Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

June 5th: Hydraulics Plus Season Opening Night

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS
The Hydraulics Plus Bandolero division was ushered in to their tenth season in Canada with a first for Scotia Speedworld - two features for each age group, as sanctioned by International body INEX.

In the Bandits division, for drivers aged eight to 11 years, it was Josh Langille of Coldbrook winning his first career main feature at Scotia Speedworld. Langille, who begins his sixth full-season at the Speedworld in 2015, bested his brother Nathan Langille (Coldbrook) and Colton Noble (Upper Nine Mile River) on the podium in the 12-car, 15-lap feature. Reigning Tim Hortons At the Airport Rookie of the Year Austin MacDonald (Pictou) and current year rookie contender Sam Rogers completed the top five.

Nathan Langille and Owen Mahar (Hubley) took home Bandit heat wins.

In the Outlaw Bandolero division, featuring drivers 12 years of age and older, it was Braden Langille (Shubenacadie) picking right up where he left off last year after winning the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero championship. The defending champion held off third year driver Wyatt McCulloch (Stewiacke), Dylan Sutherland (Beaverbank), Nathan Blackburn (Timberlea), Michael Cormier (Grand Barachois, NB) and Luke Ettinger (Kennetcook) to begin his title defense. Langille also won the heat race to set the field for the feature.

The Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros are back in action next week for Fanfest on June 12th.

COORS LIGHT TRUCKS
The champ is back - and back in a big way!

It did not take Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) long to get from his second place starting position in the first heat of the night to move to the top of the heap in the Coors Light Truck division. Smith, who went on to win the heat and start on the pole for the feature, never looked back en route to his first win of the 2015 season. The three-time consecutive and defending champion of the class had Jason Fenton (Eastern Passage) reeling him in over the late laps but the #3 ran out of time in the late stages of the 25-lap feature.

Sophomore drivers Cory Leonard (Goodwood) and Matt Vaughan (Lake Fletcher) put on a show for the third spot for many laps in the feature, with Leonard gapping Vaughan by just over a truck length at the checkered flag. “The Animal” Jeff Campbell (Halifax) completed the top five in the 11-truck field.

Smith and Leonard, who finished 1-2 in the point standings last season, won qualifying heat races for the division.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS
Call it what you want, at the end of 25-laps in the Strictly Hydraulics Legends feature, it was 16-year old Cory Hall of Jolicure, New Brunswick who stood in victory lane with the checkered flag.

The excitement was surrounded around many restarts and even the initial start, which saw heat race winners Hall and Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake) on the front row. Once the field entered Turn One on Lap One, it was without Butcher and Adam Meehan (Rawdon Gold Mines), who found themselves crossed up on the front straight.

Restart games did not stop there, as Hall and “The Legend” Cy Harvey (Elmsdale) waged war on multiple attempts. The end result on every restart and the end of the race was the same though, with Hall eventually powering the lead over the multi-year veteran and driving off to victory lane. Behind Hall, it was Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth) and Harvey battling tooth and nail to the white flag, where Naugle and Harvey made contact. The contact disabled Harvey’s car three quarters of a lap shy of the finish and warranted a penalty by race officials to Naugle, relegating Naugle to the rear of the lead lap (10th) for his role in the “no fault” incident.

Behind the late incident came 2014 INEX Canadian East Masters champion Paul Goulden (Shelburne) and Jeff Cruickshank (Hantsport), who were both elated to be on the podium after the fireworks in the last laps. Butcher rebounded from the initial start fracas to finish fourth, in front of “Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan in fifth.

When you combine his Atlantic Tiltload Maritime League of Legends Tour victories, Hall is perfect in the win column for heats (2) and features (2) this season in Atlantic Canada. The first year Legend star puts that streak on the line Friday during Fanfest.

DARTMOUTH DODGE SPORTSMAN
You can put that Dylan Blenkhorn (Truro) kid in anything, and he’ll drive the wheels off it!
Blenkhorn, the current Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour point leader and reigning Atlantic Cat 250 titlist, drove Jeff “D8Dozer” Dillman’s (Middle Musquodoboit) #08 Cat Shack Chevrolet to victory lane Friday for his first career Sportsman win. Blenkhorn finished second in his heat race to Harry Ross White (Noel Road) and would take the lead in the 38-lap main event from the #18 early in the race, not looking back to take the win.

The cold track had drivers searching for grip and had some drivers scrambling looking to adjust their lines and find speed out of the 3/10-mile oval. When it looked like Aaron Boutilier (Porter’s Lake) and “The Bounty Hunter” Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside) were mounting a charge for Blenkhorn in the final 10 laps, the two made contact battling for second, which sent both to the rear of the running order for the ensuing restart.

The incident put White back to second as he battled with Phil Barkhouse Jr (Hammonds Plains) for the spot, like he had for most of the event. “HOSS” won out this time over Barkhouse, with the three time Sportsman champion having to settle for third. Fourth in the feature went to Enfield’s Alex Johnson while West Chezzetcook’s Travis Roma, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on the weekend, was fifth.

Barkhouse and HOSS won heat races in the 17-car field.

CHICKENBURGER LIGHTNING
Scott Thibodeau (Williamswood) quickly reminded everyone that he will be tough to beat in the Chickenburger Lightning division in 2015.

Thibodeau won his heat, started on the front row in the feature, gapped the field and went wire-to-wire to win his first feature of the season. While he found it easy to navigate lapped traffic in the green to checkered race, Deven Smith (Lakeside), who won his heat race, had a more difficult time. Smith got passed for the runner-up spot in the last ten laps by Steve Matthews (Bedford), who used the lapped traffic to his advantage by running down and passing the #194 through it.

Last season’s championship runner up held on for third, while Darrell Sullivan (Halifax) came home with a solid fourth place finish. “Big Daddy” Kenny Hopper (Enfield) was fifth in the 25-lap affair.

The Chickenburger Lightning division will be a part of the undercard Saturday, June 20th for the Nova Truck Centre 150 for the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour.

CHICKENBURGER THUNDER
Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) won the war last season, and continued to prove why he is one of the best Friday at the Speedworld.

Matthews, who won the season finale and the season championship in 2014, started off strong with a heat and feature win on Hydraulics Plus Night. It was not easy though, as Matthews had to hold off a hard charging JR Lawson (Shubenacadie) for most of the feature until Lawson slipped up in Turn Four. The rare mistake by the four time New Brunswick Mini Stock champion opened up the door for Matthews to extend the lead, which evaporated with a caution with two to go that set up a “green-white-checkered” finish.

Matthews was spot on for the final sprint to the finish, while Lawson lost out on a photo finish to “The Ironman” Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) for the second place spot. Former divisional champions Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) and Tim Webster (Beaverbank) completed the top five in the very competitive 25-lap, 18 car field.