Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

July 11th: Q104 Night

DARTMOUTH DODGE SPORTSMAN
DJ Casey (Prospect Road) has come close to winning a Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman feature on a handful of occasions. From the first race of his rookie season, the 2006 Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Champion has been knocking at the door to get his first sportsman win.

That knock was answered Friday night.

Casey took the lead from former feature winner Wade Slauenwhite (Beaverbank) as the two went at it in the middle stages of the feature and following a spin by the #12 CSS Insurance Chevrolet within a handful of laps remaining, it sealed the win for the #97 Never Greener Services Chevrolet.

The spin by Slauenwhite gave Casey breathing room over Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman champions Darren Wallage (Oakfield, 2013) and Aaron Boutilier (Porter’s Lake, 2012), who joined the sophomore driver on the podium. Harry Ross White (Noel Road) and Phil Barkhouse Jr (Hammonds Plains) renewed a friendly rivalry started earlier in the season with HOSS once again getting the best of Barkhouse.

Two exciting heat races set the tone for the 38-lap feature. Richard Salter (Centre Burlington) and Tyler Hallahan (Elmsdale) ended up in the turn one rhubarb after tangling for the lead, Slauenwhite took the lead from Marie Brown (Antrim) and held off Tony Leonard (Halifax) to take the win in one heat. The second heat was won by Brentley Pirri (Three Fathom Harbour), who fended off a hard charge from Alex Johnson (Enfield).

The Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman return to the Speedworld on July 25th for the 20th Annual Shriner’s Classic for Sportsman.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS
Cole Butcher (Porter’s Lake) matched the number of feature wins in 2014 with his car number on Friday night.

Butcher, driving the #5 Atlantic Tiltload Ford, won his fifth feature in six races by taking the victory in the Strictly Hydraulics Legends 25-lap main event. Butcher battled with fellow teenager Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth), who gave Butcher all he could handle for the top spot. Both were quick in victory lane to complement the other on racing clean for the win.

“Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan (Rawdon), who scored her first feature win of 2014 last week, made a late race charge through the pack to take third after a pass in the final laps of Danny Harvey (Lantz). Harvey held on to fourth, with Scott Cunning (Halifax), who continues to have strong runs this season, finishing right behind him in fifth.

The race featured the return of Chris Johnson, who was making his first Legends start at Scotia Speedworld since moving out west in 2009. The #9 car wound up in the seventh place spot at the end of the feature.

Heat races were won by Naugle and Butcher.

THUNDER
After losing the point lead the week prior, Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) made a bold statement in trying to get back to the top on Q104 Night.

The defending Thunder car champion won his heat and feature to score maximum points on the night. Warren had track position in the feature as the #31 Markland Associates/Multi-Tech Automotive Civic started fifth and worked quickly to the front of the field.

Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) once again had to settle for second place in the feature after storming to the front of the field but ran out of laps to get in front of Warren. Matthews has finished second in the last four races of the season and with only five races being ran this season, the consistency of the #99 Sangsters Automotive Civic has been hard to top.

“The Ironman” Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) finished third after getting past his Darkside Racing teammate “The Sheriff” Kyle Gammon (Mount Uniacke) in the late laps of the race. Stevie Lively (Shubenacadie) backed up his feature win from a week prior with a fifth place finish on Q104 Night.

For the fifth consecutive feature race, the Thunder class did not have a caution period in their 25-lap main event.

Gammon and Warren took heat race victories.

LIGHTNING
Five races. Five different winners in the Lighting class.

Deven Smith (Lakeside) became the fifth different driver to win a Lightning feature race on Friday night after outdueling Scott Thibodeau (Halifax) in the late laps, which also included a restart that had the two lined up side-by-side. Smith held his ground and bested the Week Two feature winner at the stripe.

Behind the top two, the third place battle came down to a photo finish with “Rational” Richard Patrick (Halifax) edging out rookie Steve Matthews (Bedford) by inches. Terry Moore (Elmsdale) drove the #150 Neon to a fifth place finish for Mark Campbell (Halifax), who bowed out of the car following his heat race victory because of an aching back. “Big Daddy” Kenny Hopper (Elmsdale) came home a close sixth place in the 20 car field.

The point picture took a turn with not only Thibodeau finishing ahead of Patrick in both the heat and the feature, but Mike Brown (Urbania) had mechanical issues in the feature and finished nine laps down in 18th place. The stumble by the #118 Fewer’s Convenience Neon will reflect in his point standing after five events.

Campbell and Smith took heat race wins.

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLERO
When it looked like Adam Meehan (Rawdon) was on his way to another feature win and extending his point lead, a graze of the tires in turn three changed it all.

Meehan, while battling with Cole Tanner (Shubenacadie) for the lead ran too hard into turn three, which resulted in the #6 breaking down before it got to turn one on the next lap.
The mistake by the defending champion opened the door for Tanner to take the point and he held off all comers to take his third win of the season and subsequently tied the 2013 champion for the point lead.

Tanner and his #33 Eastern Drainage/Sheehy Enterprises Bandolero crossed the line first in the 15-lap Hydraulics Plus Bandolero feature over Dylan Sutherland (Beaverbank) and Cory Hall (Jolicure, NB), who scored their career best Speedworld finishes with second and third, respectively. Braden Langille (Shubenacadie), who would go on to Sunday to win a main feature in the Bandolero division at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, finished fourth ahead of the #10 Keizer Collision Center driven by Megan Parrott (Beaverbank).

Heat wins went to Hall and Meehan.