SPORTY THURSDAY: Sportsman Super Six Confirmed, Janczuk, Lajoie, Murtaugh, McPherson Win Heats

Written on 10/11/2024
Nick Graziano

By Matt Skipper

The stage is set for a Saturday night throw down in the DIRTcar Sportsman division for the Chevrolet Performance 75 at Oswego Speedway.

Beginning Thursday’s program of the Super DIRT Week 52, Super Six Time Trials solidified the first three rows that will roll off the grid for the Feature at the 5/8-mile facility.

Reigning Chevrolet Performance 75 champion Matt Janczuk will lead the field to the green flag on Saturday night. The Oneida, NY driver broke the track record with a 21.338 second lap, earning him the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel & Aluminum Pole Award.

Janczuk took that speed into Heat 1, where he led all 15 circuits to help solidify his chances to win back-to-back Features at Racing’s Biggest Party.

“It’s a testament to this team,” Janczuk said. “I gotta thank Whittaker Ford, Velocita, and this 33X team. We worked hard all Winter trying different stuff in testing on the spring smasher, and we haven’t raced this car since last year. So, it’s been sitting in the shop collecting dust. We put in some of the stuff we learned this year, made some adjustments between the groups of Hot Laps, and we just got better from there. To turn a quicker lap in Time Trials than we did in Hot Laps kind of surprised me even.”

St-Hyacinthe, QC driver Alex Lajoie, who earned the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award with a 21.498 second lap around Oswego, joins Janczuk on the front row of the Feature.

Like Janczuk, Lajoie flexed his muscles aboard his No.33J by leading every lap of Heat 2.

“It’s a very good thing to start out on the front row,” Lajoie said. “We were a bit stressed when we came here. We needed and really wanted to be in the top six, get locked in, and have a good chance for the Feature. Normally, it’s pretty slick, so if you’re not in the front, it’s hard to work your way from the back.

“I saw the track, it had a nice outside line, and that’s where I like to go. So, when we went out for Time Trials, I went in there early and it all worked out, so I’m really happy about it and can’t wait to see what we can do on Saturday night.”

Making up the full Sportsman Super Six from Thursday night included South New Berlin, NY driver Payton Talbot, St. Catharines, ON driver Cody McPherson, St-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC driver Donovan Lussier, and Fulton, NY driver Hunter Hollenbeck.

The only non-Super Six driver to win a Heat race on Thursday night was Fulton, NY driver Richard Murtaugh. After taking the lead on Lap 5 of Heat 3, Murtaugh never looked back as he set himself up for a top-10 starting spot in Saturday night’s Feature.

“I’m pretty excited,” Murtaugh said. “We haven’t brought this car (to Oswego) before. We had a different one last year and finished fourth with it, but we’ve been really good with this car. We’ve got to win and haven’t really raced all that much, but I feel a lot better than I did last year, so we’ll see what we can do.”

McPherson, the 2022 Chevrolet Performance 75 champion, and the winningest DIRTcar Sportsman driver, drove his way toward the win in Heat 4 while learning what he could do to adjust and go after a second Super DIRT Week Feature.

“It took a couple of laps to fire off,” McPherson said. “It didn’t come to me on the first lap, but it did on the second lap. We got a good piece, we got to go back to work, see how the track changes over the next couple of days, and we’ll see what we can do on Saturday night.”

After the four Heat races ran, the 26 guaranteed cars in Saturday night’s Feature include:

  1. Matt Janczuk
  2. Alex Lajoie
  3. Payton Talbot
  4. Cody McPherson
  5. Donovan Lussier
  6. Hunter Hollenbeck
  7. Jessica Power
  8. Derrick McGrew
  9. Richard Murtaugh
  10. Chris Crane Jr
  11. Gavin Eisele
  12. Emmett Waldron
  13. Tyler Corcoran
  14. Dominic Roselli
  15. Kevin Chaffee
  16. Matt Guererri
  17. Brian Krummel
  18. Mike Richmond
  19. Zach Sobotka
  20. Ryan Shanahan
  21. Chris Jakubiak
  22. Dylan Madsen
  23. Jason Parkhurst Jr
  24. Connor Crane
  25. Chad Edwards
  26. Tyler Murray
RESULTS:
Heat 1 (15 Laps): 1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[1]; 2. 61L-Donovan Lussier[2]; 3. 52-Jessica Power[3]; 4. 18-Gavin Eisele[6]; 5. 8-Kevin Chaffee[5]; 6. 38-Zach Sobotka[8]; 7. 38JR-Jason Parkhurst Jr[4]; 8. 30-Nicholas Root[10]; 9. 78-Tanner Warner[9]; 10. 12T-Tyler Peet[14]; 11. 00X-Josh Coonradt[11]; 12. 1F-AJ Lloyd[12]; 13. 185-Adam Leslie[7]; 14. 36-James Hanson[13]; 15. 74-Taylor Vanderzanden[17]; 16. 5N-Ryan Neiger[19]; 17. 3D-Noah Mamo[15]; 18. 32-Joe Trichilo[16]; 19. 43-Tavien Blowers[20]; 20. 92-Frank Sibley[23]; 21. M16-Michael Schane[24]; 22. 23-Chad Gregory[22]; 23. 12B-Tyler Bobar[21]; 24. (DNS) 31K-Kennedy Payne
Heat 2 (15 Laps): 1. 33J-Alex Lajoie[1]; 2. 26-Derrick McGrew[4]; 3. 4W-Emmett Waldron[5]; 4. 72-Hunter Hollenbeck[2]; 5. 12G-Matt Guererri[8]; 6. 32RS-Ryan Shanahan[3]; 7. 711X-Connor Crane[6]; 8. 410-Mike Fowler[7]; 9. 0F-Tony Finch II[11]; 10. 01-Zachary Buff[9]; 11. 03-Joshua Jock[10]; 12. 91-Josh Reome[18]; 13. 22J-Shawn McPhee[14]; 14. 6-Cody Manitta[12]; 15. 45PJ-Timmy Catalano[20]; 16. 10-Karl Comfort[16]; 17. 67W-Zack Welch[17]; 18. 15-Chase Zimmer[22]; 19. 23T-Scott Towslee[19]; 20. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[13]; 21. 16X-Savannah Laflair[15]; 22. 19L-Owen Lewis[21]; 23. (DNS) 44C-Gregg Carner; 24. (DNS) 28J-Jordan Moden
Heat 3 (15 Laps): 1. 33-Richard Murtaugh[3]; 2. 64-Tyler Corcoran[2]; 3. 17K-Brian Krummel[4]; 4. 49-Chris Jakubiak[6]; 5. 10%-Chad Edwards[7]; 6. 5-Kyle Devendorf[10]; 7. 25-Stephen Gray[11]; 8. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[12]; 9. 02-Cody Ochs[13]; 10. 56PJ-Trevor Catalano[5]; 11. 21-Marty Kelly III[15]; 12. 7L-Josh Leclaire[14]; 13. T69-Travis Green[20]; 14. 0-Billy Bleich Jr[16]; 15. 99-Jordan Millard[8]; 16. 88-Michael Wagner Fitzgerald[24]; 17. 42A-Colby Adamczak[19]; 18. 24B-Joey Bruning[17]; 19. 10G-Austin Germinio[21]; 20. 42-Daryl Nutting[18]; 21. 51P-Bryan Preville[23]; 22. (DNF) K8-JT Sperring[9]; 23. (DNF) 14T-Payton Talbot[1]; 24. (DNS) 19-Floyd Billington
Heat 4 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Cody McPherson[1]; 2. 711C-Chris Crane Jr[2]; 3. 80-Dominic Roselli[4]; 4. 22X-Mike Richmond[7]; 5. 89-Dylan Madsen[3]; 6. 1M-Tyler Murray[8]; 7. B24-Brendan Gibbons[6]; 8. 113J-Frank Guererri[16]; 9. 28X-Stephen Marshall[13]; 10. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[12]; 11. 21J-Justin Liechti[11]; 12. 2-Taylor Doxtater[10]; 13. 63-Teddy Clayton Jr[5]; 14. 51-Tim Lafler[14]; 15. 782-Mark Shupp[23]; 16. 3-Justin McKay[18]; 17. 4-Michelle Courcy[22]; 18. RB21-Ryan Barrett[15]; 19. (DNF) 33JR-Clayton Brewer III[17]; 20. (DNF) 14-Camdin Cook[21]; 21. (DNF) 37-TJ Frost[9]; 22. (DNS) 12-Owen Bird; 23. (DNS) R1-Riley Rogala

For the full results CLICK HERE.

Up Next: The DIRTcar Sportsman division will return to the racetrack on Saturday night for Last Chance Showdowns before the Chevrolet Performance 75 Feature. Tickets are available by clicking here, and at the gate on race day.

If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap of Super DIRT Week 52 on DIRTVision – through your computer or mobile device.

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