FOUR SCORE FOR WEEKLY RACING SERIES

The fourth round of Weekly Racing Series action is set to kick off this Friday night at Scotia Speedworld and the action is just heating up for the boys and girls of summer! Here’s what you can look forward to this Friday night!

SAFTEY EQUIPMENT DOES ITS JOB

I mentioned this back on week one after Braden Langille’s wreck in the #0 Bandolero that the safety equipment in this sport is second to none. Fast forward to last week and we saw another prime example of that equipment working to its full extent.

The Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman race was a bit rough and tumble as the drivers were anxious to get their first race in since Opening Day. Maybe a bit too anxious though as it took a few restarts to get lap one in. The last of those features a multi-car wreck on the back straightaway which included championship contenders Colby Smith and Mike Alexander. What we also saw though was a violent hit between the oncoming car of Brian Northrup and the stationary car of rookie Brentley Pirri. While Pirri’s car pulled away with damage to the right side of the #37 Revma Electric Chevrolet, our emergency staff worked on helping Northrup out of the car. He emerged from the Canadian Tire/Sackville Trenching Impala after a few moments to applause from the crowd. Northrup is one of the toughest drivers we have in the Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series and I’m sure we’ll see him back behind the wheel soon.

The Sportsman Series is on the track this Friday, so for those with big damage from last week it is a short turn around time to get those chariots on track. Aaron Boutilier leads the rookie Russell Smith Jr. in the standings with two races completed in the season.

TRUCKS

The night was rough for Jason Fenton who doubled down during Week Two. A rear end problem in the heat stuck around for the feature and relegated him to a seventh place finish. With the way the #3 Cutting Edge Construction/Hodgson Trucking Chevrolet ran on the second week of competition, expect Fenton to be back near the front vying for the win this week.

Meanwhile it’s JP Arsenault, Dan Smith and Gordon Ritchie inching away with the point lead. It’s just early in the season but you have to believe this race will go down to the wire like it did last year between Ritchie and Arsenault. The tailgaters will be back at it Friday night!

HYDRAULICS PLUS BANDOLEROS – TIE ATOP THE STANDINGS

One of those life lessons parents teach young kids is the art of sharing. Though, I’m not quite sure that works well for stock car drivers, even in the Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros. Heading into action last week, it was Cole Butcher tied with leading rookie Cole Tanner. Tanner has now swapped his position with another rookie (and last weeks feature winner) Adam Meehan and now Meehan is tied with Butcher after three races. Tanner falls to fifth, just eight points back of the tie for the lead and only three markers behind the tie for third – featuring Jarrett Butcher and sophomore Luke Ettinger. Like the Truck class, this point battle is set to go back and forth all season.

Be at the Speedworld Friday night to see who gets the passing grade on Canada Day and who will end up with a sub-par mark after four races in the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero class.

LUMBERMART THUNDER – THE BEST ARE BACK ON TRACK FRIDAY

While some of “the BEST Four Cylinder Drivers in Atlantic Canada” handed over the keys of their cars to some area media personalities last Friday night, the boys will be back at the helms of their Civics this weekend during Kiddie Night. Dave Matthews has been impressive in the first two races of the season and holds the point lead early in the campaign. Matthew Warren is second with brother Andrew nipping at his heels in third. Joey Lawson has his #27 Veinotte’s Motorsports Civic dialed in to the tune of fourth place in points while Dwayne Flemming is turning heads with a duo of races in the book as the #43 Honda sits in fifth of the twenty-five car field.

Your top two from last season have struggled to start 2011. Runner-up Tylor Hawes is only ninth after two races and 42 points off Matthews’ 215 point total. Meanwhile, the number change for Stevie Lively has not panned out the way he’d like to as the #32 is deep in the standings with twelfth being his mark after two races, trailing the point leader by 50 markers. It’s not an impossible number to overcome, but it certainly would make for one of the biggest comebacks in recent Speedworld history if he or Hawes can come from behind to become ’11 champion.

In that mix as well, we have a dozen drivers within twenty-nine points of each other. Though it would be difficult with the amount of drivers involved, Jordan Pirri could vault from sixteenth to fifth with an incredible night on track on Friday. In essence, Kyle MacMillan could fall from his sixth place spot back to sixteenth if the #5 experiences some sort of mechanical problem on track.

COCO BEACH LEGENDS – WINDSOR SET TO MAKE SECOND SPEEDWORLD START

While some drivers will be looking to escape Friday night with a good point night and a clean car for Saturday’s Maritime League of Legends 50 lapper, Chad Windsor is looking to do one thing: win. Windsor, the hotshoe from Ottawa, Ontario is the 2010 Capital City Speedway Legends champion and is currently second in points heading into competition on Wednesday. Windsor has been working with former Speedworld titlist Scott MacLean in recent seasons and the two have formed a partnership that has seen them race up the road at Riverside International Speedway and even in New Hampshire at the Legends oval within the Cup Series track. He’ll be making his second and third starts on the 3/10-mile this weekend after he appeared in the Maritime League of Legends opener at the track back in May.

I’m sure Steve Pye will have something to say about Windsor winning though. The Lantz driver holds a bakers dozen point advantage over Falmouth’s Matt Moore and the rest of the field heading into Friday night. The father-son battle between the Blenkhorn’s has daddy Paul ahead of son Dylan by eleven points, which is also the third place overall point battle. Completing the top five in the Coco Beach Legends is last weeks feature winner “The Legend” Cy Harvey.

The battle for the Cathy Ledwidge Memorial Rookie of the Year trophy is close as well with former Lumbermart Lightning champ Dan Michaud Jr leading “Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan by just fifteen markers. Like it did last year between Greig Muir and eventual champion Derek MacCallum we can expect this budding rivalry to go down to the final lap on Finale Friday in September.

All the action kicks off on Canada Day beginning at 7pm with Kiddie Rides followed by action in five of our Weekly Racing Series division. The action continues Saturday at 5:10pm when the Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials hit the track for the Lockhart Truck Center 100, apart of the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. It’s set to be an exciting weekend of racing at the Speedworld and hey, the weather looks fantastic to boot!

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