CENTRE FOR SPEED: August 1, 2010

Ian Readey sent along some photos to go with the write-up from Shediac, NB's Centre for Speed on Sunday, Aug. 1. Thanks Ian!

LANE, CASHOL AND STEWART CAPTURE MACDONALD BUICK GMC 400 FEATURES AT CFS

SHEDIAC, NB - Ronnie Lane (#46) of Prosser Brook captured his second consecutive Maritime Series for Sportsman race during Sunday afternoon’s jam-packed MacDonald Buick GMC 400 stock car racing program at the Centre for Speed (CFS), Atlantic Canada’s Super Speedway and “Metro Moncton’s Playground of Power.”

A full field of top drivers from throughout the three Maritime provinces provided ‘door-handle-to-door-handle’ action in five racing divisions during CFS’s 5th annual mid-summer stock car celebration.

In the Maritime Series for Sportsman 100-lap feature, Lane emerged victorious for his second consecutive series victory at CFS crossing the stripe ahead of John Rankin (#28) of Quispamsis and Cal Hatfield (#11) of Rothesay. Lane was able to hold off a number of charges from various drivers through numerous restarts caused by collisions or mechanical failures. After starting the event mid-field in the 22-car grid, Lane patiently took the outside groove to make his way towards the front. Hatfield was the early leader of this event before Lane got a good jump on a lap #42 restart to overtake Hatfield on the outside, after which he drove a flawless race for the win. Luc Bourgeois (#88) of Memramcook, who finished fourth in the feature, had earlier captured the first 10-lap heat while defending CFS champion, Dan Bourque (#15) of Grande Digue took top honours in the second heat’

In the Streetstock 100-lap feature, veteran Rick Cashol (#54) of Saint John prevailed after finally overtaking Remi Gaudet (#22) of Grand Barachois with 10 laps remaining. Gaudet, who led for most of the event with Cashol parked on his back bumper, was unfortunately undone by balding tires as he tried to keep control of his racecar’s backend over the later part of the race. With Cashol having overtaken him on lap #90, Gaudet spun in turn #1 on lap #92 bringing out a yellow flag and relegating him to the back of the lead lap for the final restart. At the finish line, Cashol outdistanced Tyler Rossiter (#14) of Weldon and Don Marcoux (#27) of St. Louis de Kent.

The #22 Street Stock team was later disqualified and several members of the team sanctioned for physical and verbal abuse of a track official.

In Mini Stock action, Julien Leblanc (#07) captured his third feature win of the season in the 50-lap main event ahead of Mike Edwards (#23) of Riverview and CFS points leader Martin Landry (#00) of Grand Barachois.

Three Halifax-area drivers stole the spotlight In the Four Fun division 50-lap feature by crossing the finish line in the top three positions. Scott Williams (#00) of Sackville, N.S. led the parade followed by fellow Scotia SpeedWorld competitors Dave Matthews (#99) of Halifax and Stephen Lively (#1) of Shubenacadie.

And in Atlantic Open Wheel (AOW) Modifieds action, Shelley Stewart (#43) of Emerald, PEI enjoyed one of her best afternoons at CFS with wins in both the 35-lap feature and the 12-la- semifinal to go along with a second place showing in the 10-lap heat. In the afternoon’s main event, Stewart took the lead for good on lap #23 and never looked back to cross the finish line ahead of Ken Deveau (#3) of Saint John and Paul Costain (#64) of Moncton, who had earlier captured the heat win.

For the remainder of the points championship events during the month of August, CFS management has decided to move its racing programs from Sunday afternoons to Saturday bights at 7:00 p.m. Next Saturday, August 7th, the CENTRE will present racing in all of its four regular divisions with the added bonus of a ‘Burnout competition’ which is open to any street legal or regular race competitor.