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     Congratulations go out to Amherst native, Ryan Macintosh, son of Keith Macintosh, on his victory in the Bandalero racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week. Macintosh has been running strong all year down south, but one thing or another has kept him out of the “Winners Circle” in the Summer Shootout series until now. Macintosh has one more race at Concord and one at Charlotte on Friday, before heading west to Texas and the US Nationals on Tuesday.    

     The second jewel in the Triple Crown of Maritime Pro stock racing, the Atlantic Cat 250 at Scotia Speedworld, is now in the books and it was a good one, albeit the 22 cautions interrupted the flow of the race quite a bit. Cassius Clark, the American PASS Tour performer, who was substituting for Jonathan Hicken in the #5 machine, led an impressive 227 laps of the 250 lapper to capture the victory. Clark put on a driving clinic for most of the other competitors.

       All that remains now is the final jewel, the Peterbilt 250, to be held at Speedway 660 on the Labour Day weekend. That leaves Hicken and Shawn Tucker on top the standings with 409 points while IWK winner, Kent Vincent is in third, a mere 16 points behind. Hicken gets the points for Clark’s win as Clark was just substituting for him. With the “Oval Outlaw”, Wayne Smith only another 4 points behind, the Peterbilt 250 race at Speedway 660 should be great one.

       Colby Smith, the Sportsman competitor from Cape Sable Island, made a last lap pass to capture the Sportsman 100 at Scotia for the first “big” victory of his career. The likeable competitor, who competes without the benefit of any sponsorship due to where he hails from, makes the long haul to Scotia almost every week to race, and never complains about his situation, deserved the win more than anyone I could think of. Yes, sometimes, the “good guys” do come out on top.

       While all this was happening at Scotia, Speedway 660 had its own major event happening as well. The “Firecracker 150” for Sportsman cars took top billing at the Geary oval. Matt Maillet, another of the “good guys”, grabbed the lead in the later stages of the race, and held on to secure victory. This was the first major victory for Maillet as well, which augurs well for this competitor’s future.

       Rick Cashol, the Saint John competitor in the Street Stock class, hailed as the “villain” by most due to his aggressive driving style, came through from deep in the pack to capture the win and add another piece of hardware to his trophy collection. Cashol said afterwards that he races “to win races, not win Most Popular Driver awards.”
         Also on the Speedway 660 card was the Atlantic Open Wheel Tour. Mark Price, the multi time champion in this division, swept to victory, while points leaders Mike Raeburn and Shelley Stewart had “off” days. Raeburn is the defending champion in this division.

         At Centre for Speed, it was “sweep” day, as Dan Bourque, Martin Landry and Scott Bourque all recorded triple victories in their respective classes. Tim Layton took top honours in the Street Stock (Shediac Sportsman) division. Although the car counts in each division were less than desired, the action was exciting with several close finishes to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats.

         This week is another “big” week in Maritime circles with great action at several venues. The next edition of the Carquest Pro Stock Tour Championship battle hits the “high banks” of Riverside  Speedway for the third and final time this season on Saturday. The top four in points, Wayne Smith, Shawn Tucker, Shawn Turple and Jonathan Hicken are separated by a mere thirteen points so this race should go down to the wire at the finale at Scotia September 11^th. This weekend will go a long way toward determining who will have the advantage coming home.

         Speedway 660 has another huge event on tap this weekend with the “Irving Lubricants Pro Stock 150” being the main event. This one was rained out earlier in the season and has a big prize for the winner, “guaranteed entry into the Peterbilt 250.” With over 50 entries for the Peterbilt, this is probably more important than the purse awards, to the winner. Four support divisions round out the event and a special start time of 6:30 has been set for this one. With close battles in all divisions, this should be a “barn burner” from start to finish.
         The AOW make another appearance at Centre for Speed on Saturday evening, as they battle it out for the points championship. At this point, Shelley Stewart and Mike Raeburn head the leaderboard, but several other competitors are knocking hard on the door. To go along with this, there will be a 75 lap Ministock Invitational, and several drivers from the Halifax area are expected to make the trek to Shediac for this one. The Super Sportsman and Street Stocks will also be in action to round out this one.

       BREAKING NEWS: A new event has just been added to the 2010 schedule. Oyster Bed Speedway, in the midst of a huge revival, have announced the “Atlantic Invitational Showdown”, the final event on their season. This one will take place on September 25^th and I will have more details in a later column.

       That’s it for this week, race fans, but stay tuned as more action from the paved ovals, is headed your way. Keep safe, and keep the racing on the tracks, and NOT on our streets !!

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