chris Crowe, Adam Plazek, John Overholt, Nathan MacWhirter, Rob Murray, (DNF) Zack Bleich, (DNF) GoFast Teeple

Qualifying Heats – Kyle Pelrine, Mark Fawcett

All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders – CIERRA KEUS, Alex Riley, Mason Anderson, Joshua Dmytrow, Hana Rothwell, Ray Cerenzia, Braden Keus, Jeremy Cooper, Randy Alway, Ken Hair, Austyn Werstroh, Savannah Fontaine, Sierra Robison, John Trivieri, Steven Boverhof, James Marshall, John Lubeck, Brendan Lefrancois, Olivier Larocque, Clinton Barrick, Richard Hadler, Joshua Boucheo, (DNF) Jonathan Devries, (DNF) Nick Bowman, (DNF) Connor Chambers, (DNF) Cameron Olm, (DNF) Dave Wininger

Qualifying Heats – Cierra Keus, Hana Rothwell, Steve Boverhof