FIRST CAREER AND SEASON WINS HIGHLIGHT
STOCK CAR ACTION AT CFS
(Shediac, N.B.) — It was a day of first career or season wins for a number of drivers on Sunday afternoon during points championship stock car racing action at the Centre for Speed (CFS), Atlantic Canada’s Super Speedway and “Metro Moncton’s Playground of Power”.
Three drivers recorded their first career wins with rookie Mini Stock driver Mike Edwards (#23) of Riverview leading the way with a grand slam and Craig Ward (#02) also of Riverview capturing his first win after 8 seasons of Super Sportsman racing.
In Super Sportsman action, it was a return to glory for Marc Gautreau (#99) of Grand Barachois as the former
Hobby Stock champion drove his Lafarge Cement Toyota to victory lane, picking up his first feature win in on over two years at CFS. Gautreau picked a small opening on the inside to overtake pole-sitter Craig Ward on lap #4 and then held back the hard-charging Ward for the win while Luc Bourgeois (#88) of Memramcook had to settle for third. Throughout the 35-lap main event, Ward kept knocking on Gautreau’s rear bumper, but was unable to overtake the Grand Barachois driver.
Ward enjoyed his best career outing after capturing his first career win in the 10-lap semifinal. At the finish line, he savoured the victory and thanked many of those who had helped him
over the past 8 long years to finally cross the stripe in first place. “This is like a feature win for me,” beamed Ward in victory lane as his thanked his main sponsor, Ron Arsenault Engines for sticking by him throughout all those years. Meanwhile, Claude Gaudet (#22) of Grand Barachois picked up the win in the 10-lap heat.
In Mini Stock action, rookie Mike Edwards (#23) of Riverview recorded a grand slam as a fitting way to celebrate his first career win at CFS in the 10-lap heat. In each of his three wins in the heat, semifinal and 35-lap feature, Edwards was able to hold off strong challenges from Martin
Landry (#00) of Grand Barachois who had to settle for second in all three races.
It was the exact opposite in Four Fun division action, as three different drivers captured wins including a first career win for rookie Scott Bourque (#69) of Cap-Pelé in the 10-lap semifinal. In the 35-lap main event, Bourque had to settle for second place hardware as Eldon Campbell (#17) of Moncton picked up his first feature win of the 2010 season while Phil Coombes (#15) of Lakeville was
third. In the 10-lap heat, it was Wilfred Simon (#10) of Bouctouche who picked up the win.
In Shediac Sportsman division action, Doug MacEwen (#40) of Charlottetown picked up his first feature win of the season to go along with his heat victory, but could not record the grand slam in the semifinal after a late race collision sent his to the back of the field for the restart. In the main event, MacEwen was able to hold off challenges from Jamie Vassallo (#38) of
Sydney, N.S. and Tyler Rossiter (#14) of Weldon who settle for second and third respectively. Vassallo, the defending 2009 Atlantic Street Stock Champion, did however pick up a fortuitous win in the semifinal, crossing the stripe ahead of Rossiter and rookie Don Marcoux (#27) of St.-Louis-de-Kent after co-leader MacEwen and Tim Layton (#6) of Hillsborough spun out after a hard battle with only two laps remaining. With both MacEwen and Layton relegated to the rear of the field for the restart, Vassallo hung onto his inherited lead for his first win of 2010 at CFS.
In the afternoon’s final event, Kendall Grigg (#24) of Tyne Valley, PEI bumped and banged his way to the win in the 10-lap ‘Bump to Pass’ Thrasher division event.
Racing resumes next Sunday June 20 at 2:00 p.m. with the Eastern Well Drillers Streetstock 50-lap Invitational as well as championship points racing in the other three divisions of Super Sportsman, Mini Stock and Four Fun divisions. A number of the top Streetstock drivers from throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and possibly Prince Edward Island are expected for to battle for the win in this Father’s Day Invitational stock car racing event.
Full schedule details are available at www.centreforspeed.com