(Aug. 31, 2015) Speedway 660’s weekly division champions don’t have much time to enjoy their accomplishments before Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend. Our Night of Champions provided us with plenty of thrills and excitement. Fans left the Geary Woods after a great show Saturday night anticipating what’s coming next!

 Congratulations and Good Luck!

 

We crowned five first-time champs at Speedway 660 on Saturday night. It’s been awhile since that’s happened and I think congratulations are in order.

Ashton Tucker (Bando); Kyle Boudreau (Sharp Shooter); Robert Raynes (Street Stock); Randy Moore (Sportsman) and; Lonnie Sommerville (Pro Stock) all were awesome in 2015. They have more in common than being champions. These guys not only raced like champs all season long, they acted like champions. All of them are class-acts and I want to thank them for representing our sport in such a positive way.Randy Moore won a Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman Championship this year for his sons Andrew and Jackson. You can be sure these two lads will be cheering for Dad to have a good run on SpeedWeekend in the Irving I24-150!

Adrian Stairs (Bando); Noah Gillespie (Sharp Shooter); Courtney O’Blenis (Street Stock); Ryan Messer (Sportsman) and; Alexandra O’Blenis (Pro Stock) are the 2015 Speedway 660 Rookie of the Year Award winners. I figure most, if not all of these drivers, will be champions in the not too distant future. Like our 2015 title winners, these rookies carried themselves well, both on and off the track.Fourteen year old Ryan Messer is our 2015 Sportsman Rookie of the Year. The 2010 Bando champ also finished the regular season in the top five in Sportsman points.

One last note on our Night of Champions. Lonnie Sommerville came back to race full-time with us in 2015. He could have run on the Maritime Tour, he could have continued racing with the Pro All Star Series or he could have cherry-picked the big money races in eastern North America. Instead, Lonnie supported his home-track and helped elevate the level of competition, not only in Pro Stock but in the other divisions too. The Sportsman champion, rookie of the year and two other drivers in that division’s top five all run LSR built and serviced cars!Lonnie Sommerville (right), our 2015 Pro Stock champ, works closely with a lot of young drivers including Devin Snell who finished 2nd in the Sportsman points. Lonnie, a two-time Irving Blending & Packaging 250 winner, will unveil a brand new car for this year’s 250.

OK, so we’re all counting the days until Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend arrives. It all starts Friday with the Harvey’s Family Farms corn-boil, infield party and concert with Tristan Horncastle and wraps up Monday with the Capital City Auto Parts ENDURO 200. But I want to focus on the two big races of the weekend: the Irving I24-Sportsman150 and the Irving Blending & Packaging Pro Stock 250.

If you are a fan who slides down to the Geary Woods Sunday evening just in time for the green flag to start the 250, you are missing a lot of awesome racing. The Saturday night event is an absolute show-stopper! We’ve got the Westwood Estate Apartments Bandoleros and the Atlantic Modified Tour to warm you up just before the biggest Sportsman race in the Maritimes goes green.Our huge SpeedWeekend crowd enjoys watching the fastest kids in the Maritimes. These 10 to 15 year old Bando Girls & Boys always put on a sensational show.

The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman Division has been incredible this year. We had an unbelievable mix of veterans to go along with six fantastic rookies. And there will be lots of visiting drivers invading the Geary Woods looking for a win in the Irving I24-150. There’ll also be a few Pro Stock regulars who’ll do double duty this weekend. Don’t hold me to this, but the Sportsman car count should be somewhere between 30 and 40.

Dave O’Blenis, Lonnie Sommerville and Greg Fahey are three of those Pro Stock drivers we expect to see in the Irving I24 Sportsman 150. These guys are great drivers and they also have really good cars. Adding the Pro Stock drivers to the mix just raises the level of competition and forces the  full-time Sportsman drivers to up their game. Almost all of the Sportsman drivers I’ve talked with, especially the younger ones, welcome the competition and know racing against the Pro Stockers will only make them better in the long run.Dave O’Blenis is best known as one of the top Pro Stock drivers in our region. But on Saturday night he’ll attempt to win the Irving I24 Sportsman 150 for the third straight year! 

After the celebrations wind down, following the big Sportsman race, we’ll get some shut-eye and head back to Speedway 660 early Sunday afternoon. Fans will see the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters, the DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stocks and qualifying for the Irving Blending & Packaging 250. Then on Sunday evening the Pro Stocks will roll out on the track for the most prestigious short-track race of the year.Our Sharp Shooters will mix it up on SpeedWeekend Sunday afternoon. They’ll raise more than a little dust and keep fans on the edge of their seats!

In terms of Pro Stock, it’ll be a virtual who’s who of our sport. Of course our weekly RE/MAX Group Four Realty division drivers will be there, the cream of the crop from the Parts for Trucks Maritime Tour will be on hand and some very talented Pro All Star Series teams will make the trek north.

Last year three drivers from Maine were on the podium. Travis Benjamin, Ben Rowe and Austin Theriault have all confirmed they’ll be back. And late this afternoon D.J. Shaw, from PASS, called Speedway 660 to tell us he was coming up this weekend. We’ll likely get more of those calls through-out the week.

BTW the Canadian Pro Stock drivers are anxious to make sure it’s not a Maine sweep again this year! At last count 37 Pro Stock teams have ordered tires for the 250. So we’ll have lots of cars. For comparison sake, if I may, the IWK 250 had 27 cars and the Atlantic Cat 250 had 23. FYI – Pro Stock teams will be racing for $85 thousand and the total weekend purse is in the $110 thousand range.Last year we had a “Made-in-Maine” 250 podium! Travis, Ben and Austin are all planning to come back for another run in our region’s richest Pro Stock race.

Before signing off I just want to acknowledge our major marketing partner for SpeedWeekend. Irving Blending & Packaging has been a part of this weekend for many years as corporate sponsor for the Saturday night Sportsman race. This year they’ve stepped up their commitment for the entire weekend.

Irving B&P has been on the hoods of several prominent race cars in eastern North America for several years. Irving recognizes how passionate race fans are and how brand loyal they are too. They are committed to our sport and they are a world-class New Brunswick company employing hundreds of our residents. So on behalf of everyone in the Speedway 660 racing family, I would like to thank the folks from Irving Blending & Packaging for their big time support to this big time event!

Please come back to www.speedway660.com all week for more information about SpeedWeekend, including a Conversation with Christine Taylor, Marketing Manager for Irving Blending & Packaging.Irving Blending & Packaging is very visible in our racing community. In addition to being the lead marketing partner for SpeedWeekend, you will see them on the hoods of some of the best race cars.

BTW there are still a few campsites available and a few Pro Stock lap sponsorship opportunities. Call the Speedway 660 race line (506-454-7223) for advance tickets, to book your campsite or to reserve one or more of those Pro Stock laps.

Eat healthy and get lots of rest this week. Make sure you are fully charged up and ready to take in all that Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend has to offer!

We’ll see you at the races!