Tim's Corner - August 11th, 2010
13
For the fourth time in the past seven years, Scotia Speedworld will see competition on Friday the 13th. In the years 2004, 2007 and 2008 the Speedworld saw action on the 3/10-mile oval with many familiar faces coming home with feature wins. Four of those who took checkered flags on those nights deemed by some as “unlucky” will be on track again this Friday the 13th to retake the top of the podium!
Two of those previous Friday the 13th winners won their features in the Hobby Stock division but will compete in the Sportsman class to take another checkered flag on the date. Kyle Butler (Lake Egmont) took the checkers in the Hobby Class on Friday, July 13th 2007 and will look to take his second Sportsman win of the season this Friday. Mike Alexander followed up the feat the next year on June 13th, 2008 by winning in the Hobby Stock class en route to the division title. Alexander (Cole Harbour) will look to rekindle the Friday the 13th magic to capture his first Sportsman feature. Could Friday the 13th vault him to the top of the standings in the Sportsman class in his rookie season?
Legend driver Justin MacNeill (Bedford) and Hydraulics Plus Bandolero driver DJ Casey (Prospect Road) know how to win on Friday the 13th. MacNeill did the task in 2007 while Casey pulled it off the last time Friday the 13th racing was contested in 2008. The only feature winner still active full time at the Speedworld from Friday, August 13th 2004 is Dave Matthews (Kennetcook), who won the “B” Feature in the Thunder class six seasons ago.
Speedworld fans will recognize some of the names who have enjoyed successes on Friday the 13th. The Lockhart Truck Center Sportsman 100 in 2004 was contested on Friday the 13th with James Graves, Shawn Turple and Sheldon Pemberton atop the podium. On that night it was Jon Graham (Thunder) and current Scotia Speedworld tech official Kevin Hopper (Lightning) taking main feature wins. CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour driver Craig Slaunwhite won a Sportsman feature on that date in 2007, joining Joey Sutherland (Tirecraft Lightning), Kyle Gammon (Tirecraft Thunder), Ethan Stewart (Bandolero) MacNeill and Butler as winners. The last time racing was ran on Friday the 13th, the winners included Casey, Alexander, Kevin Robar (Tirecraft Lightning), Lee Tucker (Tirecraft Thunder), Ed Hayden (Legends) and Leonard Boutilier (Sportsman).
13 LEADS LEGENDS INTO ACTION ON THE 13TH
Who said 13 was an unlucky number? For Paul Blenkhorn and Drew MacEachern the number seems to be working out just fine in the 2010 season!
Blenkhorn, the veteran from Truro pilots the #13 The CAT Shack/Blenkhorn’s Auto Recyclers Legend weekly and is the current point leader in the division. Since the #14 number usually used by Blenkhorn was taken when he moved to the division a few seasons ago, Blenkhorn transitioned to #13 for his Legend ride. He has the field nipping at his bumper though with Steve Pye (Lantz), Bruce Johnson (Truro) and Matt Moore (Falmouth) all within nine points of the lead. With four point races to go, Justin MacNeill (Bedford), Greig Muir (Westville) and Jeff Atkinson (Port LaTour) still find themselves in the points hunt with 23, 25 and 35 points respectively between themselves and Blenkhorn. The balance of the top ten include Rax Cox Jr (Porter’s Lake), Jerry Austin (Westville) and Derek MacCallum and they will have to be on their “A” game to catch Blenkhorn and the rest of the top runners in the following weeks as they sit 64, 70 and 74 points respectively back from the top spot.
MacEachern (Dartmouth) meanwhile has positioned his #13 Maritime Fleet Services Honda Civic in the top ten in the Tirecraft Thunder car standings. “The Best Four Cylinder Drivers in Atlantic Canada” have three features left to go in the 2010 season with the Tirecraft Thunder 50 closing the season on Labour Day weekend. The battle for the championship will come down to four drivers as Stevie Lively (Shubenacadie), Tylor Hawes (Porter’s Lake), Ross Harvie (Kennetcook) and rookie Andrew Warren (White’s Lake) have put a eighty point gap between themselves and Kennetcook’s Dave Matthews. In the top four Lively has two points on Hawes, Hawes has three points on Harvie and the biggest gap is a whopping ten points between Harvie and Warren. Sixty five points is the deficit between Matthews in fifth and thirteenth place Scott O’Neill (Enfield) with the likes of Stephen Morrell (Enfield), Brently Pirri (Three Fathom Harbour), Joe Lawson (Porter’s Lake), MacEachern, Jordan Pirri (West Chezzetcook), Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) and rookie Chris Hatcher (Beaverbank) between the two.
VETERAN BANDOLERO DRIVERS TO DECIDE TITLE
Three drivers have rose to the top of the Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros this season and will look to battle it out for the title with five races to go. In their last run at the Speedworld, Cole Butcher (Porter’s Lake) scored his fourth feature win of 2010 and the point lead to go along with it. “Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan had held the point for a majority of this ’10 season but now finds herself in a five point hole to the #5. Prospect Road’s DJ Casey finds himself third in points, just fifteen out of the lead. The ’06 champ is looking to become the only two time Bandolero champ since the division’s inception while Butcher and Meehan will look to take their first championship this season. Rounding out the top five in the Bandolero standings include Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake) and Shubenacadie’s Braden Langille.
RITCHIES AND JP TO DECIDE TRUCK CROWN
With four races to go in the Truck division, the battle in the points has come down to the Ritchie brothers and Church Point’s JP Arsenault. Gordon Ritchie (Antrim) leads JP by just thirteen points as they enter competition on Fan Appreciation Night. Gordon’s brother Wayne is positioned in third, just seven markers out of JP. With drivers such as Vernon Brown (Antrim), Dan Smith (Lower Sackville), Curtis Lindsay (Enfield) and Dana Isenor (Enfield) nipping at their heals in the 20-lap features it is anyone’s guess as to who will walk away with the checkered flag this week. Rumor has it that Matthew Scott (East Dover) has his truck nearly ready to go and with father Roy winning the Shriner’s 50/50 draw a few weeks ago they will be looking for win number two when they hit the track!
SMITH LEADS SPORTSMAN INTO BATTLE
With the last lap pass and the victory in the Sportsman 100, Colby Smith not only accomplished his first feature win of the season he also raced his way into the Sportsman division point lead. With four races to go, the Cape Sable Island driver leads freshman Mike Alexander of Cole Harbour by four points. Lake Egmont’s Kyle Butler is thirty points behind Smith with Middle Musquodoboit’s Jeff Dillman (thirty nine points back) and Waverley’s Steve Ross (fifty points back) completing the top five. With the Speedworld’s top division having close quarter competition every week and a dozen or more drivers that could win each race the point scenarios are endless as we head down to Finale Friday in September.
TANNER AND GAMMON MAKE RETURN TO TIRECRAFT THUNDER
Team Release
Returning from an extended break on August 13th will be the driver of the #89 May Garden/ Hellas Diner Honda civic, Tim Tanner. Tanner plans to be on track with a refurbished car to go after a few more checkered flags in the 2010 season after a compliance issue that set the driver back in the early weeks of the season. The duo plans to hit a few other tracks in the Maritimes before the seasons end and bring home as much hardware and have as much fun as possible.
Kyle Gammon will be taking the helm on August 28th, 2010 to race Saturday night under the lights at Scotia Speedworld. You will see Kyle in the familiar yellow and blue Hellas Diner Civic, adding a sponsor to his car in Ashley Wambolt Photography.
Gammon looks to capture his first main feature in 2010 after finishing second and third in the first two weeks of the season. "I still have been coming out to watch the races and help some of the other drivers in the division, watched some pretty competitive racing at the track as well. I think I could bring some more entertainment and competition to the division for the final weeks, personally want to get a very elusive 2010 main feature win, more so would like to have some fun now that the championship is no longer a pursuit. I need to thank all the fans and other competitors for the support in returning to the track to play."
Until Friday, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!
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