McPherson secures SRI Performance Pole Award for Sunday’s Chevy Performance 75
The field for the biggest DIRTcar Sportsman Modified race of the year is beginning to take shape at the 50th NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week.
Four of the division’s top drivers earned their place in Oswego Speedway Victory Lane Friday night under the lights, topping the 20-plus car Qualifying Heat Races and taking the transfer cars behind them into Sunday’s Chevy Performance 75 main event.
A grand total of 90 Sportsman drivers signed in to compete in the historic event, leaving 64 still unqualified for Sunday after the top-five (not already locked-in through Time Trials) were admitted after the Heats. Each of those drivers will be scheduled to compete in a Last Chance Showdown event before the Feature on Sunday, giving everyone one final shot at making the field.
Qualifying Heat #1 – Andrew Buff
Though he’ll take the green on Sunday from outside the top-six, Andrew Buff showed Friday night exactly why he remains one of the top-ranked Sportsman drivers in the region.
After Polesitter Cody McPherson dropped out due to ignition box concerns, Buff grabbed the lead and took off, never relinquishing it once as he cruised across the stripe, untouched to collect a $500 check and a seventh-place starting spot in the Chevy Performance 75.
“We have a really good car; I felt like we could go anywhere,” Buff said. “We got out front and I stuck to the bottom. [Chief Starter] Dave Farney’s awesome with the flags – he shows us where we need to go and where we need to be. I was pulling away and just held it right around the bottom.”
Heat 1 (15 Laps): 1. 79-Andrew Buff[4]; 2. 33-Richard Murtaugh[5]; 3. 30-Nicholas Root[8]; 4. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[3]; 5. 21K-Randy Chrysler[12]; 6. 7S-Michael Sabia[7]; 7. 33C-Cody Ochs[13]; 8. 357-Marty Kelly III[9]; 9. 171-Jimmy Zacharias[6]; 10. 28X-Stephen Marshall[18]; 11. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr[15]; 12. 5P-Brock Pinkerous[16]; 13. 22B-Mike Bruno[14]; 14. 77L-Buddy Leathley[17]; 15. 89-Dylan Madsen[2]; 16. 57-Justin Liechti[21]; 17. 7M-Cody McPherson[1]; 18. 66B-Jason Bruno[19]; 19. 66-Brett Martin[20]; 20. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau[10]; 21. 26M-Derrick McGrew[11]; 22. (DNS) 42-Colby Adamczak; 23. (DNS) 5K-Kenny Peoples Jr.
Qualifying Heat #2 – Matt Janczuk
After falling one spot short of winning his first Super DIRT Week trophy last year, Matt Janczuk is back, looking to avenge the defeat this weekend. He made his first steps of progress with a Qualifying Heat win on Friday, though already locked-in through Time Trials after picking up the Finishing Touch Construction Outside Pole Award earlier in the afternoon with a lap of 22.732.
Janczuk, the 2021 Sportsman Series champion from Oneida, NY, led all 15 Laps of Qualifying Heat #2 untouched to claim the $500 check for his efforts.
“Overall, it’s a big confidence booster,” Janczuk said. “We laid down some really good lap times in the Heat Race. It was nice that DIRTcar put some money up to pay the Heat winners – which was one of the reasons we stayed out to do that – and to get a good feel and get some more laps here.”
Heat 2 (15 Laps): 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[1]; 2. 38-Zach Sobotka[3]; 3. 10-Karl Comfort[5]; 4. 35T-Cameron Tuttle[4]; 5. 3N-Justin Sharp[14]; 6. 711-Chris Crane Jr[7]; 7. 18E-Gavin Eisele[10]; 8. 98-Tyler Thompson[6]; 9. 18R-Brad Rouse[16]; 10. 8JS-John Stowell[12]; 11. 20-Bucko Branham[20]; 12. 19-Jamy Begor[13]; 13. 631-Todd Buckwold[17]; 14. 3H-Cole Hentschel[11]; 15. 48-Kearra Backus[19]; 16. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[23]; 17. 27-Jason Reome[22]; 18. 44T-Gordon Smith[21]; 19. (DNF) 74-Taylor Vanderzanden[15]; 20. (DNF) 01-Zach Buff[9]; 21. (DNF) 28K-Kyle Swart[18]; 22. (DNF) 58-AJ Lloyd[8]; 23. (DNS) 3M-Chris Mackey
Qualifying Heat #3 – Noah Walker
After mechanical failures hindered his Qualifying Heat efforts while leading last year, Noah Walker righted the ship Friday night with a flag-to-flag victory and a $500 check in his name.
The 24-year-old from North Tonawanda, NY, got his first trip to Oswego Speedway Victory Lane in dominant fashion, leading all 15 laps for the win. He’ll start Sunday’s Chevy Performance 75 from inside Row 2 after locking-in during Time Trials with a third-best lap of 22.745.
“The other day at practice, we tinkered on the car and made some adjustments from the first practice to the second,” Walker said. “The adjustments were very helpful and made the car way better. We didn’t really change anything from that… so far, so good.”
Heat 3 (15 Laps): 1. 22-Noah Walker[1]; 2. 410-Mike Fowler[2]; 3. 1M-Tyler Murray[5]; 4. 72-James Friesen[3]; 5. 514-James Hanson[4]; 6. 28F-Tyler Stevenson[7]; 7. 42B-Justin Buff[11]; 8. 44-David Rogers[8]; 9. 132-Dalton Martin[6]; 10. 88H-Chris Hulsizer[12]; 11. 5-Kyle Devendorf[9]; 12. 35-Nelson Mason[16]; 13. 57H-Remington Hamm[10]; 14. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[14]; 15. 782-Mark Shupp[18]; 16. 7-Codie Aubin[15]; 17. 33JR-Clayton Brewer III[13]; 18. 7O7-Greg Brinklow[19]; 19. 61-Alexander Palmer Sawyer[20]; 20. 21R-Jeffrey Reis[21]; 21. (DNS) 42N-Daryl Nutting; 22. (DNS) 1X-Willy Decker Jr.
Qualifying Heat #4 – Chad Edwards
Chad Edwards put it on the pole of last year’s Chevy Performance 75 and returned to Oswego Friday night, locking-in again through Time Trials with a fourth-quick lap. However, he stayed out to compete in the Heat and run more laps on the track, and picked up a $500 for those winning efforts.
Edwards dealt with multiple restarts after the yellows began flying, but stayed strong on the takeoffs, thanks to a well-prepared track surface to aid with the launch.
“The track kinda came back around a bit; it had a little bit more bite now than it did earlier,” Edwards said. “We’ll probably have to just tighten-up a little bit and make it to 75.”
Heat 4 (15 Laps): 1. 10%-Chad Edwards[1]; 2. 52-Jessica Power[4]; 3. 64-Tyler Corcoran[3]; 4. 33R-Travis Bruno[5]; 5. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[2]; 6. 02-David Boisclair[8]; 7. 38S-Kevin Stevens[7]; 8. 13A-Troy Audet[10]; 9. 18-Matt Lashua[11]; 10. 33XL-Moise Page[12]; 11. 00-Beau Reeves[18]; 12. 28-Alan Fink[9]; 13. 10G-Austin Germinio[15]; 14. 26-Kyle Richner[14]; 15. 09-Trevor Wright[16]; 16. 3-Justin McKay[17]; 17. 16X-Savannah Laflair[20]; 18. 1R-Ricky Thompson[21]; 19. 75-AJ Custodi[13]; 20. 24B-Brendan Gibbons[6]; 21. 48B-Aron Backus[19]; 22. (DNS) 2-Taylor Doxtater
Time Trials
The 2022 Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Racing Series champion, Cody McPherson, was king of the speed chart after 86 of the 90 registered drivers took time Friday afternoon, turning in a fastest lap of 22.699 around the 5/8-mile oval.
The St. Catharines, ON, driver picked up $500 as recipient of the SRI Performance Pole Award and will lead the field to the green in the Chevy Performance 75 on Sunday, Oct. 9.
Matt Janczuk (22.732); Noah Walker (22.745); Chad Edwards (22.803); Dylan Madsen (22.809); and Chris Mackey (22.823) were the other five drivers to lock into the main event with their lap times.
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 7M-Cody McPherson, 00:22.699[26]; 2. 33X-Matt Janczuk, 00:22.732[30]; 3. 22-Noah Walker, 00:22.745[10]; 4. 10%-Chad Edwards, 00:22.803[57]; 5. 89-Dylan Madsen, 00:22.809[27]; 6. 3M-Chris Mackey, 00:22.823[72]; 7. 410-Mike Fowler, 00:22.841[19]; 8. 31B-Ryan Dolbear, 00:22.869[86]; 9. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan, 00:22.883[63]; 10. 38-Zach Sobotka, 00:22.889[33]; 11. 72-James Friesen, 00:22.894[82]; 12. 64-Tyler Corcoran, 00:22.899[60]; 13. 79-Andrew Buff, 00:22.933[41]; 14. 35T-Cameron Tuttle, 00:22.951[40]; 15. 514-James Hanson, 00:22.957[42]; 16. 52-Jessica Power, 00:22.960[21]; 17. 33-Richard Murtaugh, 00:22.981[3]; 18. 10-Karl Comfort, 00:22.993[50]; 19. 1M-Tyler Murray, 00:23.020[80]; 20. 33R-Travis Bruno, 00:23.065[15]; 21. 171-Jimmy Zacharias, 00:23.067[68]; 22. 98-Tyler Thompson, 00:23.070[51]; 23. 132-Dalton Martin, 00:23.074[2]; 24. 24B-Brendan Gibbons, 00:23.079[46]; 25. 7S-Michael Sabia, 00:23.090[28]; 26. 711-Chris Crane Jr, 00:23.132[1]; 27. 28F-Tyler Stevenson, 00:23.138[38]; 28. 38S-Kevin Stevens, 00:23.184[64]; 29. 30-Nicholas Root, 00:23.195[89]; 30. 58-AJ Lloyd, 00:23.195[56]; 31. 44-David Rogers, 00:23.205[39]; 32. 02-David Boisclair, 00:23.217[79]; 33. 357-Marty Kelly III, 00:23.221[4]; 34. 01-Zach Buff, 00:23.239[34]; 35. 5-Kyle Devendorf, 00:23.275[65]; 36. 28-Alan Fink, 00:23.277[37]; 37. 22C-Cedric Gauvreau, 00:23.282[61]; 38. 18E-Gavin Eisele, 00:23.302[32]; 39. 57H-Remington Hamm, 00:23.342[83]; 40. 13A-Troy Audet, 00:23.344[67]; 41. 26M-Derrick McGrew, 00:23.348[47]; 42. 3H-Cole Hentschel, 00:23.349[87]; 43. 42B-Justin Buff, 00:23.355[9]; 44. 18-Matt Lashua, 00:23.389[58]; 45. 21K-Randy Chrysler, 00:23.408[54]; 46. 8JS-John Stowell, 00:23.421[66]; 47. 88H-Chris Hulsizer, 00:23.440[29]; 48. 33XL-Moise Page, 00:23.441[52]; 49. 33C-Cody Ochs, 00:23.453[48]; 50. 19-Jamy Begor, 00:23.473[25]; 51. 33JR-Clayton Brewer III, 00:23.509[44]; 52. 75-AJ Custodi, 00:23.511[11]; 53. 22B-Mike Bruno, 00:23.623[16]; 54. 3N-Justin Sharp, 00:23.635[20]; 55. 17Z-Seth Zacharias, 00:23.651[85]; 56. 26-Kyle Richner, 00:23.653[18]; 57. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr, 00:23.659[7]; 58. 74-Taylor Vanderzanden, 00:23.678[53]; 59. 7-Codie Aubin, 00:23.696[73]; 60. 10G-Austin Germinio, 00:23.702[59]; 61. 5P-Brock Pinkerous, 00:23.711[81]; 62. 18R-Brad Rouse, 00:23.739[76]; 63. 35-Nelson Mason, 00:23.750[88]; 64. 09-Trevor Wright, 00:23.750[5]; 65. 77L-Buddy Leathley, 00:23.753[71]; 66. 631-Todd Buckwold, 00:23.759[75]; 67. 42N-Daryl Nutting, 00:23.772[90]; 68. 3-Justin McKay, 00:23.907[43]; 69. 28X-Stephen Marshall, 00:23.971[49]; 70. 28K-Kyle Swart, 00:23.983[17]; 71. 782-Mark Shupp, 00:23.985[35]; 72. 00-Beau Reeves, 00:24.004[77]; 73. 66B-Jason Bruno, 00:24.005[12]; 74. 48-Kearra Backus, 00:24.110[22]; 75. 7O7-Greg Brinklow, 00:24.127[6]; 76. 48B-Aron Backus, 00:24.158[45]; 77. 66-Brett Martin, 00:24.215[8]; 78. 20-Bucko Branham, 00:24.282[84]; 79. 61-Alexander Palmer Sawyer, 00:24.374[23]; 80. 16X-Savannah Laflair, 00:24.540[55]; 81. 57-Justin Liechti, 00:24.639[74]; 82. 44T-Gordon Smith, 00:24.730[69]; 83. 21R-Jeffrey Reis, 00:24.783[70]; 84. 1R-Ricky Thompson, 00:25.077[36]; 85. 42-Colby Adamczak, 00:25.868[78]; 86. 27-Jason Reome, 00:25.868[31]; 87. (DNS) 1X-Willy Decker Jr, 00:25.868; 88. (DNS) 2-Taylor Doxtater, 00:25.868; 89. (DNS) 5K-Kenny Peoples Jr, 00:25.868; 90. (DQ) 284-Jamie Kamrowski, 00:23.698[14]
