Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

June 7th: Hydraulics Plus Night

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS
Adam Meehan (Rawdon) picked up where he left off on Opening Day by taking home win #2 of the season in the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Division. Meehan started eighth on the grid in the 15 lap main feature and quickly made his way to the front along with Luke Ettinger (Kennetcook) and Cole Tanner (Shubenacadie), who hopped to the lead early in the race after passing pole sitter Nicholas Naugle (Halifax).

A late race restart with five laps to go closed up the field and the lead Tanner had built up had evaporated. Meehan, MacDonald and Langille made quick work of Tanner as Meehan would take the lead for good with three laps to go. Coming to the white flag, MacDonald took to the inside of Meehan but a bump to the #9 from the #51 of Langille loosened the sophomore up enough to seal the victory for Meehan.

“I had him,” said MacDonald after climbing from his car. “I got loose, put the throttle down a bit too quick, but he ran me clean. I think Braden was a bit anxious back there as well.”

“I was so happy to see that caution,” said Meehan in victory lane of the yellow with five to go. “I knew I had a good car but didn’t know if I would have been able to catch Cole if the caution didn’t come out.”

Post race technical inspection would not be kind to MacDonald or fourth place finisher Ettinger as they would not pass. It would promote Tanner to third, rookie Wyatt McCulloch (Stewiacke) to fourth and Dylan Sutherland (Beaverbank) to the fifth spot. Naugle and MacDonald took the eight lap heat race wins on the evening.

With the win, Meehan and the #6 Drive Products/Ocean Truck Equipment team extends their point lead to six over Langille while Tanner moves to third, being closely chased by Megan Parrott (Beaverbank), McCulloch and Sutherland. The Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros will contest their third race of 2013 on Friday during Molson Coors Night.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS
It’s been a few years since Danny Harvey (Lantz) has been to victory lane but the hard work in the shop finally paid off for the Sangster’s Automotive/NGH Industrial Services Legend Car as he held the checked flag on Hydraulics Plus Night. It was far from easy though as defending Strictly Hydraulics Legend champion Cole Butcher (Porter’s Lake) drove around the outside on a late restart and lost by inches to Harvey at the line on Lap 25.

“That young fella, he can sure drive,” said Harvey of the point leader. “I’m just so glad to be a part of this division. To race with all these guys and my Uncle Cy, it makes it all worthwhile.”

His Uncle, “The Legend” Cy Harvey (Elmsdale) was third, with Halifax’s Scott Cunning and Lower Burlington’s Richard Salter completing the top five. Salter and Hantport’s Jeff Cruickshank took away the heat race wins to kick off the night.

The finish was so close that Butcher, who will go down as the bridesmaid on the night, was confident he would be the one holding the checkered flag. “I know I won. I saw Danny get loose and I thought I had him. I know I had him. Cy and I had a hard race, little bumping but everyone is going home happy and in one piece.”

Butcher now leads Cy Harvey in the standings by seven with Danny Harvey another eight points behind his Uncle after two races of the season. They will resume their battle on Friday during Molson Coors Night.

COORS LIGHT TRUCKS - WATTS DOUBLES DOWN FOR FIRST CAREER WIN
You wouldn’t believe Robbie Watts (Lucasville) is a rookie in the Coors Light Truck class after watching Race Two of the season.

Watts, the former ACE Lumbermart Thunder division feature winner, started on the pole of the 20-lap Coors Light Truck division feature and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire for his first career victory. Watts had competition from Larry Vaughan (Lake Fletcher) and the defending champion of the division Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) in the closing laps of the race. Vaughan made his move on the last lap of the race but did not have enough to take the victory away from Watts. Smith came home a strong third with Ryan Goldsmith (Bridgewater) and Vernon Brown (Antrim) rounding out the top five.

“That was great, wicked!” Watts said with a smile on his face after climbing from his #10 Atlantic Playland Chevrolet to a big cheer from his cheering section on the Turn Four side of the finish line. “We want to keep running strong and do the best we can the rest of the season. It was a great run tonight!”

With the win, Watts moves to third in points, six points behind new leader Smith, who leapfrogged over Goldsmith to take the top spot by a single point. The Trucks are centre stage this Friday night for Molson Coors Night.

DARTMOUTH DODGE SPORTSMAN
Darren Wallage (Oakfield) spent most of the 38-lap Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series main feature running in the middle of the pack. Shy of the halfway point in the race, Wallage sat just inside the top ten in the running order after dodging a few wrecks in the opening stages. Ten laps later, he sat in second place on a restart alongside Harry Ross White (Noel Road), who had dominated the opening half of the race. Multiple restarts plagued the last ten laps of the second race of the Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series and it was an outside pass on Chris Dingle (Elmsdale) with six laps to go off a green flag that would propel the #3 Blair’s Custom Metals/Cat Shack Chevy to victory lane.

Defending Sportsman champion Aaron Boutilier (Porter’s Lake) also had to run to the front of the field with Wallage but ended up finishing in third behind Dingle. “I think we had a tire going down there or something,” commented Boutilier after climbing from his car. “Darren was quick tonight, I think we’ll be running a lot together this season. He’s a good guy to run with.”

Dingle was all smiles on the podium after a career high second place run. “How about that, eh? I was quite impressed with the car. I have to thank SFR, if it wasn’t for Frank Sr and Frank Jr and I would like to dedicate this finish to them. I held Darren off on a couple of restarts, I was impressed!”

Wallage was quick to give kudos to the driver who finished behind him on the podium. “Chris is hard to race with, he’s a good driver with good gear. It’s a Fraser car, it should be running up front every week. This win is really big, this will help us in the points.”

White settled for fourth in the feature while Bronson Shanessy (Kingston) came home in fifth spot. White and Wade Slauenwhite (Beaverbank) took heat race wins in the 20 car field. The Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series will return in two weeks as a part of the Lockhart Truck Center 150 festivities on June 22nd with a 50 lap feature.

ACE LUMBERMART THUNDER
After two weeks of racing, Kyle MacMillan (Hammonds Plains) is the only driver that can call himself perfect in the win column for the Weekly Racing Series.

MacMillan doubled down on Hydraulics Plus Night to take his second consecutive feature win on the season. He and Stevie Lively (Shubenacadie) marched their way to the front of the field and dueled in the early stages once they got to the top spot. While Lively had pressure on MacMillan for the lead in the first half, the #32 became smaller in the rear view mirror of MacMillan as the race wore on.

“My tires gave out there at the end of the race and I fell back,” said Lively after finishing second on the night. “He’s really fast, what can you do?”

“That was really fun,” said a jubilant MacMillan in victory lane after the race. “This is a great group of guys in this class. Really great to run with them!”

The battle behind the top two was as exciting as any battle that was seen during Hydraulics Plus Night. Picking up where they left off from Opening Day, Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) edged out former champion Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) and Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) for the final podium spot. Tim Webster (Beaverbank) also put his #86 car in the fray, making it a four way dance for the third spot for a majority of the feature race.

MacMillan in the #5 Scotia Tire Wyse Road Civic shared heat race glory on the night with Kyle Gammon (Middle Sackville). MacMillan takes a six point lead on Lively into Race Three on June 14th, with MacEachern only leading Matthews by a single point for the third spot heading into Molson Coors Night.