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There you have it race fans. The 2010 season of stock car racing is now in the books. Almost ! One event is still to be run and that goes at Atlantic Motorsport Park near Schubenacadie this Saturday. The Maritime League of Legends will be running as part of the road race show. Legends were built mainly to turn left and most of the drivers, if not all of them, have never raced a road course before. It will be interesting to see how the little “speed demons” will adapt to the rigors of turning in both directions. I think they will be very impressive but only time will tell. Unfortunately, prior commitments will prevent me from attending but I will be searching for reports afterwards. The big event last weekend, the Atlantic Championships, turned out to be quite a show. The racing was great in all divisions and Centre for Speed management did a great job of dealing with the large car count and the inclement weather on Saturday. They are to be commended for making the adjustments and preparations learned from last year. One of the biggest of those was having several piles of gravel on hand to fill in the water holes left by the rain. It made manouvering around the pits much easier for all. Well done Tim and Sue !!! As for the racing itself, the “four cylinder” divisions put on their usual competitive show with Martin Landry and Mike Weagle taking home the championship titles. The large number of competitors kept the action going all over the track. The Sportsman 100 was also exciting although in the end, two cars outclassed all the rest (and there were over 50 of them). Glyn Nott and Calvin Rankin each led for extended periods throughout the race with Rankin making a brilliant pass in the closing laps to capture the title. The Pro Stock 150, supposedly the premier event of the weekend, was caution filled although several long runs made it exciting enough. Kirk Thibeau, from Maine, dominated the race and took the checkered flag. Halifax’s John Flemming who started deep in the pack, made steady progress to the front throughout the race and crossed the finish line second. Later, it was learned that Thibeau failed to pass post race inspection due to illegal sized wheels and was disqualified, handing the victory and Championship title to Flemming. Further investigation has revealed that these wheels were the same ones that got Thibeau disqualified earlier in the season at Speedway 660. The race of the weekend, though, was the Street Stock 75. Twenty-seven of these beasts, battled it out all the way, in exciting fashion, with Rick Cashol finally coming out on top to claim his crown. Rick has been the bridesmaid the past two seasons, finishing second both times, once by inches to Fred Broussard. It was only fitting that Cashol should finally claim this title, to add to his already impressive list of accomplishments. I have to mention the heroic effort put forth on Sunday by Doug MacEwan, in the street stock class. Doug has been the hard luck driver at Centre for Speed all season, blowing a motor midway through, and losing the points lead but coming back, first in an Enduro car for one race and then in a borrowed street stock the next week, just to keep his championship hopes alive. Finally, with another engine installed, MacEwan made a tremendous run to the front of the points leaderboard, only to fall a few points short. All his hopes were pinned on Sunday, to make this season worthwhile, but another blown engine on Friday night in practice seemed to dash all hopes. But on Sunday Doug arrived at the track with a borrowed car from PEI and attempted to compete. Although hopelessly underpowered, Doug hung in there and finished the race, albeit well back in the pack.
This doesn’t matter, in my books, as Doug proved that he had the heart of a Champion and will always be a winner in my eyes. Well done Dougie !!! Mike Francis, the #23 street stock campaigner from Saint John, NB, received the Racing Spectator “Driver of the Year” award before the street stock 75. Mike, who honoured the armed forces troops all season, was very humble in his acceptance of this award, and then went out and claimed a third place podium finish in the big race. Mike is a worthy winner of this award indeed. While the season is all but wrapped up, one event is still left at Centre for Speed. The Monster Nationals and Demolition derby events go at the CFS oval on October 16th and should be a wild and exciting afternoon of thrills and chills. Don’t miss it. Five Monster Trucks will be on hand for the occasion and will compete in several events. So, my time is done and the tale has been told. With that I put away my keyboard for another season. Thank you to the management and staff of the Amherst Daily News and to all my loyal readers, I’ll talk again in the Spring.
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