Billy Krull plans his drive and drives his plan to win As Southern Ontario Sprints start Gasport’s 49th season
Islanders Porter, Phillips Place
By Dave Cook, Media Officer
Port Colborne, Ontario, May 18; Queen Victoria’s birthday is always an occasion for fireworks in Ontario and the Southern Ontario Sprints (SOS) gave Gasport Speedway fans plenty of thunder and lightening Sunday night to kick off the summer racing season in this popular Niagara Region vacation area.

As the cars started the formation lap for the feature race kicking off Gasport Speedway’s 49th season, fireworks in the distant skies were fading but the fireworks on the track were about to start.

Wheatfield, N.Y., driver Billy Krull had a plan and he followed it to the letter in taking a convincing victory.

“The track was slippery all night so I decided to take a lot of gear out, about 85 points actually. The plan was to run the top but I quickly discovered I could run really fast on the bottom. They just couldn’t catch me,” said Krull.

Krull started the 20-lap feature from fifth position and by the third lap he was second. Two laps later he took command of the race and never looked back. Krull bided his time in passing rookie Kyle Patrick of Chatham, Ontario on lap five and once past Patrick he drove a smooth race sticking to his pre-race strategy.

Patrick ran second with Jim Porter of Grand Island, N.Y. third and Ohsweken Speedway owner Glenn Styers fourth for the first seven tours. The defending SOS champion Keith Dempster of Alton, Ontario provided the fans with an entertaining night as Dempster had worked his way up from seventh to fifth place on lap three and was then forced down into the infield where he came back onto the track in last position. Dempster again started the climb toward the front but ran out of laps to finally finish seventh.

The race starter called back the start twice before the 13-car field took a green. The, on lap three, a caution came out when a corner pylon was knocked into the center of the track. After the restart the field settled into a pace with Patrick, Krull, Porter, Styers, Dempster and Mike Lauterborn of Rochester, N.Y., Dick Mahoney of Newmarket, Ontario, Brad Knab of Delevan, N.Y. and Warren Mahoney of Lefroy, Ontario running in close quarters.

Lauterborn moved cautiously forward from sixth starting position to finish third behind Porter and Krull. Porter, who was fourth in the season’s opening race at Brighton recently, notched a career best with his second place finish.

Results:

Heat One: 1. Glenn Styers, Ohsweken, Ontario; 2. Curt Sherwood, Sanborn, N.Y.; 3. Billy Krull, Wheatfield, N.Y.; 4. Kyle Patrick, Chatham, Ontario; 5. Warren Mahoney, Lefroy, Ontario; 6. Phil Plant, Mount Hope, Ontario; 7. Brad Knab, Delevan, N.Y.; dnf Mark Schultz, Newfame, N.Y.

Heat Two: 1. Mike Lauterborn, Rochester, N.Y.; 2. Keith Dempster, Alton, Ontario; 3. Dick Mahoney, Newmarket, Ontario; 4. Jim Porter, Grand Island, N.Y.; 5. Daryl Turford, Stratford, Ontario; 6. Tim Phillips, Grand Island, N.Y.; 7. Bob Crawford, Sutton, Ontario; 8. Dan Bennett, Lockport, N.Y.

DASH: 1. Lauterborn; 2. Dempster; 3. Styers; 4. Sherwood.

Feature: 1. Krull; 2. Porter; 3. Lauterborn; 4. Styers; 5. Warren Mahoney; 6. Dick Mahoney; 7. Dempster; 8. Knab; 9. Patrick; 10. Phillips; 11.Crawford; 12. Armishaw; dnf Turford.