CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

September 8th: Pulse Heavy Duty Night

Toursec Thunder
Chris Hatcher (Beaver Bank) continued to pour on the pressure on the Toursec Thunder division with his second feature win of the season on Friday. The win comes two races after his big win in the Thunder on the Hill 50 win on Toursec Twin 50s Night.

The 25-lap race on Pulse Heavy Duty Night was ran caution free. Hatcher made the winning move in the opening laps on Jesse Deveau (Greenwood). Deveau held on for another podium finish in his sophomore asphalt season while Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie Darren Flemming (Belnan) finally popped the top to the podium with a third place run. Point leader Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) was fourth while Mark Williams (Elmsdale) finished in fifth.

Heat race action saw “The Ironman” Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) pick up his first checkered flag of the year. MacEachern would finish tenth in the feature with motor issues.

Matthews, who is planning on changing a motor before Finale Friday, has a 20 point lead on Chris Hatcher heading into the final night of the season.

Toursec Lightning
When the chips are down, Scott Thibodeau (Williamswood) comes through in the clutch.
Thibodeau entered with a four point lead into Pulse Heavy Duty Night, scored maximum points by winning the heat and the feature and left with a seven point lead.

The downside of it all? He could not shake his championship point rival in “Rational” Richard Drake (Halifax).

Thibodeau and Drake sliced and diced through the ten car field on Friday night, setting a blistering pace, leaving only the top five on the lead lap. That number may have been thinner in five more laps than the 25-lap caution free distance, because they were in traffic when the checkered flag flew. In fact, Thibodeau, feeling the pressure from Drake, had to make a daring three-wide, middle lane move to shake the slower traffic and the No. 141 Ken-etic Auto Dodge.
David Jollimore (Halifax), Jamie Dillman (Carroll’s Corner) and Tom Stewart (Stewiacke) were able to hold on to the lead lap and top five positions in the feature.

Joining Thibodeau as a heat race winner was Dillman.

The pair battling for the championship and a majority of the on track wins (Thibodeau has five feature wins to Drake’s four), will complete their battle on Finale Friday. Both are looking for their first track championship.

Strictly Hydraulics Legends
Cory Hall (Jolicure, NB) returned to Scotia Speedworld on Friday night and wound up in a familiar place - victory lane.

Hall took a Strictly Hydraulics Legend division high third feature win of the season on Pulse Heavy Duty Night. Hall was able to use early yellow flags to better his track positions and was in the lead by halfway after starting 11th in the 25-lap feature. Shelby Baker (Fall River) continued on his roll with a second place finish to go with two feature wins in the last four weeks while point leader Paul Goulden (Shelburne) locked down a third place finish to extend his point lead over Adam Meehan (Rawdon), who was fifth at the end of the race. Waylon Farrell (Conception Bay South, NL) was fourth in the feature for the second consecutive week in Halifax.

Goulden and Dylan Sutherland (Beaver Bank) picked up heat race victories.

Goulden’s point lead is seven over Adam Meehan and 15 over Danny Harvey (Lantz) heading into the final point race of the season on Friday.

Affordable Fuels Sportsman
After making his debut on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour early in 2017, Matt Moore (Falmouth) will begin the closing month of the year with a checkered flag at his home track in the Affordable Fuels Sportsman division.

Moore, in his second Sportsman start of the year, drove the Mitch Blanchard owned No. 1 Pothier Motors/Bunky’s Hants Insulators Dodge to victory in the 38-lap Affordable Fuels Sportsman feature on Pulse Heavy Duty Night. Moore made it look easy, stepping out to the lead by halfway after taking the lead from Cory Leonard (Goodwood) and holding it for the second half of the race. Seven cautions slowed the event, with the final one coming with 11 to go in the race.

Behind Moore was a frantic battle for second with Alex Johnson (Enfield) holding off all challengers for his first podium finish of 2017. Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year Matt Vaughan (Fletchers Lake) held on for third with Jordan Veinotte (Porters Lake) and Richard Salter (Centre Burlington) bringing home fourth and fifth.

Leonard and Johnson took home heat race victories. The field featured 18 cars, which is the biggest field of Late Model Sportsman for a regular point paying race in the Maritime Provinces for 2017. Included in the field were Yarmouth’s Steve MacPhee and Windsor’s Fred Schofield, who made their first Scotia Speedworld starts of 2017. Deven Smith (Lakeside) made his first Sportsman start on Friday night while Adam Carter (Lantz), JP Arsenault (Church Point) and Leonard made their second starts in the class of 2017. Of note, Carter, Arsenault and Leonard are former Pulse Heavy Duty Truck competitors who raced in the top division at Scotia Speedworld on Pulse Heavy Duty Night.

Vaughan gained points on Veinotte in both the heat race and feature, giving the rookie the point lead by three heading into Finale Friday. The track has never had a Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie win a overall championship in the Affordable Fuels Sportsman class - something that Veinotte will look to keep alive on Friday night.