CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

September 15th: Finale Friday

Hydraulics Plus Beginner Bandolero
Brooke Dowe of Bedford put an exclamation point on her 2017 championship season by winning the final Hydraulics Plus Beginner Bandolero feature of the year.

Dowe took the lead early in the first half of the 15-lap feature and held off all challenges on a late restart with 11 to go to take her fourth feature win of the year. Behind Dowe it was scramble with Chase MacKay (Bear Cove) matching his career best finish by nailing down a second place run in the feature, ahead of the Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Dawson Noble (Upper Nine Mile River).

Dylan MacMillan (Glenholme) closed the season with a fourth place feature finish to lock up the second spot in the standings. Ayden Christensen (Fall River) appeared to be on his way to a podium finish but the late laps would put the heat winner on the night back to fifth in the nine car feature field.

Dowe takes home her first championship at Scotia Speedworld by 34 points - the biggest margin of any CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series champion for 2017. She is also the first female champion at the track since Cassie Marriott’s 2003 Lightning championship run and the first female Bandolero champion at Scotia Speedworld. She joins Saskatchewan’s Kelsey Toth and Newfoundland’s Sara Thorne as Canadian Bandolero track champions.

Hydraulics Plus Bandolero - Bandits and Outlaws
Between flipping race cars, bent tempers and wrecked race cars, it was the Langille brothers of Coldbrook who celebrated at opposite ends of the track as champions.

Owen Mahar (Hubley) led wire to wire in the final 15-lap feature of the year, which also served as an INEX Bandolero Championship race. The Bandit driver held the lead early over Danny Chisholm (Canning) and edged out Sam Rogers (Lower Onslow) on a final restart with two laps to go to hold the win by inches at the finish.

Rogers finished second overall and was the top Outlaw driver and was followed by Josh Langille and Chisholm to the stripe. Colton Noble (Upper Nine Mile River) was second in Bandit and fifth overall. Dylan Dowe (Bedford) was scored third in the Bandit division.

Nathan Langille entered with enough points to win the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero Bandit division title for the second straight year. A last lap incident saw his car get airborne in the final corner and he would be scored ninth overall of 12 cars. Mahar, who also won the Bandit heat, edged Noble by three points for the runner-up spot in the standings.

Josh Langille won the Outlaw championship by three points over reigning champion Rogers. Austin MacDonald (Pictou) won the Outlaw heat to close the championship lead to two points heading into the feature but was parked by race officials in the feature after his car struck the No. 18 car at speed under a caution period with two laps remaining.

Tanner MacLean (Scotsburn) was fifth on the season in the Outlaw division and took home the Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Award.

TOURSEC LIGHTNING
“Rational” Richard Drake (Halifax) and Scott Thibodeau (Williamswood) both had plenty to celebrate on Friday night following the 25-lap Toursec Lightning feature event.

Drake won his fifth feature of the season at Scotia Speedworld, outrunning the No. 169 of Thibodeau and the Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Travis Keefe (Clayton Park) for the win. Thibodeau, who was having power problems aboard his No. 169 Neon, kept it running long and strong enough for second place as Keefe closed the gap in the waning laps. The position is what Thibodeau needed to secure his first Toursec Lightning championship by a mere two points. Those points were the difference between finishing second and finishing third on the track and having to go into a potential tiebreaker with Drake for the title.

Tom Stewart (Stewiacke) closed off his third place point season with a fourth place run on Finale Friday with Steve Matthews (Bedford) finishing fifth in the feature.

Stewart and Chevy MacDonald (Stewiacke) each took home heat victories. MacDonald’s feature was cut short after an incident at the completion of the second lap.

TOURSEC THUNDER
Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) left Scotia Speedworld with his third Toursec Thunder car championship, solidifying himself as one of the best to ever strap aboard a four cylinder car in the 30 year history of Scotia Speedworld.

Meanwhile, Mark Williams (Elmsdale) left with his second career feature victory in the 25-lap season finale for the Thunder class.

Nic Baker (Middle Sackville) won his heat and was hunted by Williams in the late laps of the feature. Baker crossed the line first for what appeared to be his second career feature win in the class but a technical infraction led to his failing post race inspection, handing the win to Williams.

Neil Miousse (Kentville) finished off his Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year campaign with a second place feature run, ahead of Matthews, Chris Hatcher (Beaver Bank) and Jesse Deveau (Greenwood).

Hatcher and Darren Flemming (Belnan) were scored as heat race winners in the 12 car field.
Matthews lost two points to Hatcher in the heat race but gained them back in the feature to win his third championship by an even 20 points over Hatcher.

STRICTLY HYDRAULICS LEGENDS
Waylon Farrell (Conception Bay South, NL) raced to a second win at Scotia Speedworld on the 2017 on Friday, while a championship battle exploded behind him ending with Paul Goulden (Shelburne) celebrating as a first time track champion.

Both Goulden and championship rival Adam Meehan (Rawdon Gold Mines) were sent to the back for their part in separate incidents in the 25-lap INEX National Qualifier for Legends. Meehan was involved in an early caution on Lap Seven as Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth, NS) got turned around while Goulden mixed it up with Emily Meehan (Rawdon Gold Mines) and was sent to the rear for his part in the no fault incident with nine to go.

As Goulden and Adam Meehan worked their way from the rear of the 21-car field, Danny Harvey (Lantz) raced within the top five most of the night before finishing seventh on the night. Goulden was one point to the good entering the final lap in the championship but was able to make two more spots on track to win the championship by five points. Meehan would wind up finishing ten points back of the championship position.

Up front, it was Farrell that took the lead within the first ten laps from Dylan Sutherland (Beaver Bank) and held off all challengers on multiple restarts to take his second win on the CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series. Behind Farrell coming to the stripe was Shelby Baker (Fall River), Cory Hall (Jolicure, NB), Craig MacDonald (Waverley) and Naugle, who recovered from two early yellows to take fifth.

Farrell, Sutherland and Harvey each took heat wins.

Andrew Lively (Middle Sackville) captured the Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Award in the Strictly Hydraulics Legends division over Dartmouth’s Gary Bordage and Elmsdale’s Matt Myers.

AFFORDABLE FUELS SPORTSMAN
While the elder statesmen of Late Model racing at Scotia Speedworld held court up front during the final Affordable Fuels Sportsman race of the year, it was a 20 year old Tim Hortons at the Airport rookie making history as the first freshman driver to win a Sportsman overall championship at Scotia Speedworld.

Tony Leonard (Goodwood) led a majority of the laps in the 38 circuit Affordable Fuels Sportsman feature. He was challenged for most of the event by two-time division champion Darren Wallage (Oakfield), who was driving for Alex Painting in the No. 60 car on the night. Wallage settled for second at the end with a hard charging Harry Ross White (Noel Road) bringing the Mitch Blanchard owned No. 1 home for third. Behind the trio of Late Model Legends are Scotia Speedworld was rising star Travis Roma (West Chezzetcook) and 2012 champion Aaron Boutilier (Porters Lake).

Heat race wins in the 22-car field went to Leonard, Kirk Ryan (Upper Nine Mile River) and HOSS.

Matt Vaughan (Bedford) raced with Jordan Veinotte (Porters Lake) as the two tried to lock down their first track championships. Veinotte had a two spot advantage on track on a restart with six to go, needing one more spot to win the championship, when the transmission broke on the Veinotte’s Truck and Auto/R&R Kinsman Auto Salvage Ford. Vaughan was able to keep his Aerotec Engines/All East Mechanical Chevrolet under him, avoided all trouble all night and cruised to a sixth place finish and a division champion in his rookie year. The final gap between the two was 23 points, far from indicative of how close the two ran all season long.