Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

Season Finale Weekend

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS - BUTCHER MAKES BANDO HISTORY WITH BACK-TO-BACK TITLES
Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake) and Cole Boudreau (Chipman, NB) had plenty of reason to celebrate on Friday night as the two were big winners on Finale Friday. Boudreau took command of the 15-lap feature for the Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros around the halfway point in the event to take the victory while Butcher became the first driver to become a multiple time Bandolero champion at the Speedworld, pulling the feat in back-to-back years.

Finishing second in the final feature of 2012 was Luke Ettinger (Kennetcook), who posted his best finish of the season, which followed up a heat race win earlier in the evening. Third was Cole Tanner (Shubenacadie), who also took a heat win to kick off the evening. Butcher was fourth in the feature, with Braden Langille (Shubenacadie) completing the top five.

With the feature win, Boudreau took second place back in the standings, and will go down as being 17 points behind Butcher at the completion of 2012. Langille will be credited with third in the standings, in front of Tanner and Adam Meehan (Rawdon). Craig MacDonald (Waverly) was the top freshman in the class with a seventh place finish overall in the standings.

ACE LUMBERMART LIGHTNING - MOORE CAPTURES THIRD FEATURE WIN OF THE SEASON
Richie Moore (Elmsdale) finished the 2012 ACE Lumbermart Lightning car season with his third feature win aboard his #157 Scotia Auto Salvage Dodge Neon. Moore had to hold off division champion Jorden Smith (Lakeside) and young gun Jeffrey Breen (Antigonish) to nail down the win in the 25-lap feature. Chevy MacDonald (Stewiacke) continued his late season push with his third consecutive top five finish with a fourth place run on Finale Friday, besting BJ Nicholson (Beaverbank) at the finish of the race. Moore and JR Lawson (Shubenacadie) took home 10-lap heat race victories.

With his fifth place finish on Finale Friday, Nicholson passed Mike Brown (Urbania) for second in points, besting the #118 car by four points in the final tally. Smith’s final tally for the season was 1297 points, 165 more than Nicholson’s. Completing the top five in points included Marc MacMillan (Glenholme) and “The Pit Lizard” Jamie Creamer (Spryfield). Donovan Gaudet (Dartmouth) captured Wooden Door Bistro Rookie of the Year honors in the class.

ACE LUMBERMART THUNDER - LIVELY SCORES FIFTH WIN, MACMILLAN WINS FIRST CHAMPIONSHIP
Kyle MacMillan (Hammonds Plains) captured his first ACE Lumbermart Thunder car title in seven years of racing in the class, but it didn’t come without dodging some early bullets.

While his nearest championship contender Stevie Lively (Shubenacadie) was carving his way to the front of the field, MacMillan sat idle in Turn Two in the early laps of the feature with a blown tire. The caution came out for the tire, and the #5 Scotia Tire Wyse Road team went to work replacing the tire. As MacMillan dodged wrecks at the back of the field, Lively was on his way to collecting his fourth consecutive feature win to close out the ACE Lumbermart Thunder car season. Lively would cross the line first in the 25-lap event, besting Andrew Cluett (Kennetcook), Cody Singer (Kennetcook), 2011 champion Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) and Tim Webster (Beaverbank). Heat races on the evening were won by Lively and Richard Ramsay (Halifax).

When the dust settled, MacMillan finished in the ninth spot, one lap down to the winner of the feature Lively. The ninth spot though was good enough to clinch the 2012 championship in the class by 12 over the #32 Hubley Auto Sales Civic. Cluett captured third in the standings with his runner up finish on Friday. Singer, driving the Dwayne Flemming (Shubenacadie) owned #43 brought the entry home in fourth with Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) completing the top five in the standings. “Hollywood” Chantel Ackles brought home the Wooden Door Bistro Rookie of the Year Award.

JACK DANIEL’S TRUCKS - REVENGE FOR SMITH
After a disastrous end to the 2011 season, Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) can finally call himself a champion in the Jack Daniel’s Truck division at Scotia Speedworld.

Smith not only won the 2012 title in the ultra competitive class, he did so in style by picking up the main feature victory in the popular pick-up series. Smith raced to the line in the 20-lap main feature ahead of Jason Fenton (Dartmouth), Ryan Goldsmith (Italy Cross), a returning Larry Vaughan in the #5 truck and Kevin Robar (Lower Sackville), who captured his first top five run in the class.

The point chase took a turn in the favor of Smith when ’11 champion JP Arsenault (Church Point) and heat winner Cale MacMillan (Halifax) tangled in Turn Three with just ten laps remaining in the feature. Both drivers sustained damage to their trucks which prevented them from finishing the event. Arsenault will go down as finishing second in the point chase to Smith by 17 points, the largest point advantage a leader has established all season long. Fenton finished a single point behind Arsenault in the standings, while the #5 truck driven by Derek Sutherland (Eastern Passage) most of the season finished fourth in the points with Goldsmith completing the top five.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS - YOUTH REIGNS AT SPEEDWORLD
What were you doing in your teens? Emily Meehan (Rawdon) and Cole Butcher’s (Porter’s Lake) can answer that question with “beating some of the best Legend car drivers in Canada at Scotia Speedworld!”

Meehan captured the 25-lap Strictly Hydraulics Legend car main feature on Finale Friday after making a veteran move on Danny Harvey (Lantz) and holding Matt Moore (Falmouth) off as the leaders navigated lap traffic in the closing laps of the event. After several challenges, Moore settled for second at the finish, ahead of Harvey, 2011 champion Dylan Blenkhorn (Truro) and Jeff Cruickshank (Hantsport). Darren Wallage (Oakfield), subbing for “The Captain” Sean Kirk (Bedford), and Meehan each took heat victories on the evening.

While “Miss Rawdon Rocket” was trying to hold off Moore at the front, Butcher was trying to defend his point lead on former champion Paul Blenkhorn (Truro). Butcher and another car made contact late in the feature, which looked like it might end the night for the#5 Atlantic Tiltload Legend. The youngster kept up on the wheel though and finished ninth in the feature, which was good enough to lock down the championship and the Wooden Door Bistro Rookie of the Year Award. Butcher bested Paul Blenkhorn by 14 points, with Cruickshank finishing just eight points behind Blenkhorn in third. Meehan vaulted to fourth in the standings with her victory, leapfrogging Dan Michaud Jr (Lawrencetown) for the spot.

DARTMOUTH DODGE SPORTSMAN - SMITH CAPTURES SPEEDWORLD WIN, BOUTILIER TAKES TITLE
After 20 years of racing, Aaron Boutilier (Porter’s Lake) can finally call himself a Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series titlist.

Boutilier brought home his #4 CARSTAR Collision Centre Ford home Saturday afternoon with a fourth place finish in the 50-lap finale, good enough to lock down the prestigious championship. The race was won by Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside), who drove his Dodge to an impressive victory in the undercard to the Dartmouth Dodge 200. Second featured a close finish between Harry Ross White (Noel Road) and Jeff Dillman (Middle Musquodobit), with HOSS edging the two-time division champ at the stripe. Finishing in fifth in the season finale was Larry Fisher (Porter’s Lake).

Entering the day, Fisher, Jordan Veinotte (Porter’s Lake) and Mike Banks (Middleton) entered in a dead heat for the second place spot as the three were separated by just a single championship point. At the end of 50 laps, Fisher edged Banks for second in points by three markers with Veinotte falling to fourth in the standings. Completing the top five in the standings was Windsor’s Fred Schofield, making Banks the only Chevrolet in a Ford top five. Boutilier’s championship margin of victory was 52 points. John Poan’s (Hantsport) Mountain Mustang took home the Wooden Door Bistro Rookie of the Year Award.