CHICKENBURGER RACE WRAP

August 26, KIDDIE RIDES NIGHT

DARTMOUTH DODGE SPORTSMAN – DILLMAN HOLDS OFF SMITH FOR SECOND VICTORY OF ‘11

Point leader Jeff Dillman (Middle Musquodoboit) navigated his way to the front of the Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series field on Friday night and held off all comers to score his second feature victory of the season. Dillman took the win over Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside), who raced the #08 Absolute Traffic Services Dodge side-by-side for many of the late laps in the feature. Third and fourth places belonged to Porter’s Lake drivers Aaron Boutilier and Jordan Veinotte respectively while Enfield’s Kirk Ryan completed the top five.

Heat wins in the 20-car field went to Brentley Pirri (Three Fathom Harbour) and former Lumbermart Lightning champion Andrew Starks (Truro). The race also saw the return of 2006 Rookie of the Year Jason Brown (Cole Harbour), who competed in his first race meet in over two years on Friday night in the #89 Atlantic Bunker Gear Inc. Chevrolet. Dillman will unofficially have a 14 point lead on new second place driver Smith after Kiddie Night. The Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series completes its season on September 9th during Finale Friday.

COCO BEACH LEGENDS – BLENKHORN BACK TO VICTORY LANE

Though it has been Dylan Blenkhorn (Truro) lighting up victory lane in recent weeks in the Coco Beach Legend cars, it was his father Paul who took the advantage on Friday to take the win in the 25-lap affair on Kiddie Night. The Truro native passed young gun Shelby Baker (Fall River) and held on to the win over the #53 in the late stages of the race. Richard Salter (Centre Burlington) came home with a strong third place finish, in front of Steve Pye (Lantz) and Dylan Blenkhorn.

Paul Blenkhorn and Salter took the checkers in the 10-lap qualifiers. The #67 will unofficially carry an 11 point lead into Friday night’s Lumbermart Night over Pye. His father Paul also sits within striking distance as the season will come down to two races.

TRUCKS – ARSENAULT WINS, TAKES POINT LEAD

The see-saw that is the Truck class point battle took a wild ride on Friday night – literally. JP Arsenault (Church Point) took the 20-lap feature win in the competitive division as he held off a hard charging Vernon Brown (Antrim) and Ryan Goldsmith (Bridgewater) for the victory. Eastern Passage’s Jason Fenton came home in fourth place while Enfield’s Dana Isenor was credited with finishing fifth.

The turning point in the feature came with just four laps to go. Point leader coming into the feature Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) was battling with heat race winner and then race leader Derek Sutherland (Dartmouth) when Sutherland’s #5 truck came into contact with the right side of Smith’s #39. The contact sent Smith’s truck on a violent ride down the back straightaway which saw the Chevrolet barrel roll thrice on the concrete wall before coming to rest wheels down at the entrance of Turn Three. Smith emerged from the truck mere seconds later to a huge applause from the crowd.

Unofficially, Arsenault will have the point lead by just four points on Smith with two races to go in the Truck season.

LUMBERMART LIGHTNING – HURSHMAN HOLDS OFF SMITH FOR WIN

Behind the wheel of a “new to him” car Friday night didn’t stop Nick Hurshman (Lakeside) from visiting victory lane. Hurshman made the pass on fellow Smith Brothers Racing teammate “The Pit Lizard” Jamie Creamer (Spryfield) just past the halfway point and had to fend off point leader Jorden Smith (Lakeside) for the win. Creamer, who is in his second week at the helm of a “new to him” race car led the most laps in the feature. Jamie Dillman (Carroll’s Corner) made a last lap, last corner pass on “Rational” Richard Patrick (Halifax) to take third place. Patrick, driving the #141 Covey’s Auto Recyclers Neon recorded his best feature finish of the season with the fourth place run. BJ Nicholson (Beaverbank) continued his late season push with a fifth place run on Kiddie Night.

Creamer, Smith and Mike Brown (Urbania) paraded the checkers in the heat races. For Brown, it was the first heat race victory in his Lumbermart Lightning career. The cars and stars apart of “the BEST Four Cylinder Drivers in Atlantic Canada” will showcase their skills one more time this summer next week apart of Lumbermart Twin 50’s Night.

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS – BUTCHER BACK-TO-BACK IN BANDOS

For the second consecutive week, the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero races were swept up by Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake). It was far from easy though for Butcher, who doubled down to take away maximum points on Kiddie Night as he had to fend off challenges from hard charging sophomore Luke Ettinger (Kennetcook) to capture the win. Point leader Cole Tanner (Shubenacadie) was third, followed by ’10 titlist Cole Butcher (Porter’s Lake) and lady driver Megan Parrott (Beaverbank).

With the #3 Top Construction Bandolero also taking the heat race victory, it will unofficially close the gap between the top two to seven points with two races to go.

The next event for Scotia Speedworld is the “Four Cylinder Finale Friday Night” on September 2nd. The Lumbermart Thunder and Lightning divisions will complete their seasons in 50-lap events. Last season, Kyle MacMillan (Hammonds Plains) and Dan Michaud Jr (Cole Harbour) took home these prestigious races in their respective divisions. With Dave Matthews (Kennetcook), Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) and Tylor Hawes (Sheet Harbour) only having four points between them heading into the night, the Thunder title is sure to come down to the checkers Friday night. The Coco Beach Legends, Trucks and Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros will play support on Lumbermart Night, which gets underway at 7pm.