(Aug. 15, 2016) If you missed last Saturday night’s races, you missed one of the most exciting events of the 2016 season. The competition was fierce, the action was intense and the rivalries were incredible. But that was just a taste of what’s to come our way the next three weekends. Fan Appreciation Night, The Night of Champions and SpeedWeekend will give us the best racing of the season. 

With just two point races remaining, it’s time for all contending drivers to step up and show our fans exactly what they are made of! The championship battles in all four divisions are really good and drivers have just two more chances to reach the top of the mountain in 2016.

Let’s start with the Re/Max Group Four Realty Pro Stock Division. With his victory last Saturday night, Greg Fahey has moved into the pro stock points lead for the first time this season. He’s just two up on Kevin Moore and a dozen better than Matt Harris. Fahey knows how to finish and he’s gunning for his fourth pro stock championship to go with two street stock titles and one sportsman. Although his lead is miniscule, Fahey has been in this position before and can smell his 7^th championship!Greg Fahey sure has picked a fine time to hit his stride in the Re/Max Group Four Realty Pro Stock Division. With just two point races remaining, the six-time 660 champ, is looking for a 7th title! 

Moving right along, Rob Raynes and Courtney O’Blenis have dominated the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock Division. The two of them have won all but one feature. Courtney has five wins, Rob has three, while Destiny Enkel won the other. Heading into Fan Appreciation Night, Raynes has a slim eight point lead over Courtney. Both drivers have their work cut out for them the next two weeks and this rivalry is going to be fun to watch play out!Rob Raynes and Courtney O’Blenis have traded a little paint this season in the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock Division. O’Blenis trails the defending champion by just eight points heading into action this weekend.

Ryan Messer and Drew Greenlaw have been the talk of the Martins Home Heating Sportsman Division in 2016. Ryan, the 2015 Rookie of the Year and Drew, the 2014 Rookie of the Year, are great friends. But when they tighten up those seat belts they race each other hard. Messer leads Greenlaw by just eight points, which is not a lot with two point races remaining. Veterans George Jamieson and Richard Atkinson still have got a shot, but they’ll need to catch lightning in a bottle to over-take the two teenage sensations!Fans are getting used to seeing Drew Greenlaw and Ryan Messer run side-by-side this season in the Martins Home Heating Sportsman Division. Ryan leads Drew by eight points with two races to go!

Kyle MacKinnon is still holding onto a 16 point lead over Kyle Boudreau in the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter Division. But Boudreau, fresh off a big Sharp Shooter 40 victory, has got momentum on his side. Both Kyle’s are having a great season and it’s going to come right down to the wire to see who takes the title.The competition is pretty intense in the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter Division this season. Kyle MacKinnon leads Kyle Boudreau by 16 points heading into Saturday’s races.

Fan Appreciation Night is awesome for several reasons, first and foremost is the caliber of racing that we’ll see. But there’ll be an on-track autograph session kicking things off at 5:30PM and lots of prizes to be given out to fans through-out the evening including certificates for Dairy Queen treats to the first 400 kids 12 and under!Everyone loves Fan Appreciation Night. Come early for the autograph session at 5:30PM. We’ll go racin at 6:30!

A couple of SpeedWeekend reminders – if you want to camp I would suggest reserving a site asap. Campsites are in limited supply and are going fast. Also I checked out the lap board for the Pro Stock 250 and it’s starting to fill up quickly, so if you want to sponsor a lap or several laps, make sure to do so soon. Laps are $50 and the leader of your lap, gets your money! Advance tickets, both reserved and rush, are also available.  Call the Speedway 660 raceline at 506-454-7223 or email [email protected] to reserve SpeedWeekend camp sites, purchase tickets or sponsor laps.You better book your SpeedWeekend campsite soon. Reservations are coming quickly so contact Speedway 660 soon to book your spot.

Speaking of SpeedWeekend there are 36 drivers registered for the Pro Stock 250, however one notable name is missing from the list. Dave O’Blenis has started every SpeedWeekend 250 and has won one of our big races. I talked with Dave at the O’Blenis Motorsports pit stall on Saturday and it appears that he will miss the 250 this year.

Dave has stepped back from his own pro stock racing program to focus on daughters Alexandra and Courtney. Come SpeedWeekend Dave and his daughters will all run the Sportsman 150 on Saturday night and Courtney will run her street stock on Sunday afternoon. As it is O’Blenis Motorsports will bring four cars to SpeedWeekend. The fan in me wishes it was five. Hopefully something will transpire between now and SpeedWeekend that will encourage Dave O’Blenis to keep the streak of consecutive Pro Stock 250 starts alive.Alexandra, Dave and Courtney O’Blenis are three of Speedway 660’s most successful and popular drivers. It sure would be nice to see Dave bring the pro stock up from Boundary Creek for the 250 on SpeedWeekend! 

We had some technical difficulties in the Speedway 660 “tree house” on Saturday night. About half way through the pro stock feature the amplifier for the Public Address System packed it in. I was unable to call the last half of a very exciting pro stock race and was not able to go track-side to interview the podium finishers. Given how the race ended, I sure was disappointed not to be able to get comments from the drivers.

But we did manage to fire-up an old back-up amp for the Sharp Shooter 40. This week we’ll fix or replace the amplifier and give the PA system the once-over to make sure it is up and running full-tilt for this weekend’s races.

This week please do me a favour and tell folks it’s Fan Appreciation Night down at Speedway 660. Encourage your friends to come out to the races and if you’ve got an available seat in your family ride, please invite someone you know to come to the races with you. It’ll be a blast, so make sure to share the experience.

We’ll see you at the races!