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Fire Up Friday Nights

Hey, is this thing on?!

We’re back on the virtual sheets of ScotiaSpeedworld.ca part time throughout the 2023 season chatting about the CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series. Now, this part of the internet should have been filled with a review of what we saw last Sunday as we lifted the lid on the new year of racing across all divisions.

But, Mother Nature won. It was wet last Sunday here.

For four of the five divisions we are going to see on Friday night, it is a blank sheet of paper. We have some new drivers in new places and in new colors. We have some returning drivers looking to return to former glory. We have rookies looking to make a name for themselves. Teams are looking to embark on a championship run that will take them to a celebration at the Halifax 300 in September.

The only on track product we saw last weekend, besides an excellent East Coast International Pro Stock Tour Cummins 150, was the Cross Roads Maritime League of Legends Tour. While not all of the 25 cars that competed in the MacDonald Automotive 50 will show up on Friday night, we got an appetizer round of what we will see when the green flies during the Strictly Hydraulics Legends action.

We have a handful and change of rookies in this class this season, several that showed their hands last Saturday. Ayden Christensen was the top rookie in the MacDonald Automotive 50, in second overall we should add, and we probably could have expected that with his southern exports during the INEX National events. Chase MacKay also turned some heads in his No. 71 ride. Christensen has the help of Mark Nahrstedt Race Cars while MacKay has the guidance of Cory Hall Racing and 860 Motorsports. We all get by with a little help from our friends and this rookie battle will be entertaining to watch all season between some of the big names in Legend racing on both sides of the border involved.

But, that’s not all. Caden Tufts, who had to borrow a car from Tanton Wooldridge after a motor broke in his LBT Pallets ride last Wednesday, and Chase Livingston are rookies under the wing of Scott MacLean. MacLean, the 2009 Scotia Speedworld track champion, helped Danny Chisholm to an impressive 2022 season. The duo had a chance to win INEX Asphalt Nationals at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after winning both the Scotia Speedworld and Maritime League of Legend titles. These two will be strong this season and will start their rookie campaigns in Halifax on Friday.

Oh, but that’s not all either. Dawson Noble will be strong as he was in Bandoleros. Andrew Burgress is a bit more “experienced” to be a Bandolero driver but he joins us as a rookie. Aiden MacDonald will bring his car over from Prince Edward Island on a part-time schedule and Emily Chisholm is also registered to compete within the class this year.

What Saturday showed us is that these rookies are ready to compete for wins out of the box. Imagine what a dozen races will do as we approach the end of the year!

Did we mention those were just the rookies?!

Gage Gilby took home the victory in the MacDonald Automotive 50. If Deven, Pete and Alex are “The Big Three” in Sportsman, it means Gilby, Owen Mahar and Danny Chisholm were the trio last year in Legends. Chisholm was away competing in the Road Course event in Thompson, CT while Mahar was racing in the top five before a late race crash. Gilby should be an early favorite for the track title in 2023 based on his racing exports so far, including an INEX Winter Nationals Young Lion Championship. Josh Langille proved the No. 18 team did their homework this winter as well and was a solid top five driver all race on Saturday. Colton Noble will win a pile of races this season. When Tanton Wooldridge shows up part time, he will be a threat, no question.

I was impressed with Kelsey Hann. The former karter enters her second Legend season and was stout in her heat race and was looking for a solid finish in the 50-lapper last Saturday before the brakes backed off on her. Another former kart standout in Nicole Richard, with a new car and new look to the No. 71, scored a top ten in last Saturday’s Tour opener. I’m intrigued to see how she can build on that.

Either way, last weekend’s Cross Roads Maritime League of Legends Tour race gave us a good look at our Legend drivers and a peek into what we can expect this season.

Take your pick from the rest of the pre-season storylines as to what you want to watch on Friday. Deven Smith has announced he is not running full-time this season, so that leaves a championship wide open for the taking. Only Pete Miller, the 2016 champion, has a Scotia Speedworld Bay Rentals Sportsman championship under his belt of the full-time competitors. In fact, with Deven winning the last three, and Jordan Veinotte and Matt Vaughan racing on the Tour, Pete is the last champion that is either not named Deven Smith or is racing Pro Stock full time. Alex Johnson is in a new to him car and has switched from a blue oval to a bowtie. His previous Ford is campaigned by Nic Baker now, who will take a run at his first full Late Model season this year.

Hailey Bland, and a few of her friends, are moving up to the Bandolero Outlaw class. That class will see some change – and a new champion – as we previously saw with a lot of the drivers in that class moving up. Landon Pierce, the most recent winner in Sydney two weekends ago and Daniel Vandenburg, the most recent winner in River Glade last weekend, are considered the favorites for the overall title in 2023.

The Toursec Mini Stocks are now one class. The building rules changed a bunch over last season and you’ll see some new faces and some moving on. We will quickly see who has the upper hand but one thing is for certain, these guys know how to put on a show and we are expecting car counts to be knocking on the door of three heat race territory most of this season.

The green flag goes in the air for the first time in CARSTAR Weekly Series competition at 7pm. Come on out, bring the family and friends for $20 Carload Night and we’ll have some fun to kick off our Friday night season. Bring your dance shoes and singing voices in case we break into another chorus of Sweet Caroline!

Can’t make it?! We have all season LIVE on TimsCorner.tv!

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