CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series
Race Wrap & Full Results

July 27th: CARSTAR Night feat. 24th Annual Shriner's Classic

Affordable Fuels Sportsman – 24th Annual Shriners Classic
The clock may not have struck midnight at Scotia Speedworld but the glass slipper finally fit for Centre Burlington’s Richard Salter.

Salter, who has been racing in the Affordable Fuels Sportsman division since 2014, drove to his first Late Model win at Scotia Speedworld. The win came in the extended distance, 50-lap Shriners Classic for Sportsman. Salter won his heat race and pulled out to a manageable lead early. A couple of late yellows would bunch the field up and pit Salter against Alex Johnson (Enfield) for a battle to the finish. Johnson gave everything to Salter but it was not enough to shake the No. 10 Contour Excavation and Septic Chevrolet from the top spot.

“It’s my first win and in the Shriners Classic at that! I tell ya, this is unbelievable,” said Salter after climbing from his car.  “I felt like a rabbit and everyone was a wolf out there. I can’t even begin to explain what this means to win this race.”

Salter joins the likes of the late Terry Roma, Jeff Dillman, Craig Slaunwhite, Gordie Ryan and many, many more accomplished drivers as a champion of the Shriners Classic.

Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside) was able to inch the second place spot from Johnson on the last lap. Johnson was third, followed by former track champions in Aaron Boutilier (Porters Lake) and Darren Wallage (Oakfield).

Salter and Johnson won qualifying heat races in the 19 car field.

A number of front runners found themselves with issues throughout the race. Phil Barkhouse Jr (Hammonds Plains) was collected in a late race crash, Jordan Veinotte (Porter’s Lake) retired with overheating issues, Travis Roma (West Cheezetcook) retired shy of the halfway mark after a battery issue and Matt Vaughan (Bedford) pulled off before the finish.


HYDRAULICS PLUS BEGINNER BANDOLEROS
Gage Gilby (Enfield) is a four time winner in the Hydraulics Plus Beginner Bandolero division.
Like the three previous, Gilby had to earn the win but this time it was a daring three wide move into Turn One that the youngster was able to stick from the outside.

Chase MacKay (Bear Cove), who chased Gilby to the line in the heat, was second to the No. 25 in the feature. Emily Chisholm (Antigonish) raced to his first career podium finish by finishing third in the 15-lap feature. Campbell Delaney was fourth with Caden Tufts putting up one of his best runs of 2018 with a fifth place run.


HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS
After coming together late in the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero feature the week prior, a budding rivalry turned into a hard race for a win.

In the end, Danny Chisholm (Canning) crossed the line ahead of Colton Noble (Upper Nine Mile River) to score his first feature win of the 2018 season.

“That battle was amazing,” said a smiling Chisholm in victory lane. “I slipped up in Turn Two and Colton never missed a beat. It’s pretty cool for us to put on a clean show like that and great for the fans to watch.”

Noble brought his car home in second with Sam Rogers (Lower Onslow) racing to third. Devin Wadden (Dartmouth), who just celebrated a birthday the week prior, finished fourth with Nate Singer (Kennetcook) coming home fifth.

The top Bandit in the field was Owen Mahar (Hubley), who was sixth overall.

Mahar and Chisholm won heat races.


TOURSEC LIGHTNING
Marshall Bezanson (Oldham) was one of the most excited winners during CARSTAR Night as he drove to his first Scotia Speedworld victory in the Toursec Lightning division.

Bezanson won his heat race, had track position and established a lead in the 25-lap feature before Travis Keefe (Gold River) and Steve Matthews (Bedford) began closing in on the No. 106 PAL Aviation Dodge.

“I saw them coming,” said Bezanson. “I was prepared to make my car Danny Harvey wide if I had to!”

Bezanson’s only other completed race resulted in a podium position. The other events, Bezanson and crew struggled with mechanical issues to keep the car running.

Keefe and Matthews were concerned more with themselves late and at the end it was the sophomore edging out the point leader for the runner up spot. Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie Matthew Barkhouse (Dartmouth) won his heat and backed it up with a fourth place finish while “Rational” Richard Drake (Halifax) completed the top five.


 TOURSEC THUNDER
After over a month off, the Toursec Thunder division produced a fifth different winner in as many races. The surprise was that it took Dave Matthews (Kennetcook) this long to win himself a feature.

The reigning champion won his heat race and was able to quickly move to the head of the pack and never looked back. The field was competitive all night long with sophomore Darren Flemming (Belnan) coming home in second with “The Ironman” Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth) finishing third for the first podium finish in his new race car. Jesse Deveau (Greenwood) finished fourth while JR Lawson (Shubenacadie) was able to recover from a missed shift on the first restart of the race to finish fifth.

Lawson and Matthews won heat races on the night.