PRO STOCK TOUR HEADS TO RIVERSIDE FOR RON MacGILLIVRAY CHEV BUICK GMC 150
(Halifax, NS, June 13, 2017) – Riverside International Speedway is set to open its 48th season with the Ron MacGillivray Chev Buick GMC 150 on June 17. The race is round three of 12 of the 2017 Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour and will see multi-time NASCAR Pinty’s Series race winner Jason Hathaway take on the best stock car racers in the region including defending series champion Cole Butcher and defending race winner Dylan Blenkhorn.
Hathaway (St. Thomas, ON), Cole Butcher (Porter’s Lake) and Blenkhorn (Truro) will be challenged for the checkers by a full field of series regulars including other former event winners Greg Proude (Charlottetown, PE), and local favourite Donald Chisholm (Antigonish).
Shawn Turple (Enfield), a two-time series champion, has won both of the first two PST races so far this season. He will go for the hat trick at Riverside. With two wins at Riverside in his career, the most recent came in 2009. Turple’s two wins this year see him atop the series championship point standings. Blenkhorn sits second, just 16 markers behind Turple (433 vs 417). Dylan Gosbee is third with 408 points, Cole Butcher fourth at 401, and rookie Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake, brother to Cole), rounds out the top five points-getters thus far at 396.
The series Exide Batteries Rookie of the Year competition is stout this year with young guns Jarrett Butcher, Robbie MacEwen (Charlottetown, PE), Nicholas Naugle (Dartmouth), and Stephen Lively (Shubenacadie) all in the hunt for top rookie honours.
This year’s Ron MacGillivray Chev Buick GMC 150 marks a 10-year partnership between the four-time Triple Crown award-winning General Motors dealership and Riverside. Over that time the Ron MacGillivray sponsored races have seen seven different winners. Chisholm and Shawn Tucker (now retired – Fredericton, NB) are tied for the most wins at two races each. Blenkhorn, George Koszkulics (New Glasgow), Proude, JR Fitzpatrick (Appin, ON), the late Mike Stevens (Moncton, NB) have one win each.
Race fans can stop by Ron MacGillivray Chev Buick GMC in Antigonish June 12 to 16 to see sportsman series race car of Ryan VanOrsichot, a service technician at the dealership. Fans will also enjoy the parade of vehicles presented by Ron MacGillivray Chev Buick GMC at the track on June 17.
Besides pro stock action, fans in attendance June 17 at Riverside will see the season opener for the NAPA Sportsman Series, the R & D Performancenter 75.
Racing starts at 6 p.m. with Atlantic Tiltload Heat Races for the pro stocks followed by sportsman heat races then both feature races.
