Racers, officials and fans of the GEN-3 Electrical OMRS SportsMods Series gathered Saturday, August 16^th at Peterborough Speedway to honour one of their own. The annual Bill Pickford Memorial was staged with a pair of headline events – 30 and 31 laps in length – to match the can number former group official and competitor ran during his career.

Chad Strawn and John Baker Jr. were on the front row as the field came to the line in the opening leg of the total point format. Strawn took the early race lead with teammate Brad Stevenson coming along from his starting spot on the inside of the 2^nd row. The driver of the No. 35 machine would move out to an advantage of nearly 10 car lengths before the headliner had even 10 laps on the scoreboard.

The leaders would start working through slower traffic with a 2-thirds of the race distance complete, but Strawn was never challenged through the caution-free event. Stevenson, JBJ, Glenn Morris, Ethan Thompson, Garrett Yake and Rick Warnes completed the running order.

A 31-lap nightcap was the final event of the night and had Glenn Morris and John Baker Jr. leading the starting field to the green flag. JBJ grabbed the early race lead, with Strawn taking the runner-up spot. Garret Yake – who has been very impressive in first year in the sport – held 3^rd, with Stevenson settling into 4^th.

John Baker Jr. and Strawn put on a show for the fans as they ran side-by-side for several laps before Strawn wrestled the lead away from JBJ with about 7 laps remaining. While the first segment ran without a yellow flag, a caution for debris in the 3^rd turn brought the pack back together for a late race charge.

Strawn held Baker Jr. at bay through the closing stages and scored returned to victory lane with a sweep of the show’s 2 segments. Stevenson, Glenn Morris, Thompson, Yake and Warnes completed the final rundown. With his back-to-back checkered flags, Chad Strawn was named the 2025 winner of the Bill Pickford Memorial.

GEN-3 Electrical OMRS SportsMods notebook: 2024 OMRS champion Alex Cuzzilla paced the starting field of both legs of the event in a No. 61 tribute car in Bill Pickford’s honour…The OMRS SportsMods will return to Peterborough Speedway for the track’s Saturday, August 30^th Championship Clash.