The Drought Is Over!

If we have to take one storyline out of last week’s Season Opener, it is that we had three winless streaks snapped on the first night of the new year.

All four feature winners from CTV Night have won races before with the Toursec Thunder feature being the first for Neil Miousse at Scotia Speedworld. How long between wins were Miousse, Emily Meehan, Steve Matthews and Kirk Ryan though? Take these numbers into consideration.

Number of days between feature wins:
Kirk Ryan | Last Win: August 25th, 2017 | Days Between Wins: 273.
Steve Matthews | Last Win: July 7th, 2017 | Days Between Wins: 322
Neil Miousse | Last Win: May 22nd, 2016 (Speedway 660 Sharp Shooter) | Days Between Wins: 733 Days.
Emily Meehan | Last Win: July 4th, 2014 | Days Between Wins: 1,421.

Kirk and Steve won in 2017, which broke previous long winless streaks. Neil’s last feature win in his career was the Season Opener at Speedway 660 in the Sharp Shooter division in 2016. I had to double and triple check for Emily’s last win, which I thought was 2016 but had to go all the way back to 2014 to find her last feature victory.

Before we push on, shameless plug for Tim’s Corner Motorsports. If you missed last week’s action and want to check out what the four winners had to say in victory lane, head over to Facebook.com/TimsCornerCA and hit the videos tab. James Sample was on the camera Friday night and he loved it so much he went out and bought a Thunder car this week. How does it go? You can take the driver out of the race but can’t take the racing out of the driver?

It goes without saying, winning a feature at Scotia Speedworld is tough. Yes, some win more than others, but there is not a feature win that is given. Each race win is earned, whether you are racing in the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero division or a touring division like the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour. While Cole Butcher’s win last Saturday looked easy on paper, he had to be on top of his game to stay ahead of Dylan Blenkhorn, Craig Slaunwhite and the rest of the field.

So, who is next to break through? The first driver that comes to mind is Drew MacEachern. Like Meehan, you have to look back to 2014 to see “the Ironman’s” last victories. While the Toursec Thunder division will be tough to win in, with a new car to compete in for 2018 this stands as one of Drew’s best chances since he came off the fourth place season in 2015.

Staying with the Toursec Thunder, Chris Hatcher did everything but win last Friday night. Miousse won the race but there are a number that will likely agree with the statement that Hatcher had the fastest race car. Once he was able to clear traffic, the No. 11 was a rocket ship. Like MacEachern, 2017 champion Dave Matthews brought out a relatively new car to play with but once he gets it figured out, I think we’ll see another tilt up front like we did last year. I think back to 2012 when Kyle MacMillan won the Thunder championship, he was so good right out of the gate and had enough consistency to hold off Stevie Lively for the championship. It goes to show, yes, you have to finish strong but you also cannot discount the weight of these early season races in a championship run.

We also got the first look at the Tim Hortons at the Airport Rookie of the Year classes in the Strictly Hydraulics Legend and Affordable Fuels Sportsman divisions. Yes, while the charge to the front by Emily Meehan and the win by Kirk Ryan at the front of those respective classes was impressive, I think we are in for a couple of excellent freshman battles.

In the Affordable Fuels Sportsman division, you had all three rookies finish together on the result sheet with Deven Smith ahead of Megan Parrott and Darren Hilchie. With heat races factored in, Smith has a three point lead on Parrott, who has a three point lead on Hilchie. All three will learn about their cars as the season progresses and I’m sure we’ll be talking about them up front and battling for feature wins before long. After all, they have a big bar to shoot for after Matt Vaughan climbed the championship ladder one year ago.

When it comes to the Strictly Hydraulics Legend division there is a bit of separation between our three rookies but they also had three different races on Friday night. Nathan Blackburn won his heat race, started on the pole position but got caught on the outside line late in the feature and would slip to tenth at the end of the race. Nicole Richard was battling hard for a spot on the last lap when the car got away from her as she slid across the line in 13th. Jody Fraser had problems early, lost a wheel and finished in 19th.

The Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros are back on Hydraulics Plus Night to kick off their 2018 season. We’ll soon see what car counts look like and who will be a threat for a championship. There will be lots of storylines to follow this year, including Brooke Dowe making the move to the Bandit division for 2018 after her Beginner championship one season ago. Time will tell who makes the move from the Beginner division up to the Bandit and Outlaw classes and who will step into a race car for the first time.

 As mentioned in the pre-race advance, Emily Chisholm and Emma MacMillan will make their debut on Friday night. Emma’s father Marc has been around Scotia Speedworld for a long time and his resume includes a 2013 Toursec Lightning championship. Emily’s father Donald needs no introduction - 2015 Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour champion, IWK 250 champion, NASCAR Pinty’s Series winner at Riverside Speedway, track owner at Riverside Speedway, just to name a few lines on his resume. Donald is missing one thing though - a Pro Stock Tour checkered flag from Scotia Speedworld. Just imagine the talk around the supper table if Emily can capture the flag in her Bandolero on the 3/10-mile oval before Donald can in a Pro Stock!

A number of familiar names are expected to return to the class in 2018 - including the Langille brothers, the Noble brothers, the Rushton brothers, the Mosher brothers, the Dowe siblings, the MacMillan siblings, Rogers, Mahar, Chisholm, Singer, Christensen, Pothier, Delaney, Tufts and many more! It will be a busy Friday night as the kids returns to the track!

Before we close, how cool was it to have Cyril Lunney, Kelly Linehan and Katie Kelly at the track Friday night?! The trio from CTV Morning Live had a blast and got to partake in a bit of everything from flagging the Toursec Lightning feature to pacing the field for the Strictly Hydraulics Legend feature to calling heat races up in the tower. Hopefully they make a return visit soon and hey, maybe this will pave the way to getting the Media Race back on track?!

Weather is looking gorgeous for Friday, so make plans now to get out to the track and enjoy Round Two on the 2018 season with us!

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