(Aug. 24, 2015) What do you get when you combine the Night of Champions with Fan Appreciation Night? One incredible night of racing, a driver’s autograph session, tons of prizes, five champions and five rookie of the year award winners. It’s all happening this Saturday at Speedway 660!

 “The Weatherman Lied”  

I don’t like to dwell on the weather, but all last week the Whether Network (I mean Weather Network) kept broadcasting a “doom and gloom” forecast for the weekend. With a 60 to 70 percent chance of rain in the forecast and ominous looking clouds in the skies, on Saturday morning, the races were called off and we all know what happened after that!

Making those decisions are some of the toughest in our sport. Can you imagine how much grief you would get if you didn’t call the races and 80 plus race teams spent hundreds of dollars for fuel to haul their cars to the track and then it rained? It would be almost as much grief as you would get if you called the races because of a 70 percent chance of rain, and then it didn’t rain!Remember Saturday, August 15th? There was a 20 percent chance of rain and this is what it looked like at 6:30PM when the races were supposed to get underway!

OK that’s it for the weather/whether talk.

The Night of Champions is this weekend and race teams are getting geared up for a big night on Saturday. We posted a Night of Champions Preview the other day that examines the tight battles for the titles. But there are a few other interesting story lines heading into the weekend.

For example Big Kevin Moore is within ten points of the RE/MAX Group Four Realty Pro Stock point leader. Kevin has come so close, so many times that it’s got to be old hat for him. But this may be his best shot at that elusive Pro Stock title.

Can Big Kevin finally get it done? Will Lonnie Sommerville hold on and win the championship? Will Dave O’Blenis make it four championships in a row? Or will Greg Fahey win another feature and miraculously make up a 25 point deficit and win the title? This championship chase is going to be well worth the price of admission on Saturday night!Big Kevin Moore and his crew-chief, former Pro Stock driver Robert Lee, have been close to a championship before and are close again this year. You can bet Kevin, Robert and the rest of the 88 crew will be giving it their best shot come Saturday night! 

Also in Pro Stock, John Rankin sits fifth in points. With Greg, Kevin, Dave and Lonnie just ahead of him, John is in some pretty elite company! And Alexandra O’Blenis and Alicia Mowatt, two young ladies battling for Rookie of the Year honours, both have got a great chance to end up in the top ten in points!

Randy Moore is so close to a championship that he can almost taste it. He was in a similar position in 2012 and if you can’t remember what happened back then, just ask Glyn Nott if you can look in his trophy case.

The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman title is still up in the air and Devin Snell needs to be at the top of his game to over-take Mr. Moore. Alexandra O’Blenis and Drew Greenlaw are just two points apart in third and fourth place. It’s gonna be fun watching these two kids “go for it” on Saturday night too.  BTW, come back to www.speedway660.com later this week for a Conversation with Randy Moore.Devin Snell has got some work to do on Saturday night. He’s chasing Randy Moore for the Sportsman title and you can bet Devin’s “little buddy” will be cheering for him on our Night of Champions! 

Rookie sensation Ryan Messer is clinging to the fifth spot in Sportsman points. But George Jamieson and Richard Atkinson, a couple of veterans who want that fifth spot, are just two and six points behind young Messer. Regardless of what happens, Ryan has had an awesome rookie season. But cracking the top five in Sportsman points would be the icing on the cake!Ryan Messer’s Mom & Dad sure are proud of what Ryan has accomplished this season. Penny and Robb will be at Speedway 660 on Saturday night supporting their son’s drive for the top five and a Rookie of the Year Award.  

Geoff Tugwell and Courtney O’Blenis have been amazng all season long in the DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stock division. The only trouble is, Robert Raynes has been phenomenal! This weekend Rob can be less than phenomenal, because all he needs is just a decent finish to win the championship. But we’ve seen some mighty strange things happen in Street Stock on the last point race, so we’re not engraving Rob’s name on the championship trophy just yet.Geoff Tugwell will need to win his fifth feature of the year to have a shot at the Street Stock championship.

The other two divisions are going to be pretty amazing to watch play out. There’s a one point difference between first and second in the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter standings and just three points separate the top two in the West Wood Estate Apartments Bandolero division.

On top of all of the drama of the Night of Champions, it’ll be a fun night for the folks in the grandstands. Fan Appreciation Night is a part of the Night of Champions this year and we’ve got an autograph session from 5:15 to 6PM on Saturday.

I’m always amazed when all of the cars roll out for the pre-race autograph session. There should be 75 or more race cars on the track for this once a year deal. And on top of that, we’ll be making draws for lots of great prizes through-out the evening.Fans are the driving force behind racing. On Saturday night we’ve got an autograph session, great prizes and incredible racing for our awesome fans.

I know most of you have your favourite drivers. And I know you’ll be cheering them on, come Saturday night. But this is also a night to be a fan of the sport. A night to appreciate a driver, who finally gets that elusive title, a driver who adds another championship trophy to his collection, a driver who comes away with a Rookie of the Year Award or a driver who squeeks into the top five or ten in points. It’s also a night to appreciate every driver in every division as well as their race team, sponsors and family.The racing will be incredible on Saturday night. We’ve had awesome racing all season long and fans can expect drivers to take it up another notch as they chase championships in the Geary Woods!

Saturday night will be a big night in the Geary Woods. It’s our Fan Appreciation Night of Champions and I hope you’ll come spend your evening with us. It’ll be a night to remember.

Next week, we’ll have lots of stuff on our web site about the Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend. But first we’ve got some hardware to hand-out this coming Saturday night.

We’ll see you at the races!