(May 9, 2016) The 2016 season at Speedway 660 is just days away and everyone in the racing community is all fired-up to get down to the Geary Woods. We’ll get going this weekend and race our way right through until the Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend wraps it all up in early September. 

 

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Mother’s Day Weekend. Our Moms are pretty special and I hope you remembered your Mom this past Sunday. I also want to wish everyone in Fort McMurray all the best as they deal with that huge wildfire tragedy. I know there are a lot of Atlantic Canadians out there and a lot of race fans too, so our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time. Stay safe my friends.

On the home front, the Riverview Ford Season Opener is this weekend and there are already lots of folks who have been down to the Geary Woods to set up their campers for the racing season. Many more will move into the campground on Friday evening and I’m sure there’ll be a few stories told around the campfire.Our chief technical inspector Donnie Greer and his capable team will inspect each and every race car before allowing them on the track on Saturday. Safety is priority number one at Speedway 660. 

On Saturday at 1PM the pre-season tech inspection and practise will get underway and run all afternoon. Every race car will have to go through Donnie Greer’s Tech Shed for a safety inspection before being allowed to take the track.

On Sunday at 2PM we’ll go racing with the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters, DMR Auto Sales Street Stocks, Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman and RE/MAX Group Four Realty Pro Stocks. It’ll be our first chance to see competitive green flag racing since SpeedWeekend 2015.Think Ford First! Riverview Ford, one our biggest marketing partners will kick off the season opener by showcasing some of the great cars available at the dealership on the corner of Prospect Street and Hanwell Road in uptown Fredericton.

After the Riverview Ford Season Opener, we’ll run one more Sunday afternoon event and that will be Kid’s Day on the 22^nd. Our first night race, which is always a treat, is on the 28^th and we’ll follow that up with the Best of the Best Pro Stock 150 on June 4^th.

Some of the other highlights of the 2016 racing season will come on June 18^th when we run the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 125; the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour is on July 2^nd; the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock 75 goes July 9^th; the Clark’s Chevrolet Firecracker 150 happens July 23^rd; Fan Appreciation Day is August 20^th; the Night of Champions August 27^th and; Irving Blending & Packaging SpeedWeekend goes from September 2^nd until 5^th. The Best of the Best Pro Stock 150 is coming right up on June 4th. Last Year Greg Fahey won the race ahead of Cassius Clark and Lonnie Sommerville. Lonnie went on to win the 2016 RE/MAX Group Four Pro Stock championship and Cassius took home over $30K by winning the Irving Blending & Packaging 250.

Of course there is racing every weekend from now until Labour Day, except July 30^th which is our off-weekend. For a complete list of events please go to the top of this web page and click on schedule.

Last week, in this space, we told you about many of the rookies you will see when the RE/MAX Group Four Realty Pro Stocks take the track this weekend. I’m sure there are lots of other surprises in store for all of us when we get down to the Geary Woods on Saturday and Sunday. You just never know who is going to be racing in any given division until opening weekend comes around.Two years ago the “Camry Kid” won the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman title. This year he’ll be running for Rookie of the Year honours in the Pro Stock division.

But one thing is for certain. You’ll have to go a long way to see weekly racing that even comes close to what you’ll see at Speedway 660. A few years ago my cousin Terry came to visit from Red Deer and I invited him and his son Dylan to the races. They are race fans and travel around to a few tracks in Alberta and I don’t think they expected a whole lot out here on the east coast. But they were blown away by the caliber of racing right here in the Geary Woods and admitted it was better than anything they had ever seen in western Canada!Speedway 660 has provided race fans with awesome action since 1994. If you want to see some of the best short track action in Canada just hop in your car and head down to the Geary Woods!

I hear those kinds of stories all the time. First time visitors to Speedway 660 can’t get over how good the racing is here. I bring this up because sometimes we have the tendency to maybe take things for granted. But you know what, we’ve got awesome racing every week that we should be proud of, appreciate and support.

Back to the 2016 racing season, someone told me (and I’m not sure it’s true) that Randy Moore who finally won the Sportsman championship last season is hanging up the helmet. If that is indeed the case (and I hope it’s not) we will see the sixth different Sportsman champion in the past six years!Randy Moore finally got his hands on the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman championship trophy last August. Any predictions who Richard Martin will be giving the trophy to at the end of this season?

Ken MacKenzie (2010 & 11) was the last back-to-back Sportsman champ. Glynn Nott won in 12, followed by Greg Fahey in 13, Brent Roy in 14 and Moore last season. Could 16 be the year of Richard Atkinson or George Jamieson? Lord knows those two veterans deserve a title after many years of racing in this tough division. Or will it be Ryan Messer, Drew Greenlaw, Alexandra O’Blenis or one of the other young stars who reaches the top rung of the Sportsman ladder? I’ll bet the Sportsman championship chase will go right down to the last point race in late August.

The other three divisions are going to be tough too. In a short season, one bad finish can take a driver out of the hunt for a title. But a consistent season can propel a driver to the top of his or her division. Just ask Kyle Boudreau.  Kyle didn’t win a feature last year. He finished third twice. Combine that with a bunch of  fourth and fifths and that was enough to give him our Sharp Shooter championship!Kyle Boudreau was “Mister Consistency” in 2015. He didn’t win any features, but he finished every race and earned the Sharp Shooter crown. 

Just remember it’s the Riverview Ford Season Opener Weekend with practise on Saturday at 1PM and racing on Sunday at 2PM. Let everyone know by twiddling your fingers and thumbs on social media, picking up the phone or telling all your friends and family in person that Speedway 660 is the place to be this weekend!

We’ll see you at the races!