Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

July 29th - Nitro Circus Pre Party

AFFORDABLE FUELS SPORTSMAN
When it appeared that Wayne Miller (Kennetcook) was going to win his first Affordable Fuels and Metro Home Heating Sportsman division feature, the clock struck midnight.
It then appeared that his brother Pete Miller (Kennetcook) was going to win his second feature of the season - that is until the final restart of the race with just three laps to go.
When all the excitement of two restarts within the final five laps came to rest, Travis Roma (West Chezzetcook) stood tall in victory lane celebrating his third career Affordable Fuels and Metro Home Heating Sportsman win and second on the year.

Roma started on the outside pole on the final restart of the race with three laps to go and was able to get the jump on Miller and hold on over a strong #92 for the win.

Miller, who was dejected in victory lane saying he “let a third win slip away,” held on for second ahead of Matt Moore (Falmouth) and the #1 team.

Kirk Ryan (Upper Nine Mile River) and Brentley Pirri (Three Fathom Harbour), who had a run in earlier in the season, ran clean to fourth and fifth, respectively. Pirri had to rebound after a couple of early cautions put the #37 car at the rear of the 13 car field.

Richard Salter (Centre Burlington) and Pete Miller each won heat races to qualify for the feature.

With his second place finish, combined with Aaron Boutilier’s (Porter’s Lake) last place finish, Pete Miller’s point lead has been extended to 20 points over Jordan Veinotte (Porter’s Lake), who was sixth on Friday. Roma’s win moves him to fifth, 43 points out of the top spot.

The next race for the Affordable Fuels Sportsman division is the Affordable Fuels 100 on Atlantic Cat 250 weekend, running on Friday, August 12th.

TOURSEC LIGHTNING
Scott Thibodeau (Williamswood) came through to win his first race of the season at a key time in a tight championship point battle.

Thibodeau, who had Mike Brown (Urbania) drive his car to a second place finish two weeks ago at the Toursec 50, drove to victory lane over the two battling Smith brothers to notch his fifth podium finish in seven races on the 2016 season. Deven Smith (Lakeside), the point leader heading into the 25-lap feature, barely edged out his brother and multiple time champion Jorden (Lakeside) for the runner-up spot. Joey Holland (Eastern Passage), who led laps early and was poised for the second straight week for a podium finish, finished fourth followed by another quick car in Jamie Dillman (Carroll’s Corner).

The Bezanson brothers, Marshall (Antrim) and Garth (Lake Egmont) shared Toursec Lightning heat wins.

The point lead is notched at a tie between Thibodeau and Deven Smith with “Rational” Richard Drake (Halifax) sitting just 12 points back in third heading into AMP Energy Night.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS
Like Thibodeau, it took a while for Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth) to crack the code to victory lane once again.

Naugle, whose #88 Brycon Construction team had scored four podium finishes prior to Friday night, made good on the fifth by working his way to victory lane during the Nitro Circus Pre-Party. The early season point leader worked his way to the front of the 25-lap, caution free affair after successfully passing two-time and defending Canadian Masters champion Paul Goulden (Shelburne) with eight laps remaining and never looked back. In fact, Naugle ran away from the field in a short time at the end to further impress in his first win of the season.

Goulden would also record his best finish of the season in second to go with four previous top five runs on the year. Point leader Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake) maintained his good standing with a third place run, followed by three-time feature winner Cory Hall (Jolicure, NB) and “Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan.

Butcher and Meehan each took home heat race victories.

While his feature run was impressive, Naugle’s heat performance means he only gained a single point on Butcher in the championship chase. As we head in to AMP Energy Night, the gap between the top two sits at 24 points.

COORS LIGHT TRUCKS
In what looked like a night where Megan Parrott (Beaver Bank) was going back to victory lane for a second time this season, it was four-time champion Dan Smith (Lower Sackville) who ended up scoring a third victory on the year.

Parrott won the Coors Light Truck heat race and was successful at holding off Smith for the first 18 laps of the race. On a restart with six laps remaining, Matt Vaughan (Fletchers Lake) made it three wide going into the first corner, forcing Smith to the extreme outside and Parrott in the middle. It did not end well for Parrott as not only did she slide backward, she ended up making contact with the back straight wall two laps later.

Two more yellows would change the running order behind the #39 Glenstone.ca Chevrolet, but even as the trucks scrambled for second, Smith was able to hold off all comers to extend his point lead on the season. Kevin Clark Jr (Goodwood) returned after a week’s absence to finish second behind Tony Leonard (Goodwood) as the two put the Leonard’s Auto team trucks back on the podium. Vaughan was fourth in the feature followed by Parrott, who finished on the lead lap even with her hit to the back straight wall.

After Jason Fenton (Eastern Passage) finished sixth on the evening, it allowed Smith to extend his lead to 30 points as Clark moves back to second. The Coors Light Trucks battle once again on AMP Energy Night. 

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS
It was a night of firsts in the combined Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Bandit and Outlaw class while the point leader in the Beginner Bandit feature evened the score in the win column with his closest competitor.

Tyler Hutchinson (Lower Onslow) scored his fourth win of the season in the Hydraulics Plus Beginner Bandit division by crossing the line first over Morgan Mosher (Mahone Bay) and second place point driver Malcolm Jollimore (Terence Bay). Jollimore entered as the win leader in feature victories with four, but Hutchinson would tie that mark with his triumph. The pair are the only two to win feature races this season in the class. Hutchinson also won the heat.

In the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero feature, it was Austin MacDonald (Pictou) scoring his first victory of the year while Danny Chisholm (Canning) put his #87 East Coast EZ Docks Bandolero in victory lane for the first time in his young career.

MacDonald scored the Outlaw victory by holding on over point leader Sam Rogers (Lower Onslow) and Nathan Blackburn (Timberlea). The three finished in the top three spots overall in the combined 11-car feature. MacDonald made perfect on the night by also scoring the heat race victory.

Chisholm put up one of the best performances of his young career as he “got out the broom” and swept the night, winning both the Bandit heat and the Bandit portion of the feature. Chisholm, who finished fourth overall, was ahead of Owen Mahar (Hubley) and Colton Noble (Upper Nine Mile River) at the end of the 15-lap feature. Noble entered as the winner of the last three Bandit division features.

All three point leaders in their respective classes - Hutchinson, Rogers and Nathan Langille (Coldbrook) - all exited with a point lead in tact heading into this Friday’s AMP Energy Night.