O’Blenis Best of the Best on Christmas In July
(Geary, NB – July 30th, 2018) – On a night designated as “Christmas in July” at Speedway 660, it was the O’Blenis Motorsports crew that delivered their fans with early holiday presents with two victories. The team picked up wins in the two Late Model divisions at the Geary oval on July 28th, including the victory in the RE/MAX East Coast Elite Realty Best of the Best Pro Stock 100.
Heat winners Ian Rasmussen (New Denmark) and Steve Halpin (Saint John) led the 14 car field to the green flag in the 100-lap feature. Halpin would lead the first lap and pace the field for over a dozen laps before Brent Roy (Hanwell) took the advantage on an early restart from the outside. Roy’s lead would be short lived as Dave O’Blenis (Boundary Creek) and Greg Fahey (St. Stephen) worked by on the inside of the No. 26 for the lead a handful of laps later.
O’Blenis would be challenged by Fahey over the final 80 laps of green flag racing to the checkered flag but was able to step it up over the last 15 laps to complete his drive to victory lane.
“That was a long run,” said O’Blenis after climbing from his car. “I’m not used to those long runs. The car was good. I had to move around the track a bit to prevent the car from getting loose on the top. We managed to get it done tonight!”
Fahey settled for second while Ryan Messer (Harvey) was able to wrestle away from the pack to chase the two multi-time Pro Stock track champions to the finish. Halpin battled with Roy throughout the RE/MAX East Coast Elite Realty Pro Stock 100 with Halpin getting the best of Roy for the fourth place position when the checkered flag flew.
The RE/MAX East Coast Elite Realty Pro Stock 100 featured just two cautions early in the event and took 30 minutes to complete.
While their Father raced to the win in the extended distance Pro Stock event, sisters Alexandra and Courtney O’Blenis had rocket ships of their own in the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman division. The pair won their respective qualifying heats and took off up front in the 40-lap, caution free feature with older sister Alexandra winning her third feature of the 2018 season. Courtney chased her sister and pulled away from the pack to finish a solid second place. Drew Greenlaw (Eastport, ME), who started at the back following his podium finish the week prior, drove around the competition to finish third. Curtis Collins (Saint John), in the same boat as Greenlaw, got up on the wheel and drove to fourth with Hudson Weston putting up a solid fifth place finish on the board.
Roger Slocum (Chipman) raced to his second DMR Auto Street Stock feature victory of the season. Slocum was on top of his game though as he held off a frantic charge from heat race winner Shawn Hyslop (St. Stephen) for the win in the 30-lap feature. Justin Cole (Harvey) landed on the podium in third with Karl Schaefer and rookie Kyle MacKinnon (Lincoln) completing the top five. Riley Goodwin (McAdam) developed a fluid leak late in the feature and was credited with a seventh place finish.
Scott “Bat Hubby” Kennie (Fredericton) rebounded from a tough race on July 21st to win his third Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters feature of 2018 on Christmas in July. Kennie raced to a big lead before a mid-race caution allowed the field to catch up. Bryan Suttie (Keswick) kept the No. 71 honest to the finish but could not get by Kennie for a visit with Frosty and Santa in victory lane. The ageless Grey Owl (Saint John) flew to his second podium finish of the year with a third place finish and had to earn it as he held off point leader Brody Levesque (Fredericton) for the spot.
Randy Titus (French Lake) finished fifth in the feature and also picked up a heat race victory on the night. Kennie was the winner in the second heat race.
Speedway 660 is idle this weekend for the traditional August long weekend break. Racing action returns to the Geary woods on Saturday, August 11th with the Firecracker 150 for the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman division. The DMR Auto Street Stock and Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters will run point paying races while the Atlantic Modified Tour returns for the first time in nearly two years! Racing action begins on August 11th at 6:30pm.
For more information about Speedway 660, visit Speedway660.com, like @Speedway660 on Facebook or call the Speedway 660 Raceline at (506) 454-7223.
About Speedway 660:
Speedway 660 is one of Canada’s premier stock car racing facilities. Located in New Brunswick’s Fredericton region, it attracts race teams and fans from the Maritimes, New England and Quebec. The Speedway 660 racing season runs from mid May until Labour Day Weekend. SpeedWeekend, one of the most prestigious short track events in eastern North America, wraps up Speedway 660’s racing season.
7/28/2018 Results at Speedway 660
Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 71-Scott Kennie, 09:05.183[1]; 2. 51-Bryan Suttie, 09:05.414[4]; 3. 60-Grey Owl, 09:11.768[6]; 4. 05-Brody Levesque, 09:12.217[11]; 5. 4T-Randy Titus, 09:13.474[2]; 6. 72-Rob Boutilier, 09:13.725[10]; 7. 69-BJ Gillespie, 09:14.124[5]; 8. 92-Randy Storey, 09:15.772[3]; 9. 73-Allison Hall, 09:16.231[8]; 10. 68-Ryan Bernard, 09:17.024[9]; 11. 99-Stacey Gilmore, 02:37.430[12]; 12. 01-Jeff Rose, 02:13.798[7]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 71-Scott Kennie, 02:58.871[2]; 2. 92-Randy Storey, 03:00.355[1]; 3. 05-Brody Levesque, 03:01.703[6]; 4. 72-Rob Boutilier, 03:04.269[5]; 5. 01-Jeff Rose, 03:08.750[4]; 6. 68-Ryan Bernard, 03:05.100[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 4T-Randy Titus, 03:00.847[1]; 2. 51-Bryan Suttie, 03:01.167[3]; 3. 69-BJ Gillespie, 03:01.528[5]; 4. 60-Grey Owl, 03:02.398[4]; 5. 73-Allison Hall, 03:04.715[2]; 6. 99-Stacey Gilmore, 03:05.963[6]
Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 74-Alexandra O’Blenis, 10:11.128[1]; 2. 48C-Courtney O’Blenis, 10:12.542[2]; 3. 23-Drew Greenlaw, 10:13.069[9]; 4. 27-Curtis Collins, 10:16.722[10]; 5. 43-Hudson Weston, 10:18.826[4]; 6. 40-Richard Atkinson, 10:19.172[5]; 7. 37-Jacob Logan, 10:21.285[11]; 8. 54-Clark Moore, 10:21.481[6]; 9. 52-Destiny Enkel, 10:13.955[8]; 10. 94-Ryan Raynes, 09:02.736[3]; 11. 41-Robert Raynes, 06:03.135[7]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 74-Alexandra O’Blenis, 02:33.521[1]; 2. 94-Ryan Raynes, 02:35.796[2]; 3. 37-Jacob Logan, 02:36.218[6]; 4. 43-Hudson Weston, 02:37.975[5]; 5. 54-Clark Moore, 02:38.156[4]; 6. 52-Destiny Enkel, 02:39.308[3]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 48C-Courtney O’Blenis, 02:31.705[1]; 2. 27-Curtis Collins, 02:34.531[5]; 3. 23-Drew Greenlaw, 02:35.569[4]; 4. 40-Richard Atkinson, 02:35.660[3]; 5. 41-Robert Raynes, 02:36.281[2]
DMR Auto Street Stocks
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 15-Roger Slocum, 15:45.623[2]; 2. 99-Shawn Hyslop, 15:46.109[1]; 3. 38-Justin Cole, 15:47.967[9]; 4. 00X-Karl Schaefer, 15:49.188[5]; 5. 22-Kyle MacKinnon, 15:50.039[3]; 6. 81-Kyle Boudreau, 15:52.365[4]; 7. 77-Riley Goodwin, 13:52.341[8]; 8. 21-Courtney Barton, 10:50.666[6]; 9. 54-Rick Cashol, 00:42.398[7]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 99-Shawn Hyslop, 02:47.637[1]; 2. 15-Roger Slocum, 02:47.960[3]; 3. 77-Riley Goodwin, 02:49.350[8]; 4. 38-Justin Cole, 02:49.600[9]; 5. 22-Kyle MacKinnon, 02:50.909[5]; 6. 81-Kyle Boudreau, 02:53.207[2]; 7. 00X-Karl Schaefer, 02:53.295[4]; 8. 21-Courtney Barton, 02:53.476[6]; 9. 54-Rick Cashol, 02:53.476[7]
RE/MAX Best of the Best 100
A Feature 1 (100 Laps): 1. 48-Dave O’Blenis, 29:16.394[3]; 2. 29-Greg Fahey, 29:17.809[8]; 3. 1-Ryan Messer, 29:21.438[6]; 4. 03-Steve Halpin, 29:24.975[2]; 5. 26-Brent Roy, 29:27.249[4]; 6. 97-Chris Duncan, 29:19.912[14]; 7. 87-Matt Harris, 29:16.974[12]; 8. 96-George Jamieson, 29:24.651[9]; 9. 10-Devin Snell, 29:22.066[7]; 10. 24-Ben Pelletier, 29:21.085[10]; 11. 45-Calvin Rankin, 18:35.871[11]; 12. 29T-Robert Tomlinson, 09:47.908[13]; 13. 32-Ashton Tucker, 05:10.851[5]; 14. 81-Ian Rasmussen, 01:57.103[1]
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 81-Ian Rasmussen, 02:23.356[1]; 2. 48-Dave O’Blenis, 02:23.978[6]; 3. 32-Ashton Tucker, 02:24.429[4]; 4. 10-Devin Snell, 02:24.855[3]; 5. 96-George Jamieson, 02:25.166[5]; 6. 45-Calvin Rankin, 02:30.450[2]; 7. 29T-Robert Tomlinson, 02:31.889[7]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 03-Steve Halpin, 02:22.295[1]; 2. 26-Brent Roy, 02:22.850[2]; 3. 1-Ryan Messer, 02:24.301[5]; 4. 29-Greg Fahey, 02:24.824[7]; 5. 24-Ben Pelletier, 02:25.863[3]; 6. 87-Matt Harris, 02:25.476[4]; 7. 97-Chris Duncan, 02:26.990[6]