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 Year-In-Review: Miller Tire Thunder Division By Tim Terry (January 2010) - When our Thunder class rolled out onto the racing surface this season, the line above was usually used to introduce our Honda and Volkswagen class in 2009. Along with the Lightning class, four cylinder fans in the HRM had many reasons to be happy this season as they saw big fields of cars and intense action around every corner in the Miller Tire Thunder division. Why do we call them “the BEST” though? We'll explore that as we take a walk through the '09 season for the Thunder class! The end of the previous season left fans wanting more of the Civic dominated class in '09. After all, '08 ended with two photo finishes between eventual champ Derek MacCallum and Dave Matthews. Many drivers were hungry for a shot at the Thunder championship this season as thirty-two cars made their way through the pit gates on Opening Day. What's so special about thirty-two you may ask? Keeping in mind that thirty-two is the biggest number of cars we saw in any division in the month of May (including the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour which drew thirty cars the week before) and that we had only fourteen more cars the year before in the end of season count (forty-six cars raced in 2008), thirty-two is a pretty sporty number. Of those thirty-two, a half dozen drivers were rookies including Jordan Pirri and Jason Lunn from Three Fathom Harbour, Boulton Racing drivers Brent Saulnier and Stephen Morrell along with Travis MacPhee and Gordon Matinet among others that would join them throughout the season. The first heat of the season looked like the last feature of '08 as MacCallum bested Matthews to win the first Thunder qualifier of the season. During the winter it was the champ making waves as he joined the Boulton Racing Team, which also included drivers the likes of Kyle Gammon, Tim Tanner and Gary Withenshaw. When the green flag dropped on the first twenty-five-lap feature of the season it would be Gammon and MacCallum putting on a clinic in the top two spots. MacCallum led the most laps in the race but it was Gammon who made the move when it counted to strike first on the '09 campaign with the win. MacCallum finished a close second with Matthews in third holding off East Dover's Matthew Scott and Goodwood's Kevin Clark Jr. When the cars hit the track next on Kiddie Night it was Boulton Racing once again showing that they were serious in their hunt for the '09 championship – specifically the #98 Hella's Diner Civic of Kyle Gammon. Gammon would do the same thing he did the last time the Thunder cars raced on the 3/10-mile oval as he doubled down on June 26th. Gammon precisely timed his move as he and Derek MacCallum caught the leader and teammate Tim Tanner. When Tanner slipped up in the corner it let MacCallum and Gammon slide through for position. With just a few laps left in the feature it was Gammon making the move on the #16 True North Diner Civic to take his second feature victory of the year. MacCallum and Tanner completed the Boulton Racing podium sweep with Tylor Hawes and Ross Harvie completing the top five. Thirty-six cars attempted to crack the feature lineup, which was run under light fog. As mentioned at the top of the article, the Thunder drivers have earned the title as the BEST four cylinder drivers in Atlantic Canada. On July 3rd they solidified that statement as they ran the race that was known as “the Fog Bowl” to most of the fans in the stands. Point leader Kyle Gammon already had been experiencing problems during the day as he was battling spindle problems during practice. The #98 looked good early in the feature but it was all for not as Gammon's car let go nine laps into the event and relegated the Sackville driver to a twenty-third place finish. The drivers of the Thunder division navigated the fog for twenty-five clean laps with only one caution coming out for a mechanical failure. With the point leader in the pit area it opened the door for Derek MacCallum to close in on the point leader and he would do just that by winning his first main feature of the season. Dave Matthews would put on a show with Scott O'Neill, as the two battled for the second spot with the Kennetcook driver besting O'Neill for the runner up position. Dan Delorey posted his best main feature finish with a fourth place run in the Fog Bowl. Delorey, along with the Ed Rector #92 team traveled from North of New Glasgow each week (Delorey from Afton, Rector from Merigomish) to compete at Scotia Speedworld. Matthew Scott piloted his #32 Civic into the final top five position on July 3rd. After Gammon's misfortunes during the Fog Bowl it created a twenty-one-point gap between MacCallum and Matthews for the point lead after three events. Event number four would see another thirty-six-car field attempt to race in the main feature on Bike Night! The racing was close as the three leaders battled three wide at times with Kyle Gammon coming home on top of the battle between MacCallum and Kevin Clark Jr. on track. In the end though a technical violation found on the #98 car would relegate Gammon to the rear of the finishing order, giving MacCallum his second consecutive win. Clark would be promoted to second with Hawes, O'Neill and Brentley Pirri rounding off the top five. MacCallum would see his point lead grow to forty-five markers over Matthews as the longest race of the season was on tap next. The defending Miller Tire 50 champ would have to make his way to the main feature through the “B” Feature as MacCallum ended up spun around in his heat race. MacCallum would win the “B” though and set his sights on a third straight feature win on the '09 season. A very competitive feature would come down to a three-lap shootout with the only two season feature winners starting on the front row of the restart. Gammon would start on the inside of MacCallum with Matthews and Hawes behind them as the green silk flew. The top two battled side by side for the remaining laps and crossed the line dead even. After looking at the instant replay the race officials would give the win to Gammon. Matthews held on to third place with Nick Church (in Jeremy Hallett's backup car) and Matthew Scott scoring top five runs in the longest Thunder race of the year at Scotia Speedworld! Rain on AMP Energy Night would push the Weekly Racing Series event to Sunday and with the score 3-2 for Gammon vs. MacCallum in the “Battle of the Diners” (Gammon in the Hella's Diner car, MacCallum in the True North Diner car). Of course, every other driver in the thirty-two-car field was looking to snap the Boulton Racing stranglehold on Victory Lane on a hot Sunday afternoon. It wasn't meant to be though as Kyle Gammon would put his fourth main feature victory in the book but it was far from easy. Dave Matthews led a majority of the event while Gammon stormed his way through the field before setting up a battle with Matthews for the victory. Gammon would get the edge on Matthews by a half car length at the line to win the twenty-five lapper! MacCallum quietly made his way up to finish third and maintain his point lead while Scott Williams and Drew MacEachern took home fourth and fifth. Williams and MacEachern were both involved in tight point races outside the top ten at this point in the season and a top five finish helped both drivers to pick up a couple of positions. Not only did we have drivers from all over Nova Scotia participate in the Miller Tire Thunder division in 2009, but we also had Bruce Buntain race in a few races this season. Buntain, a Nova Scotian born English teacher based in Beijing, China made a splash by finishing second in his first ever heat race on AMP Energy Day. Needless to say, Buntain was hooked on the sport of stock car racing after he climbed behind the wheel of the #69 OK Tire Civic and posted some strong runs before returning to China for the next semester. What other Weekly Racing Series division in the Maritimes can say they had a driver from outside North America participate and be competitive in races during the '09 season? The Shriner's Classic Night was up next for the Thunder cars and the Hondas created another classic chapter in the '09 history books. Dave Matthews finally broke though and snapped the Gammon/MacCallum winning streak in the Miller Tire Thunder class. Matthews crossed the stripe ahead of Gammon and MacCallum while Jeremy Hallett and Kyle MacMillan put on great battle for fourth in the late going with the #71 grabbing the four spot over the #5. MacMillan had won a heat race earlier in the evening and led the most laps in the race en route to his first main feature top five. The Miller Tire Thunder drivers were ready for combat again on Ken Schrader Night presented by C&R Auto Supply. With light fog rolling in for the main feature the drivers would race in front of the NASCAR Legend as the last feature of the evening. Continuing where Dave Matthews left off one week ago, we had another different winner in 2009 as Robbie Watts broke through for his first feature win! Watts took the lead at the halfway mark from Kyle MacMillan and took the win over Boulton Racing teammates Brandon Crawford, who scored his best ever finish and Kyle Gammon in his new RacingTrader.ca colors in the twenty-five lap main feature. MacCallum kept his hold on the championship top spot with a fourth place finish in front of the July 31st winner Dave Matthews. MacCallum would leave Ken Schrader Night with a thirty-two-point advantage on Matthews as he attempted to go back-to-back for his second Thunder title. The next Friday night would produce another first time winner with Tim Tanner becoming the third Boulton Racing driver to make his mark on Scotia Speedworld victory lane in 2009. Tanner had to hold off his running mates Gammon and MacCallum as they completed the second BRT podium sweep of the season. MacCallum showcased his talent during the race, as the #16 was three-quarters of a lap down before rallying back to the final podium position. Kyle MacMillan continued an impressive second half season run with a fourth place run with Tylor Hawes putting his #01 into the fifth spot at the end of the feature. With second place point runner Dave Matthews having motor problems during the feature it made the point picture a little brighter for MacCallum as the margin widened to seventy-four points following Lockhart Truck Centre Night. With just two races to go in the season the second and third place drivers in the points (Matthews and Gammon) would need a mistake out of the point leader MacCallum to catch the #16. Jason Morash had quietly made his way to fourth in the standings but with seventy seven points between him and Gammon for third he would need to be on his game in order to lock up a top three finish in the '09 standings. Tim Tanner, Tylor Hawes, Jeremy Hallett, Gary Withenshaw, Brentley Pirri, Drew MacEachern, Ross Harvie, Brandon Crawford, Robbie Watts and leading rookie Jordan Pirri all sat within 108-markers from fourth place Morash in the points, which meant that one race, one position, one lap or one corner could prove fatal in gaining ground in the standings and trying to lock up a top ten finishing position. Dave Matthews did what he had to do on September 4th to keep his championship hopes alive by winning the twenty-five lap main feature, but it wasn't without excitement. When a yellow flag flew on the twenty-fourth lap it set up a one lap dash between the #99 Chapman Auto Body Civic and the #5 No Bull Auto Civic of Kyle MacMillan. MacMillan had once again led the most laps in the main feature and was looking to take him his first trophy at Scotia Speedworld and third top five of the season but it wasn't to be as Matthews got the best of MacMillan on the restart to take the win. MacMillan came across in second but an issue in post race technical inspection would place the #5 at the end of the running order. Tim Tanner put his #89 May Garden Civic in second place in the official results as MacCallum, Gammon and Harvie joined him in the first five. Even with the win one week before Matthews would need the point leader MacCallum to have a problem which would prevent the #16 to start the main feature as that would seal the deal for MacCallum's championship. No such luck for Matthews though as not only would the True North Diner car start the race on September 11th he would finish second to the second place point man Dave Matthews in the feature. Tim Tanner finished off an impressive season by finishing third in the final feature of the season with David Hibbs and Kyle Gammon coming home in the top five. Hibbs only had four races this season as he made his '09 debut on Ken Schrader night while Gammon's team worked through the practice session changing a power plant in the #98 Hella's Diner/RacingTrader.ca ride! 2009 will go down as a year of many drivers in the Thunder division accomplishing great things. For Derek MacCallum he not only won his second Thunder title and finished all eleven events in the top five but he will go down as one of the greatest four cylinder champs in recent history, joining the names of Zwicker, Arsenault and Webster among others. For Kyle Gammon it was winning four of the eleven main features during the season to go along with five heat wins and a “B” Feature triumph. Dave Matthews finished second in the point standings along with winning three main events of his own. Jordan Pirri would become the 2009 Rookie of the Year while Brentley would take ninth overall in the standings. Just take a look below at the stats of the drivers below. We had thirty-seven drivers accomplish either a heat win, a top ten main feature finish or a top five “B” feature finish. Not only is the Miller Tire Thunder division one of the best Weekly series in the region, but also the four cylinder drivers at Scotia Speedworld are very close in competition! Next week, we will take a look at the Lockhart Truck Centre Hobby Stock division and the history that was made by Gordon Ritchie. If you have any questions, comments or 2010 season news, feel free to send it into timscorner@timterryonline.com and we will get it up on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca! Until next week, keep the hammer down and we'll see you at the track! - Tim Terry, TimTerryOnline.com About Scotia Speedworld Scotia Speedworld is a 3/10-mile asphalt oval stock car racing track featuring the Lockhart Truck Center Weekly Racing Series for six divisions and several special events during the race season, which runs from May to September. Scotia Speedworld is located at Exit 6 on Highway 102, across from the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. For more information please click on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca or call our Event Hotline at (902) 873-2277 or our office at (902) 481-2514. MILLER TIRE THUNDER STATISTICS - 2009
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