8/5/2025
Merrittville Speedway
Lindberg Sweeps Weekend With Win in the Get Well Soon Stew 44 at Merrittville
THOROLD, Ontario (August 4th, 2025) … Merrittville Speedway closed out the civic holiday long weekend with the Baron Roofing Canadian Grand Nationals that saw 122 cars enter the pits. The evening concluded with a 44 lap Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modified feature in honour of injured Niagara born driver Stewart Friesen, which was won by Ridgeway, ON’s Gary Lindberg. St. Catharines native Cody McPherson took the win in the Semenuk’s Esso/Baron Roofing DIRTcar Sportsman. Brent Begolo of Thorold, ON scored the win in the Rona Doidge Modified Lites. Dave Bailey of Hagersville, ON won in the Hoosier Stocks and Cierra Keus of Port Robinson, ON took home the checkered flag in the All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders.
Justin Sharp and Todd Gordon led the field to green for the extended 44 lap feature for the Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds, with Gordon taking the lead early. On lap 5, it was Lindberg going to the top spot around Gordon after starting third. On lap 13, the caution waved for a 3 car incident that started with Luke Carleton and Brad Rouse spinning in turns three and four, collecting Dave Flannigan Jr. Rouse and Carleton would find themselves together again a few laps later, this time exchanging pleasantries on track and tempers boiling over on pit road. This caused a red flag while crews rushed toward the Carleton pit area. Once The skirmish settled and track personnel could return to their post, Lindberg drove off and left the field. The extended green flag run allowed Lindberg to build a nearly 10 second advantage on Gordon, who was comfortably ahead of third place Nelson Mason himself. Lindberg ended up lapping all but six cars, sweeping the weekend of Modified racing at Merrittville.
In a similar story to the Modified feature, points leader and the series most dominant driver in 2025, Cody McPherson started third after the redraw. Unlike Lindberg, McPherson took the top spot on the opening lap. Madyson Rouseand Mitch Dumont spun on lap two collecting three other cars. This kicked off a rash of cautions over the next several laps that forced race control to make the call to go single file restarts after lap eight. Once the field settled in, McPherson was no match, driving away comfortably, even surviving a green white checkered finish after caution on lap 24. McPherson led flag to flag, winning his 10th feature of the season at Merrittville ahead of Jacob Chevalier, front row starter Billy Bleich Jr., Tyler Puchalski and Curtis Friesen.
The Rona Doidge Modified Lites began with Ashton Anderson and Dillan Sliter on the front row. Anderson led early, before brother Ryan took the top spot away. On lap eight, Brent Begolo, who started eighth, took the lead and checked out. His run was briefly interrupted on lap 10 when Josh Sliter had a rare spin off turn two, bringing out the yellow. Begolo would survive one more restart, after a caution with three laps to go. Begolo’s car was a rocket ship and no match for the competition as the former track champion claimed his second win of the year. Shawn and Dillan sliter rounded out the podium while Ahston Anderson hung on for fourth ahead of Sean Iftody.
A full field Hoosier Stocks took to Merrittville Speedway in search of the top prize of $1000. The added car count increased on track action and led to more yellows than typically seen out of the street stock class on Saturday nights. Steve Shaw Sr. led the opening laps before Mark Fawcett took the top spot prior to a lap seven caution. After the restart, it was Dave Bailey, chasing his 10th Merrittville win this season, getting past Fawcett. On lap nine, a final caution came out when Brock Gregory turned Rob Murray around on the back stretch. Once the race resumed, no one had anything for Bailey, who cruised to the sweep of the weekend in the Hoosier Stocks. Kyle Pelrine finished second after passing Fawcett late, while Jason Fontaine gained 20 spots to finish fourth ahead of Shaw Sr.
The only feature to run caution free was the All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders, where 28 cars took the green led by Ken Hair and Josh Dmytrow. Dmytrow got out front early, leading a foru car pack that quickly formed and also featured Cierra Keus, Alex Riley and Rob Goulding. The pack stayed together, while Dmytrow did a masterful job making his car wide and covering off runs taen low and high. Just after the race's halfway point, Keus was able to make a run stick and get by Dmytrow. Riley quickly followed to take second, but could not keep pace with Keus who went on to win her third feature of the season. Goulding, Dmytrow and Hana Rothwell rounded out the top five.
Bobcat of Hamilton Weekly Racing returns to Merrittville Speedway with action presented by Niagara Trailers. All five regularly scheduled divisions will be in action in addition to the NRVRS Vintage Cars. We will also have School Bus Race #2 to close out the night. Pit Gates will open at 5pm, with grandstands opening at 5:30pm, and racing will get underway at 7pm. For more information, visit www.merrittvillespeedway.com and can follow the action on My Race Pass.
Follow Merrittville on social media including Facebook (facebook.com/MerrittvilleSpeedway), Twitter (@Merrittville), and now on Instagram (@merrittvillespeedway). For results, point standings, and more, check out www.merrittvillespeedway.com
RACE RESULTS –- August 4th, 2025.
Commercial Auto Electric 358 Modifieds – GARY LINDBERG (5), Todd Gordon, Nelson mason, Darrell Farraway, Shayne Pierce, Tommy Flanigan, Pete Bicknell, Jay Mallory, James Friesen, Dave Flanigan Jr., Scott Wood, Fred Carleton, Derek VanMil, Bill Gill, (DNF) Justin Sharp, (DNF) Brian Page, (DNF) Brad Rouse, (DNF) Luke Carleton, (DNF) Paul Gaboury
Qualifying Heats – Nelson Mason, Darrell Farraway, Justin Sharp
Semenuk’s ESSO/Baron Roofing DIRTcar Sportsman – CODY MCPHERSON (10), Jacob Chevalier, Billy Bleich Jr., Tyler Puchalski, Curtis Friesen, Noah Mamo, Matt Sharpe, Matteo Panunte, Nigel Pendykoski, Ryan Barrett, Daniel McKay, Taylor Vanderzanden, Boyd MacTavish, Austin Seburn, Brad Overbeeke, Jeff Panunte, Madyson Rouse, Elijah Knutt, (DNF) Cameron Olm, (DNF) Trevor Pitt, (DNF) Chris Hawkins, (DNF) Doug Walsh Jr., (DNF) Matthew Jessome, (DNF) Mitch Dumont
Qualifying Heats - Ryan Barrett, Jacob Chevalier, Taylor Vanderzanden
Rona Doidge Modified Lites – BRENT BEGOLO (2), Shawn Sliter, Dillan Sliter, Ashton Anderson, Sean Iftody, R.J. Pietz, Ryan Anderson, Anthony Kelly, Rob Misener, Cohen Corbett, Tyler Winger, Leroy Buscumb, Greg Zack, Nick Sarantakos, Roger Pardis, Dave Cornish, Ryleigh Sliter, Josh Sliter, Cole Hardy, Bella General, Olschewske Jr., Evan Leonard
Qualifying Heats – Brent Begolo, Tyler Winger, R.J. Pietz
Hoosier Stocks – DAVE BAILEY (10), Kyle Pelrine, Mark Facett, Jason Fontaine, Steve Shaw Sr., Gofast Teeple, Zack Bleich, Clinton Nicholls, Brock Gregory, Spencer Smolders, Kacey Huffman, Dave Small, Chris Crowe, Dustin Duga, Nick Cameron, Rob Disher, Jeff Larmet, Dylan Peckham, Nathan MacWhirter, John Overholt, (DNF) Rob General, (DNF) Rob Murray, (DNF) Jeff Bean, (DNF) Kevin Kocarik, (DNS) Tyler French
Qualifying Heats – Nick Cameron, Kyle Pelrine, Gofast Teeple
All Star Concrete 4 Cylinders – Cierra Keus (3), Alex Riley, Rob Goulding, Joshua Dmytrow, Hana Rothwell, Jason Tolton, Jeremy Cooper, Sierra Robison, Mason Anderson, Clinton Barrick, Austyn Werstroh, Ken Hair, Steve Robison, Braden Keus, Ray Cerenzia, John Trivieri, Brendan Lefrancois, Jonathan Macwhirter, Olivier Larocque, John Lubeck, Randy Alway, Richard Hadler, Joe Stevenson, Sam Iftody, Steven Boverhof, (DNF) Tony Kelly, (DNF) Nick Bowman, (DNF) Jay Moulton
B Feature – RANDY ALWAY, Sam Iftody, Tony Kelly, Jonathan Macwhirter, Olivier Larocque, John Lubeck, Steven Boverhof, Joe Stevenson, Jay Moulton, Nick Bowman, Jack Reid, Savannah Fontaine, James Marshall, Connor Chambers
Qualifying Heats - Ken Hair, Jason Tolton, Alex Riley
Article Credit: Jonathon Howe
Submitted By: Jonathon Howe