HOGANSBURG - After the opening the season and the following week being better, week 3 at MIR was a night which will have the fans talking all season. With many newcomers joining the field of cars at MIR and threatening skies in the area, track officials decided it would be a night of racing Mother Nature. Track officials decided it would alos be a good idea to kick things off 15 minutes sooner in hopes of completing as much of the racing program as possible.

After some very quick heat racing, which saw 4 heats of Sportsman, we moved quickly into the evening’s features. The Bandit division would see a season of high of cars and some familiar faces back in Victory Lane. Curtis Smith was hoping this would be his night after back to back weeks of mechanical failures. Smith would start from the pole after winning his 2nd heat race of the season. Frances White, last week’s feature winner, would start to his outside. Clemy Bell, who had looked very fast in his heat, would start from the 3rd position. From the first green flag things were looking as if Smith would be the man to beat. However by Lap 7 White had taken the lead only to see the first yellow flag of the feature. Kevin Greenfield’s car had come to a stop between turns 1 and 2. Greenfield’s car would require assistance back to the pit area. Also some smoke started to appear from the Smith car. On the restart Frances White decided it was time to put an end to the drama as he would lead the final 8 laps and head into Victory Lane for the second consecutive week.

Next up was the ever growing field of Super Stocks coming onto the speedway. Nathaniel Guay would lead from the pole and Joe Daniels would start from the outside. After back to back wins, Zach Daniels would fire away from the third position. Joe Daniels would get off to a great start and lead the first 3 laps as Guay did all he could to stay within contention. Zach Daniels would look to make it a three-peat as he kept pace with the leaders. By lap 3 Zach Daniels was able to slip past Joe Daniels for the top position and put it on cruise control for the remaining 12 laps. The race of the feature was between Josh Terry and Jason McClatchie for the 5th spot. The crowd witnessed these 2 very competitive drivers run side by side for the last 12 laps. Terry would lead by half a car length on the last lap as the two cars entered turn 2. McClatchie went for broke on the last lap and drove his car hard into turn 2 in hopes of moving Terry from the bottom. However McClatchie would press the issue a little too hard and spin out, while doing a complete 360 degrees in the process. Zach Daniels picks up his 3rd in a row for the Super Stocks.

After a quick intermission, the Mod Lites would make their appearance for their 15 lap event. Nick Mallette would start from the pole and Isiah Lyon to his outside. Mallette would lead the first 3 laps. By lap 6 Harley Brown, who had started 6th, made his way into the top 3. On lap 12 Isiah Lyon would bring out the first yellow in the Mod Lite feature. This allowed Tristan Dibble a chance at capturing the checkered flag with 3 laps remaining. However, Nick Mallette was not to be beat on this evening and drive it on home for his first win of the season.

The Novice Sportsman would be up next for their 15 lap affair. It would see last week’s feature winner Pryor Stacey and the previous week’s winner Blayden Arquette start to outside. On the first green flag, Pryor Stacey made very quick work of the field and lead all 15 laps for his 2nd win on the season. Blayden Arquette would finish a strong 2nd.

The final feature of the evening would see 29 DirtCar Sportsman battle it out for 25 laps exciting laps. With Thomas Cook’s domination of his heat race one would believe this would be his night. Cory Castell, coming off fresh from his first ever win in a Sportsman at Airborne, had much confidence coming into the feature. From the green flag, Thomas Cook would open up a commanding lead and dig himself deep into heavy lap traffic. The first 15 laps would be all Thomas Cook, however things were just getting warmed up as Cory Castell kept his hot rod within striking distance. All Castell was hoping for was an opportunity to capitalize on a Thomas Cook error. On lap 18 opportunity knocked and Castell answered the door. Thomas Cook went to the highside coming into turn 4 which set his car up with a possible meet and greet with the front stretch wall. However Thomas Cook used his talent and experience to keep it off the wall and lose 2 positions. Castell had his race car dialed in as he slipped past Cook coming out of four and bringing DJ Gonyo with him for the race lead. On lap 24 Jonathan Rush would bring out the yellow as his power plant dropped some fluid entering turn 1. Casey Swamp would be unable to avoid it and his car would slide over turn 1. Swamp’s car was able to pull away on its own power. This would set up a green-white-checkered flag for the win. On the single file restart Castell got off the great start as did Gonyo. As the two cars raced down the back stretch, Gonyo would pick the high side as he entered turn 3 in hopes up using the momentum to bring home the victory. However Castell would not be beat on this night and pick up win #1 at MIR in a Dirtcar Sportsman.

Next week at MIR will see a regular show for Sportsman, Novice Sportsman, Super Stocks, Mod Lites and Bandits. The first green flag drops at 7:30 p.m. Please make sure to check out the MIR website for constant updates throughout the week!

Dirtcar Sportsman 25 lap feature results:

C.Castell, DJ Gonyo,T.Cook, J.Pete, D.Reif, F.Swamp, N.Heywood, J.Begor, M.Delormier, A. Rasmussen, C.Cayea, K.Smoke, B.Gray, D.Bradley, T.Back, C.Aubin, M.Wright, D.Mitchell, D. Legrow Jr, D.Legrow, C.Swamp, E.Tarbell, N.Ellsworth, J.Rush, T.Lamica, B.Reeves, M.Rush, B.Cook

Novice Sportsman 15 laps

P.Stacey, B.Arquette, T.David, C.Reif, C.Vallance, D.Gonyo, X.Delormier, B.Reif(DNS)

Super Stocks 15 laps

Z.Daniels, J.Daniels, N.Guay, T.Terry, J.Terry, J.Stoke, J.McClatchie

Mod Lites 15 laps

N.Mallette, T.Dribble, H.Brown, S.Sharpe, J.Premo, J.Lyon, D.Norcross, W.Dribble, J.Putman, I.Lyon

Bandits 10 laps

F.White, G.Sharlow, L.Sharlow, J.Young, R.Gay, J.Martin, C.Agoney, C.Smith