Race Preview

Last Friday night was certainly an intriguing one on track.

Four races on Toursec Night presented us with four unique outcomes. The first, the Toursec Lightning on the Hill 50 for the Lightning class, went caution free with a familiar face returning to victory lane in a new car. The Thunder on the Hill 50 presented by Toursec featured some excellent racing with the final pass for the lead coming with three laps to go. The Strictly Hydraulics Legends race featured the return of an internationally known name to his old stomping ground and some fireworks post race. The Affordable Fuels Sportsman race had a little bit of everything in it.

Certainly, the fans got their monies worth with that show.

We’re starting to see rivalries form, we’re seeing some really hard racing and we’re seeing some stories starting to develop three weeks prior to our new “mid season break” of two weeks.

If I had to forecast, I think we’re in for much of the same this week.

Keep in mind, the Affordable Fuels Sportsman are off this week but they put on an incredible show. You had some wrecks, which is the tough part for our teams because accidents cost time and money to repair, but you also had some great racing. We saw Jordan Veinotte make his cheering section jubilant by driving to a convincing win. Megan Parrott led laps, spun and came back for a top five finish. Aaron Boutilier and Matt Vaughan were back to championship form by ending up on the podium. Pete Miller and Richard Salter both looked good before wrecks took them out of contention. Kirk Ryan was consistent all night long.

That whole race sets up well for two weeks time, but I’m just as excited for the Shriners Classic on June 29th. When you add the likes of Dylan Blenkhorn, Phil Barkhouse Jr., a guy like Jeffrey Breen or any other invader into the mix, you get an incredible showcase of talent for our Friday night fans. Not to mention, we should see the return of Travis Roma as well.
That is in two weeks time though, let’s focus back on Kiddie Night presented by Sell Off Vacations.

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Everyone loves a good rivalry and we had one crop up again on Friday. Danny Harvey did not like the way he was raced by Cory Hall and aired his displeasure to Hall after the race and to the fans in his victory lane interview. I mentioned to Matthew Rushton on the call Friday (he did a great job upstairs by the way) that respect is not a trait that is given rather it is earned. I don’t think Cory Hall has earned Danny Harvey’s respect over the years and I think the way they raced last Friday was an example of that.
Shane Lively was not impressed with Harvey with and took jabs at him on social media following the event.

Now, I have not heard any indication about what would be done with any disciplinary actions between the parties involved (we do have conduct and social media procedure sections in our rules). From a race fan perspective, because I am not an official at the track, I would assume that they are pulling an old school NASCAR and putting it into the driver’s hands. Boys, have at it?!

That leads nicely into looking back at the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero features from two weeks ago. Remember the battle for the lead late in the combined Bandolero feature, when contact between Danny Chisholm and Josh Langille sent them for a twirl in their hard fought tango? The two youngsters played bumper cars at the back like they were at the county fair for a few laps before officials told them to knock it off and they finished the race. You can say it is water under the bridge all you want but whether it is the Harvey/Lively/Hall issues in Legends or this battle in Bandoleros, race car drivers are programmed to win. When they don’t, sometimes emotion takes over.

Are either rivalry, or any other ones at the track, done with? I guess we’ll find out Friday night.
We talk about how much work goes into the race cars that compete every Friday night. I know a number of Toursec Thunder teams had a lot of work to do after their 50-lap feature. Drew MacEachern blew a motor sky high on Friday night and has had to drop another one in for his next race. Nic Baker had absolutely nowhere to go in Turn Two when he and Dave Matthews locked down on Darren Flemming. Baker’s car has too much damage to turn around in one week and won’t be competing Friday while Scott Williams has been working hard on Darren’s car and says it will be back at the track for Kiddie Night. Dave Matthews broke an axle late in the race which was the culprit of the smoke late.

It will be hard to top that battle we saw between Chris, Jesse and Tim during the Toursec 50. It seems like these guys put on a show one week, set the bar for themselves and raise it the next. The show is one of the best out of a Four Cylinder division anywhere in the region and they’ve produced three different winners in three races. There are plenty of names that could extend that streak to four on Friday too!

Behind Rational Richard, as my buddy Wade Wilson likes to call it, we saw a colossal confrontation between sophomore Travis Keefe and Steve Matthews for third in the Toursec Lightning feature. They leaned on each other, swapped some paint but at the end put on a fantastic show. Haven’t had the chance to chat with Steve but Travis did tell me his brakes were fading during the race. I can see that. It is a 50-lap race for cars that sometimes have their limits pushed in features half the length. The two came away with cars in one piece, our fans came away with smiles on their faces from seeing a great show, so at the end of the day it is really a win-win all around.

We’ll end off with the Hydraulics Plus Beginner Bandoleros. I like what I see out of the nine youngsters that raced with us two weeks ago. I am impressed by Gage Gilby and the amount of speed he’s picked up since running only one race in 2017. Obviously, kids like Ayden Christensen and Chase MacKay continue to show us why they are the future of the sport. Emily Chisholm looked good in her first Bandolero race as did Emma MacMillan, who scored a top five on Hydraulics Plus Night.

Once these kids get a footing underneath them, they will put on some of the best shows of the Summer. It is a Beginner class though, so it might take some time for them to know where the limits are and how far they can push these cars to become the next Blenkhorn, Butcher, Naugle or Meehan.

Make sure you get to the race track before 7pm for Kiddie Night. All the kids will be able to come down on the track and take a safe ride around with their favorite CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series driver.

I also want to remind you to bring your smartphones to the track because we have a Snapchat Geofilter on Friday night thanks in part to Scotia Speedworld and Tim’s Corner Motorsports. Take a Snapchat within the app and swipe until you find the “TCM At the Races” Geofilter. Be sure to add @timscornerca and @sswracing1 to your snapchat list to follow along with the goings on during Kiddie Night.

Before we close, big thanks to Thomas Watt for helping me get the crowd pumped up on Friday night and playing some mean air guitar during one of the extended clean ups in the Sportsman feature. Thomas is away for the next couple of weeks. I want to wish him safe travels and hope he’s ready for Fanfest in a month!

Until Friday night, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!