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Tim's Corner - Issue Four - A Busy Weekend in New
Brunswick! The last few days have been hectic, but
I wouldn't have it any other way!
For those of you who were in the Halifax area and have
watched any local television in the past couple of months, you would
have saw the ads for Monster Jam. I hope you had the opportunity to
get out to at least one of the shows during the past weekend as the
Monster Trucks once again put on three fabulous shows for our fans at
the Speedworld. Though I never got to see the trucks in action,
I did get to take in a few minutes of the Saturday morning Pit Party
and the enthusiasm shown by the drivers and the fans was something
that can not be compared to that of a stock car event.
Speaking of stock car event, Speedway 660 was on the
radar for those looking for a high speed, fender to fender show on the
weekend. The Geary woods once again played host to the Maine based Pro
All Stars Series and the twenty-five starters did not disappoint in
regards to putting on a barn burner Saturday evening! As some know, I
had the great honor of being on the call for last season's event which
was won by Turner's Ben Rowe. This year I went to the Capital Region
track armed with a camera and got to sit back and enjoy all the action
of a Saturday night!
Once again the support classes at 660 showed that they
can put up a show that rivals the Pro Stocks in excitement and
entertainment. Most would agree that even though the Peterbilt 250 is
the main attraction on Speedweekend, the Sportsman 150 the night prior
is as, if not more exciting than the main event on Labour Day weekend
at the tight Geary oval. On Saturday night it was one of the veteran
Martin's Home Heating Sportsman division drivers taking checkers as
Richard Atkinson drove his familiar #40 to Auto Pride Victory Lane.
Atkinson has been racing at the Speedway since I've been going there
years ago and it is nice to see the Geary driver score the win in
front of the big crowd! A healthy field of 26 cars started the event,
but not all finished as a big wreck with four laps to go took out many
contenders including Wade Harris and Michael Banks. The wreck, which
happened right in front of my turn one seat featured eight or more
cars and some hard hits, including one from the spinning #89 car as he
backed into the carnage hard at the last minute. Other than some
scrapes, dented race cars and maybe some damaged pride everyone
emerged from the first turn beach alright.
I was easily impressed by 15-year old Matt Rodgers in
the Sportsman division as well. The Smithtown, New Brunswick driver
showed truckloads of talent and patience during the 30-lap feature on
Saturday night and was rewarded with a top ten finish. Expect the
youngster who splits his time between Speedway 660 and the Centre for
Speed outside of Shediac to be one of those vying for wins up front
sooner than later. He, along with the #44 Dodge of George Jamieson
have two of the nicest looking Sportsman paint schemes at the
facility.
The Speedway's Street Stock division also produced a
healthy field of drivers to take the green flag on their 20-lap
feature as twenty-two cars started the event. Up front it was Heidi
Cooper trying to bolt down another win in the division on a big
weekend but was involved in a late race incident with a lapped car
which put her to the rear of the running order. When all the smoke
cleared, it was the #23 of former track champ Mike Francis powering to
the win. The driver from the Port City this season has placed each
name of those lost in the recent war overseas on the trunk-lid of his
black Street Stock and those names are the only ones on his 2010 ride.
My hat is off to Francis and his crew for a fitting tribute to those
who serve our country.
Another fixture was back at the Speedway as Smokin'
Joe Albert was wheeling his familiar orange #04. At his age, Albert is
still swapping paint with the "young guns" at the front of the
division and having a blast doing so. We even caught Joe dip the right
rear wheel of his car off the pavement on the front straight in his
heat race, kicking up some dust while picking off positions on the
outside groove!
The PASS Tour once again had fans on the edge of their
seats as they battled tooth and nail for 200-laps of green flag
competition. There was a rash of cautions early in the event as six
dotted the first one hundred laps of competition. The earliest victim
of those was PASS North rookie Joey Doiron from Berwick, Maine (not to
be confused with James Graves from Berwick, Nova Scotia). Doiron,
behind the wheel of his family owned JBJ Machine Impala had a run in
with Maine veteran Kelly Moore just seven laps into the event and
found himself in the turn three beach. From watching him race and
racing against the youngster online the kid has talent! To easily run
in the top five at a track you've never seen before takes talent and
will be something to watch for if the #73 shows up on Peterbilt 250
Speed Weekend!
Another shocking development in the event had to be
the performance of the #48 Community Pharmacies ride of multi-time
champion Ben Rowe. As mentioned earlier, Rowe rode his #4 Richard
Moody Racing car to victory one season ago in this race but Rowe had
never really challenged for the lead during the feature. He would wind
up fifth in the Scott Mulkern owned race car.
Other drivers who had some rough luck in the woods
included Maine's Trevor Sanborn, Travis Benjamin and New Hampshire's
Adam Bates. Bates came home second in last years edition of the 200
but was out of the event 177-laps into this years event, joining
Sanborn in the garage at that time. Sanborn, like Benjamin has run
many laps in the front half of the Peterbilt 250 but rough luck
plagued the drivers as Benjamin finished two laps behind the pace.
Nick Ribbe impressed in his #85 ride from the state of
Massachusetts. Ribbe won his heat race and ran second in the early
going to pace setter Cassius Clark but ended up in the turn three
beach as apart of one of the early cautions. Ribbe did not navigate
traffic as most thought he would with a strong car, finishing 14th in
the 25 car field.
One thing the PASS North series is known for is lots
of green racing. Don't believe me? Look at the last 100-laps of the
200-lap event - caution free! The second half was set at a blistering
pace with the Clarks and Lonnie Sommerville putting drivers a lap down
like it was going out of style! Not too shabby, especially for
twenty-two drivers who took the restart on lap 101.
While we're on the topic, Sommerville and team were the highest
finishing Canadian car by a big margin on Saturday. Sommerville, from
Saint John was the only Maritimer in the race to finish on the lead
lap, leading Wayne Smith, Craig Slaunwhite, Marty MEGA Prevost, Matt
Harris, Shawn Tucker, Brent Wiggins and Kevin Moore in that category.
Sommerville is running a majority of his 2010 schedule down south but
we will see him a few times this season North of the Border, including
the three Triple Crown of Maritime Pro Stock Racing events!
One driver who had misfortune during the afternoon was Quebec's
Alexandre Gingras. From what I was told, Gingras lost a motor in the
practice session and was already on his way back to "La belle
province" before practice had concluded at the track. Gingras gets my
nod for best appearing PASS North regular as he sported a sharp scheme
on his #27QC car.
 Once again,
the Pro All Stars put on another great show for the Fredericton area
fans. If you missed the last two PASS events in the Geary woods the
past two seasons, make sure you make your way up to Central New
Brunswick next season for the event, it is one of those you do not
want to miss! Also worth mentioning from Saturday
night has to be the great job done again by Joyce's Pit Stop. The
canteen staff at Speedway 660 always concocts some great eats and as
most know, I am a big fan of the Speedway fries. I can report from
Saturday that they are better than ever and I can not wait to get back
up to the track for the Pro Stock Tour event in late July.
On the subject of something you do not want to miss is the Maritime
Motorsports Hall of Fame. Mark Williams, Kyle Gammon and I took the
opportunity to stop in on our way home from the Speedway on Sunday
afternoon and we were very impressed with the facility just off the
highway in Petitcodiac. If you find yourself up in the Moncton area or
you plan to visit Speedway 660 again this Summer (let's say for the
Parts for Trucks 100 there in July for instance), you need to take the
time to visit the MMHoF. It is well worth the visit!
Sunday was also the date of the MRL Racing's 1st Annual Brian Neidigh
Memorial event on RLMtv. Neidigh passed away one year ago and was a
friend to many in the sim racing world. Though I never personally met
Brian it was easy to tell on Sunday that he touched many lives not
only in the sim racing world but in the real world as well. The racing
itself was a great show with Ron Larkin Jr. winning the event in a
spectacular finish which saw paint swapped and fenders rubbed all the
way to the line. Brian would be proud guys - great run!
For more information on this weekend's racing at Scotia Speedworld
(Friday) and Riverside International (Saturday), check out Tim's
Corner at ScotiaSpeedworld.ca and MaritimeProStockTour.com!
Until we meet again, keep the hammer down and we'll see you at the
track! |
