Tim's Corner - July 29th, 2010
MID SEASON REVIEW
We’re in the stretch drive for the 2010 Weekly Racing Series at Scotia Speedworld. With the Atlantic CAT 250 next week, the drivers who race weekly at the Speedworld only have just over a month left to swap the paint, run door-to-door and race their way to checkered flags and that coveted championship at the end of the road. Though the end of season trophy presentations in Truro are still a long time away, it’s that time when some drivers start to think about points. Let’s take a look at the five divisions in action this weekend and who may be those to watch as we push forward.
The Sportsman class has seen the “young guns” of the division climb to the top. Don’t believe me? Take last weeks race for an example as Russell Smith Jr. went to victory lane in his first start in a high powered eight-cylinder race machine! Finishing behind him was the leading rookie in the class, Mike Alexander. The Cole Harbour native is second in the standings. Kyle Butler once occupied that position in the standings but the Lake Egmont driver who won his first main feature earlier in the season fell back in the rankings due to an accident last Friday night.
Leading all the younger generation drivers this season though is veteran driver and former Speedworld Late Model titlist Steve Ross of Waverley. Ross has only twenty points on Alexander heading into this week's race and with twenty-eight drivers taking part last week in the 30-lap feature that point lead is far from safe. In fact, in a perfect storm situation Colby Smith (Cape Sable Island), who is currently forty points out of the lead could go from fifth to first if everything worked in his favor Friday night. With the likes of Jeff Dillman (Middle Musquodoboit) and Darren Wallage (Oakfield) inside the top five and Butler, Harry Ross White (Noel Road) and Aaron Boutilier (Porter’s Lake) just outside the top five you have yourself a championship picture that likely won’t clear up until the final lap is run on Finale Friday!
The Truck division has seen four winners in six races, including repeats by JP Arsenault (Church Point) and Curtis Lindsay (Enfield). Even though they have multiple wins it is the Ritchie brothers winning the war in the standings. Gordon Ritchie (Antrim), the 2009 Hobby champ is looking to get back-to-back titles and currently has a pretty comfortable twenty-three point lead on brother Wayne (Stewiacke). The action will be hot heading down to the wire in the inaugural season of Truck racing!
The Legend cars also have a tight battle on their hands as they head to the stretch run in 2010. With Steve Pye only having an eleven point advantage over second place Paul Blenkhorn and with only fifty-six markers being the gap from first to ninth in the standings the championship spot is wide open for the taking! Names like Moore, Johnson, Muir, MacNeill, Atkinson, Cox and Austin are in the hunt for the title at the halfway point but any small slip-up by any of those drivers on track could greatly change that picture!
Tylor Hawes, Ross Harvie, Andrew Warren and Stevie Lively have pulled away from the rest of the Tirecraft Thunder field and will look to decide the championship among themselves in 2010. Hawes has thirteen points on second place Harvie and a full twenty points on fourth place Lively in the standings but when it comes to the gap between Lively and fifth place driver Brently Pirri the deficit is sixty-four markers! The battle behind them is far from over with sixth place driver Drew MacEachern and fifteenth place driver Gordon Matinet having ninety-three points and drivers the likes of Morrell, Matthews, Lawson, Jordan Pirri, Hatcher, O’Neill, Matthew Warren and MacMillan between them. Will the picture become a bit clearer after “the Best Four Cylinder Drivers in the Maritimes” run their 25-lap feature apart of Mid Season Showdown night? Only way to find out is to be there!
The Tirecraft Lightning division at this point in the season is Russell Smith Jr.’s to lose. The Lakeside driver has been atop the class for a majority of the season and has thirty-eight points on his nearest competitor and teammate Nick Hurshman. Smith Brothers Racing also occupies third in the standings with Jorden Smith finding himself twenty-six points out of Hurshman for second. The sophomore has fifteen points on the battle for fourth which includes ’09 champ Dan Michaud Jr and Cody Singer. Two points separate the #119 and #151 cars coming into this weekends racing. GM drivers Jamie Dillman, Ritchie Moore and Jamie Creamer sit sixth through eighth in the rankings followed by Holly Geldart and leading rookie BJ Nicholson – both of whom are driving Neons. Who will come out on top this week? Be at the Speedworld at 7pm to find out!
ATLANTIC CAT 250 UPCOMING NEXT WEEKEND – ROWE LOOKS TO BECOME FIRST THREE TIME CHAMP
The biggest weekend of stock car racing at Scotia Speedworld is shaping up to be one of the greatest the 3/10-mile oval has seen in years! Thirty Sportsman cars are expected to vie for the 100-lap title along with the best names in the East going for the big prize – the Atlantic CAT 250 title! Not only will you see the best from the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour and the Speedway 660 Pro Stock ranks duel it out on the Speedworld oval but you will see two familiar names from down south – a Rowe and a Clark.
As seen previously here on the site, former Forbes 200 winner Cassius Clark will settle in behind the wheel of the #5 Chapman Brothers Construction/Castle Building Centers Chevrolet Impala for the weekend at the Speedworld. The regular pilot Jonathan Hicken will be away at a wedding and has handed the reins over to Clark for the event – one that the Farmington, Maine driver has two top three finishes in. The 2006 Atlantic CAT 250 runner-up will look to win his second event at the Speedworld next weekend!
Turner, Maine’s Ben Rowe will be in good hands as he will slide in behind the wheel of the Steve Henderson owned #10 – a teammate to 2009 CARQUEST Pro Stock Champ Shawn Turple! Rowe has two victories in this event in 2002 and 2003 along with three other PASS North victories at the track. The five time Pro All Stars Series champ and two-time Oxford 250 winner is one of the most successful drivers of this era in the North East and will look to add another 250-crown to his title next weekend!
If you do not have your tickets yet, head to TicketAtlantic.com and make sure you are here next Friday and Saturday to see the best drivers in the Atlantic region duel it out for the biggest checkered flags at the Speedworld this season!
Another big event set to take the grid on August 20th is the Media Races. So far we have ten drivers signed up to battle it out in the Thunder cars from all different outlets of media - stay tuned to ScotiaSpeedworld.ca to find out if your favorite radio, television or print personality is on the expected entry list!
Before I close off this column, I need to send a shout out to Thomas Watts. Thomas is the gentleman who not only enjoys the races from the grandstands but helps get the crowd pumped up when it comes to feature or wave-off time at the Speedworld. Especially after last week when I was fighting a throat infection while I was on the mic, it was great to see Thomas rally the crowd and get everyone involved in the action!
Until Friday, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!
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