Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

July 17th: The Chickenburger Twin 50s Night

CHICKENBURGER THUNDER
Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) capitalized on mechanical misfortune from Stevie Lively (Shubenacadie) to take the Thunder 50 on Friday night at Scotia Speedworld.

Matthews, who started scratch in the 19 car field due to multiple feature wins on the year, was running second to Lively in the late stages of the prestigious extended race. The opening laps had been dominated by Lively and Kyle Gammon (Mount Uniacke), who had shadowed Lively for a majority of the first 45 laps of the race. After a restart just past the second half broke up the duo and added Matthews to the mix, they began to run away to settle the race amongst themselves.

With two laps to go, Lively’s car loses power down the front straight, handing the lead to Matthews. Once under power, a second temporary shut off would give Gammon second.
Just like that, after leading over 40 laps in one of the biggest races of the year, the clock struck midnight and the glass slipper on Lively’s foot had shattered.

Matthews, who said in victory lane he was prepared to finish second to Lively, would ultimately pick up the win with Gammon behind him in second. Lively’s car caught power again and would stay running long enough for third. Tim Webster (Beaverbank) finished fourth after running in the front pack all night long, while Matthew Warren (White’s Lake) recovered from a brush with the Turn Three wall with less than 20 to go to finish fifth.

The field ran most of the feature in two distinct packs, the leaders, which featured six to eight cars going for the lead, and the second pack, with another eight to ten racing hard for position. The race also featured former Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour competitor Tim MacKay (Lower Sackville), who made his first Thunder car start and first start at his home track since 2002. He took the Shane Lively #22 car to a top ten finish.

Heat races were won by Stevie Lively and Brandon Watson (Windsor Junction).

Matthews, with his fourth win of the season, now takes a 40 point lead into the 21st Annual Shriner’s Classic on Friday night.

COORS LIGHT TRUCKS
Kevin Clark Jr (Goodwood) returned to victory lane for the second consecutive race in the Coors Light Truck division.

Clark took the lead early in the 25-lap feature from Adam Carter (Lantz) and never looked back en route to the victory. Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) was second in the feature, with reigning Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Cory Leonard (Goodwood) coming home in third after tweaking on his truck over the off-week. Fourth belonged to Matt Vaughan (Lake Fletcher) with Jamie Creamer (Halifax) finishing up in fifth.

Smith took the heat race win, and with Clark finishing last in the 10-lap qualifier, it is Smith that will extend his point advantage after six events. In fact, Leonard even closed in on his teammate due to Clark’s heat race performance.

The Coors Light Truck division will be back in action Friday night.

CHICKENBURGER LIGHTING
Scott Thibodeau (Williamswood) opened the cash register Friday night as the winner of the “Big Money” Lightning 50.

Thibodeau moved through the field early in the feature and positioned himself in second for most of the race, on the back bumper of “Rational” Richard Patrick (Halifax) and just in front of point leader Deven Smith (Lakeside). Patrick, who took the lead on Lap One of the feature, had a mechanical problem surface with his #141 Ken-etic Auto Dodge on Lap 36, forcing him to pit road and out of contention for the win and the $250-to-win the division was racing for.

While Smith kept Thibodeau honest, the #169 O’Regan’s Dodge hit all his marks around the track and came home the winner for his second feature win of the season. Smith followed Thibodeau across the line for second, followed by Darrell Sullivan (Harrietsfield) in third. Steven Matthews (Bedford) was on the move on a green flag run that spanned nearly 40 laps but had to settle for fourth, ahead of Marc MacMillan (Glenholme). The long green flag run to the finish, combined with the pace set by the leaders, left only four of the 16 starters on the lead lap at the end of the race.

Heat races were won by Patrick and Greg Snelgrove (Stewiacke), who recorded his first career victory at Scotia Speedworld with the win.

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLERO BANDITS
When it looked like rookie Sam Rogers (Lower Onslow) was on his way to scoring his first feature win of his young career, it was veteran Josh Langille (Coldbook) who put the brakes on that train.

Rogers led the most laps in the race, but lost the lead on the final restart of the race on Lap 10 after Nathan Langille (Coldbrook) and Danny Chisholm (Canning) came together to bring out the caution. Nathan’s brother Josh was lights out on the restart, taking the lead for the final lead change of the race. Austin MacDonald (Pictou) would also get by Rogers, who would hold on to third for his best finish of the season. Fourth place belonged to Dylan Dowe (Bedford), who fell just short of his first podium finish, while Owen Mahar (Hubley) finished fifth in the 13-car field.

Rogers would score his first checkered flag in one of the two heat races. Josh Langille would score maximum points on the night by also winning his heat race.

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLERO OUTLAWS
When all the dust settled in the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Outlaw feature, it was a jubilant Wyatt McCulloch (Stewiacke) in victory lane.

McCulloch inherited the lead on a green-white-checkered restart and held on over the final two laps of an extended 25-lap Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Outlaw feature to take his first win of the season.

“This is unbelievable. We’ve been waiting a long time to get back here,” said McCulloch in victory lane.

The feature was dominated by Luke Ettinger (Kennetcook), who won the eight lap qualifier and led all 24 laps of the main feature, that is, until Turn Three on the final lap. Going into the final set of corners, point leader Braden Langille (Shubenacadie) made a move to try and win the race and instead sent both cars sideways in the corner. Dylan Sutherland (Beaverbank) piled on the brakes and slid into the two sideways, vaulting the #51 car on top of both the #16 and #62. All drivers emerged from their race cars okay.

Ettinger would continue on to take second place, with Nathan Blackburn (Timberlea) scoring his first podium finish of the season with a third place run. Sutherland and Ettinger were credited with fourth and fifth.

The Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros are off next week, but will return for the Canadian National Autism Foundation KidsRace.