The Can-Am Midgets presented by Miller Office Trailers started their 2025 race season this past Saturday night. The Can-Am Midgets are celebrating their 60th season as a club. 60 years of great racing across North America dating back to 1965.
The teams rolled into Flamboro Speedway in Millgrove, Ontario. 17 cars registered in at the front gate. Familiar faces along with new faces were ready to do battle. Cars were getting dialed in during the practice sessions. Heat race #1 saw some action right off the bat. Lap 2 had the cars battling for position when one car got into the left rear of Dominique Smith (49) getting her loose. When the car snapped loose, collected Sherri Hogan (74) sending her into the wall. Jaden Riddell (13) tried to avoid the incident, sending him upside down causing a red flag. The heat race win went to our defending champion, Daniel Hawn in the #42 car. Heat race #2 didn’t see as much chaos, with Darren McLennan in the #78 car taking the checkered flag.
16 cars were able to make it out for the feature race minus the #5 car of Andrew Whelan with some mechanical issues happening all night. A couple of cars with new wings or no wings at all from some mishaps earlier in the night. 30 laps were on the board to determine who would take the first checkered flag of the season. Mike Westwood, honoring the classic #8 car of Albert Banyard for the 60th season alongside Cory Whittam (55) brought the field to green. Caution would fly right away with Tyler Cullen (43) spinning going into turn 1. Complete restart saw 3 wide going into turn 1, with Whittam taking the lead with Smith settling into second. While the field spread out, Whittam caught lap traffic and had to maneuver around them at lap 12. Halfway through saw Whittam, Smith, McLennan, Hawn, and Jeff Blackburn (7) as your top 5 with top 6 cars nose to tail. McLennan claimed second spot from Smith until the #78 car spun on his own coming out of turn 4 causing a caution. This would bunch up the rest of the field. Whittam under pressure, and would concede the lead at the line with 4 laps to go to Blackburn. Blackburn would then pull away and take the first checkered flag of the 2025 season. Hawn and Stanley joined the podium celebrations.
Whittam and McLennan finished in the top 5. McLennan making a great recovery after spinning out and going to the back of the pack. 49, 05, 68, 13, 43, 84, 42x, 8, 96, 53, 74x, and 5 (DNS) round out your finishing order.
Quick turn around this week with Round #2 of the schedule this Saturday, May 17th at Sunset Speedway.