Tim's Corner - June 29th, 2010
JOHNSON, BLENKHORN, PYE LEAD LEGENDS INTO BATTLE
As it was all season in 2009, the battle atop the Legend car standings is crowded. Not even to the season’s midpoint, there are thirteen drivers within forty-seven points of the division leaders, including three within two points at the top of the heap. After taking the first feature of 2010, Truro’s Bruce Johnson (#61 Maritime Auto Supply ’34 Chev Coupe) is barely holding onto the point in the division over another Truro driver, Paul Blenkhorn. The consistency of two podium finishes in three races have the #13 Blenkhorn’s Auto Recylers/The Cat Shack ride one point out of the top spot. The #6 Payless Automotive Legend of Steve Pye (Lantz) is running hot coming into Report Card Night with two feature wins in his last two starts in the divisions. A division veteran and a rookie complete the top five through three events as Falmouth’s Matt Moore in the #1 Hood’s Hardware and Automotive ride has a slim four point advantage on the rookie who has been turning many heads this season, Greig Muir. Muir, from Westville, has a fifty-six point cushion on his nearest rookie rival and with a heat win and two podiums to show aboard his #87 Bob Allen Auto Sales ’37 Chev Coupe he is currently a threat to take down a Rookie and Overall title in the class in ’10!
The drivers of the mini-1930’s replicas will have two features to tend to on double header weekend. First up on the docket will be the Friday night Weekly Racing Series event dubbed as Report Card Night. Their 25-lap feature will be a prelude to the 50-lap Maritime League of Legends Tour race the next night. With the Tour in town Saturday there could be a few extra drivers in the field on Friday evening. It all makes for a weekend not to miss at Scotia Speedworld!
HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS FEATURE TIGHT BATTLE BETWEEN DIVISION VETS
After three races in the Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros this season the battle has been between Porter’s Lake driver Cole Butcher and “Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan. Butcher has a leg up on Meehan on the feature win column with the #5 parading two checkered flags compared to the one of team #15. Meehan does have one heat win and the slight advantage in the standings by two points over the #5 Atlantic Tiltload Limited/Hope For Wildlife Bandolero.
There’s still a long way to go in the season but manufacturing momentum, great finishes and wins can go a long way to scoring a championship in 2010. Which of the “young guns” of Scotia Speedworld will pass this part of the semester with A+’s? Find out Friday evening as Report Card Night takes to the grid!
The current rumor in the Speedworld garage is that Gammon has purchased a Sportsman car – stay tuned to ScotiaSpeedworld.ca for more information on this developing story throughout the summer.
TRUCKS GAINING RACERS, FANS AS THE DIVISION HEADS INTO SUMMER
The seventh truck in the Truck class at Scotia Speedworld made its way to the 3/10-mile oval on Friday as Dana Isenor took his Blair’s Custom Metals backed ride around the speedway for the first time. Isenor, the former Thunder car driver from Enfield found the back straight wall in the feature but here’s hoping the #7 truck will make it back for Friday night.
As mentioned before, four winners have graced victory lane in four races in the Truck class this season. The Ritchie brothers, Gordon and Wayne along with Curtis Lindsay and JP Arsenault have 2010 Truck class wins to their credit and will all look for number two this Friday night. From the tower last Friday night it looked like Dan Smith had got his #39 ride dialed in as the Lower Sackville driver was making gains on the field. Vernon Brown is always a threat in the class and the #80 will be looking for his first win in the Truck division this coming weekend as Report Card Night takes to the Speedway. Who will win race number five? Will Gordon Ritchie extend his point lead? Will we see any new faces in the growing division? Be there Friday to find out!
“NEON BRIGADE” LEADS TIRECRAFT LIGHTNING CLASS INTO REPORT CARD NIGHT
If you were to give the Smith Brothers Racing team a grade early in this semester it would be hard to debate an “A”.
After all, Russell Smith Jr. has had a stranglehold on the division so far with two wins and two other podium positions in four races. His brother, sophomore Jorden Smith, has one feature win and sits second in points with their team mate Nick Hurshman in a tie for fourth in the standings. The drivers, who all hail from Lakeside will look to bring win number four home to the team this Friday night but will be up against stiff competition.
Also in the top five and behind the wheel of Dodge Neons are defending series champ Daniel Michaud Jr and Cody Singer. Michaud, from Cole Harbour, won last week’s 20-lap main feature by less than a car length over the #144 of Russell Smith Jr. and sits third in points behind the Smith Brothers. Singer is currently tied for fourth in points with Hurshman and will look to put his #151 Neon from North Noel Road to the front to capture his first main feature win of the season on Friday night.
They will be among the about twenty cars to do battle Friday night in one of the two four cylinder classes at the track (the Tirecraft Thunders are off this week)!
SMITH TO MAKE TRANSITIION TO SPORTSMAN
While speaking to Russell Smith Jr. on Saturday afternoon at Oyster Bed Speedway, one of the topics that came up was the new Sportsman car in the Smith Brothers Racing stable. If you were at the Speedworld Friday, the driver of the #144 B&D Welders Neon mentioned about purchasing a Sportsman car a few weeks ago in a pre-race interview. The car is familiar to Sportsman fans as it has had a #29 on it in the past with drivers Troy Slaunwhite and Brandon Niles behind the wheel in recent years.
Smith is excited to get behind the wheel of the Dodge but doesn’t want to lose sight of the goal for 2010 – his second Tirecraft Lightning crown. “I want another of them tall trophies,” said Smith. “We’d love to take the (Sportsman) car up to Riverside for the hundred lapper in a couple weeks but we have the fifty lapper at Scotia (for the Lightning class) that same night. I’d love to win the fifty again.”
The other point in the back of the mind of two time and defending Tirecraft 50 winner was his Sportsman rookie status for 2011. “We can run what, three races without losing it (rookie status) for next year? It would be something to shoot for but we’ll have to wait it out and see how the end of this season goes. The main goal is to get the Lightning championship and then get seat time in the Sportsman car.”
You’ll likely see Smith not only on Friday night wheeling his #144 in the Tirecraft Lightning division but also turning wrenches on the #44 Jetco Contractiong/ICI Paints, Color Your World Bayers Lake Impala driven by uncle Wayne in the Lockhart Truck Centre 100 on Saturday evening.
ROSS LEADS SPORTSMAN INTO FRIDAY NIGHT BATTLE
Like Steve Pye in the Legends class, Steve Ross has been holding a pretty hot hand in the top Weekly Racing Series division at Scotia Speedworld this season. Ross, from Waverley has posted two wins and a second place in three races this season and holds the point lead by twenty-two markers over last season’s top driver Jeff Dillman. Dillman recorded a third place run last time out at the Speedworld, behind Ross and feature winner Darren Wallage of Oakfield. Wallage sits tied for fifth in the points with Colby Smith of Cape Sable Island, behind two former Hobby Stock champs Mike Alexander (Cole Harbour) and Kyle Butler. Alexander is the leading rookie in the class by fifty two points while Butler is currently posting a breakthrough season in the division, putting up two top fives and three top tens in three races.
The high powered cars will be part of Report Card Night this Friday night at the Speedworld as twenty cars are expected to duel it out in the popular class. Can Ross extend his point lead? Will Wallage go back to back in the class or can someone else take the win away in the 30-lap main feature? There’s only one way to find out the answers and that is to be at the track this coming Friday!
CARQUEST PRO STOCKS HEADLINE SATURDAY NIGHT’S LOCKHART TRUCK CENTER 100
Well, let’s try this again. The CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour will headline the show on Saturday evening for their first 100-lap event at the Speedworld this summer. The season opening Lucas Oil 100 was scheduled to kick off the season for Atlantic Canada’s Premier Touring Division but it was not to be as Mother Nature had other plans. Lockhart Truck Center, a longtime Speedworld sponsor will present round three of the 2010 campaign for the Pro Stockers this Saturday night – for more information on the event and for a bit of insight of who may be the drivers to watch this weekend, check out my Preview of the event on MaritimeProStockTour.com which will be available Friday!
Until Friday, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!
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