(July 17, 2017) If you like extremely entertaining racing then Saturday night is your night and Speedway 660 is your venue, because the Firecracker 150 is on the agenda. Sportsman racing is our “bread & butter” division and if the Firecracker is anything like the Martin’s Home Heating 100, we’re in for a great evening of entertainment!
Our Sportsman division is very competitive in 2017. The cars are all pretty even and on any given night just about any race team can rise to the occasion and grab a podium finish or even a feature win. On Saturday night we’ll see the Maritime region’s best Sportsman division get after it for 150 laps of green flag racing.
The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman Division drivers are awesome. They will go all out on Saturday night in the Firecracker 150.
John Rankin won the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100 lapper earlier in the season. John had what he calls a good car and knows he’ll have to be better to win the second big Sportsman race of the season. Alexandra O’Blenis has a hot hand and she is going to be a contender. Drew Greenlaw has been on the podium a time or two in these big races, but hopes to finally get to victory lane on Saturday night.
John Rankin has been a force in 2017. He’ll be one of the favourites heading into the Firecracker 150 this weekend.
Matt Rodgers and his brother Andrew are trading rides for the next two weeks. Matt will run the Firecracker 150, while Andrew will hop into the big car for the Best of the Best Pro Stock 150, a week from Saturday night. George Jamieson and Richard Atkinson are a couple of veterans who would like to make things happen on Saturday night and Courtney O’Blenis and Curtis Collins will run their very first Firecracker. It all sounds pretty exciting.
The last few years we’ve seen Dave O’Blenis suit up for the big Sportsman races, winning more often than not. But he didn’t enter the Martin’s Home Heating 100 and I don’t know if we’ll see him in this weekend’s big race. We can only hope, because the more competition the better.
Dave O’Blenis, who normally runs Pro Stock, has dominated the big Sportsman races in recent years. But with daughters Alexandra and Courtney running full-time in Sportsman it’s hard to say if Dave will suit up for the Firecracker. BTW – congrates to Dave for a 7th place finish in the IWK 250 last wknd.
I’m hoping to see some other drivers come up our way for the show. There are a few good Sportsman cars in the Moncton area and several in Nova Scotia. Hopefully some of them will make the trip on Saturday night and challenge the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman roster in the Firecracker 150. 
Laurie Cormier has been on the SpeedWeekend Sportsman podium the last two years. Hopefully Laurie and some other outside drivers will trailer up to 660 this weekend for the Firecracker 150
Lots of drivers like to come to 660 for SpeedWeekend, so lets hope a few Sportsman drivers will show up this weekend for a shake-down or practise run to get ready for the McKay Builder’s 150 in a few weeks.
Speedway 660 has been fortunate to have great racing since we held our first event 24 years ago this month. The quality of racing has always been top shelf and we’ll prove that again this Saturday night when the Firecracker 150 takes center-stage in the Geary Woods.
Racing is entertainment…it’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s awesome!
Let’s hope it’s a great weekend weather-wise and let’s hope we get some outside race teams. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman drivers will do their part to entertain fans and I know we’ll see an awesome race. So let everyone know what’s up at 660 and encourage your friends to come down to the Geary Woods for some great entertainment.
We’ll see you at the races!
