(Aug. 1, 2017) The Clark Chevrolet Best of the Best 150 was another great event at Speedway 660. In addition to the big Pro Stock  race fans were treated to incredible Sharp Shooter, Street Stock and Sportsman action.  We invite you to check out the photo album from last weekend’s races.

Before the races the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock cars line-up in the pits for a visit to the Speedway 660 tech shed. Cars are inspected to ensure safety equipment is up to the required standards and to make sure technical rules are being followed.It was great to see Kirk Thibeau’s car and crew in the pits. Kirk, who hails from Fort Fairfield, Maine won the very first Mclaughlin Roof Trusses 250 back in 2001. The 28 bunch show up at 660 every year for the Best of the Best and the 250. As practice sessions wrapped up, race teams took time to kick back, find a little shade and get ready for their heat races. Richard Atkinson’s teams looks pretty laid back!Lisa MacIntosh is on the hood of Drew Greenlaw’s Sportsman ride as his primary sponsor. Lisa takes a break from her chores selling 50/50 tickets to give a few words of encouragement to the young driver from Eastport, Maine. The Speedway 660 pits are filled with plenty of smiling faces on a nice sunny evening. Folks are friendly and everyone anticipates another awesome night of racing. People work hard all week at their  “day jobs” but when Saturday rolls around they come out to the race track sporting big smiles and get ready to do what they love best.It was such a nice evening that Race Director Brent Dunphy decided to move the driver’s meetings out of the tech shed and into the open air. Its almost time to go racing, but first we’ve got to get our parade lap set up. Wow another nice Saturday night and another great crowd on hand for some incredible action.Clark Chevrolet was our featured marketing partner on Saturday, bringing our fans the Best of the Best 150. The folks from Clark Chevrolet brought along some awesome cars and trucks to showcase in our parade lap.  Matt Martin was our Spotlight Driver of the Week and got to take a ride in the parade lap too. Matt, who has been racing for three seasons, thanks his family and sponsors for making it possible for him to go out and have some fun on Saturday nights!Shane MacFarlane and the Fire & Rescue team get ready for another night of work. Speedway 660’s infield team is the best in the business and we really appreciate their efforts to keep our drivers safe.Let’s go racin – first up we’ve got qualifying heat races for the Clark Chevrolet Best of the Best Pro Stock 150.Rookie Shawn Warren picks a great time to win his first ever Pro Stock heat race. That win gives Shawn the pole position for the Best of the Best 150.Cassius Clark takes the second heat. The talented driver from Farmington, Maine won the 2016 Best of the Best and he’ll line-up on the outside of row one for this year’s race.Lonnie Sommerville captures the checkered flag for the third qualifying heat race. Sommerville, driving the Brad Silliker Motorsports ride, came out Saturday night for a tune-up for the 250 on SpeedWeekend.The Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters are up next and these little four cylinder, front-wheel drive cars are a real crowd pleaser.Three-wide is fairly rare in our other divisions, but the Sharp Shooters always seem to race this way at 660. And sometimes three-wide racing leads to this sort of thing. Scott Kinnie in the 71 is having a heck of time this season. He loves racing and doesn’t mind getting a little slideways from time to time!Kyle MacKinnon (#22) puts the bumper to Kyle Boudreau coming out of turn four in a battle for second place. Once Boudreau slides up the track a little that opens the door for MacKinnon to drive on by on the inside to take the spot away.While the two Kyles were fighting it out for second, Brody Levesque was able to break away and scoot right into the Riverview Ford Victory Lane. The DMR Auto Sales Street Stocks are up next and they race hard and fast during heat number one. It sure was nice to see a great crowd out at Speedway 660 for this night of racing. Riley Goodwin, a fourth generation driver, got the upper hand on his fellow competitors and piloted the 77 into victory lane in that first Street Stock heat.The second heat race was a pretty good one too, with a young driver picking up his first-ever Street Stock win.Michael Cormier, from Grand Barachois, made the trip to Speedway 660 on the weekend and gets that first win. Michael, who is hiding behind the checkered flag, still has his little Bando car but is liking the Street Stock ride more and more these days. The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman drivers take to the track for their first heat and right away there is a little contact between Richard Atkinson (#40) and Hudson Weston (#43). It turned out to be an interesting sequence.Drew Greenlaw (#23) tries to avoid the spinners.Luckily for Drew he is able to drive on by on the low side without putting a mark on that beautiful race car.Atkinson and Weston continue their wild ride as Jacob Logan takes the high side and drives by without contacting the 40 or 43.The cars continue their slide as Logan (#37) breathes a sigh of relief after missing the wreck.They finally come to a stop on the front stretch after giving the 660 fans a bit of excitement.Before driving away Richard pulls up beside Hudson to make sure the young driver is OK!  Shortly after the Atkinson/Weston episode we had another spin, this time involving three cars.(L to R) Ryan Raynes, Jacob Logan and Justin Cole spin-out down in turn one bringing out a second caution. As if all that wasn’t exciting enough, we had a very tight race to the stripe and the checkered flag. Young Greenlaw wins the race and goes to victory lane. After finishing second in the points in each of the last two years Drew is racking up as many points as he can in pursuit of the 2017 title. The second Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman heat race is much tamer than the first and is run off without incident. George Jamieson in his “Ram 96” takes the victory.It’s feature time and out first come the Sharp Shooters for 20 laps of excitement. Early on we get a little dust-up, but that’s pretty normal for these guys. But then Grey Owl loses control on the exit of turn four, climbs the bank and rams into the catch fence.The fence got the worst of it and suffered severe damage, which included three broken poles. How could a little Sharp Shooter do so much damage? Security keeps everyone back, while our infield crew assesses the damage and figures out how to fix the fence. Super fan John Powell, a welder by trade, springs into action and fixes the fence. Speedway 660 officials decided to eliminate the intermission and skip driver intros for the Best of the Best 150 to make up for lost time. While John worked his magic on the fence the Sharp Shooter drivers got out of their cars and took a break.Once we went “green” again the top three drivers in the championship point race battled it out for the win.  Brody Levesque capped off a great night by winning the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter feature. Combine that with a heat win and Levesque had extended his lead in the championship point race.“Peace Man” – perhaps all of those two finger gestures signify a second place finish for Kyle MacKinnon. The defending point champion is hot on the trail of the point leader.Kyle Boudreau brings the 81 home third. Boudreau, the 2015 Sharp Shooter champ, is also trying the chase down another title.Boudreau and MacKinnon do a little Sharp Shooter burnout, to the delight of the fans, on their way back to the pits.The sun starts to go down just as the Street Stocks take the green flag for their 30 lap feature.Riley leads, but here comes Mister Maritime Hustle driving hard on the outside!Matt Crocker wins it after the DMR Auto Sales Street Stock drivers run off a caution free 30 laps. Riley Goodwin has another great outing and comes home in second spot. The 2016 Street Stock Rookie of the Year needs a few more good runs to get back into contention for the championship.Shawn Hyslop has been on the podium several times in 2017. Shawn is third on this night and happy to earn some points and bring the car home in one piece!Riley congratulates Matt on a good, clean race. We finally got a smile out of Matt. Crocker hops back into his car, trophy in hand, after winning the feature. He won’t get another shot at a checkered flag until we resume racing on Fan Appreciation Night on August 12th.  The Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman drivers come out next for their 40 lap feature. John Rankin and George Jamieson go side-by-side early on for the lead.Later on in the race Logan, Courtney O’Blenis and Andrew Rodgers get after it in a race for the final two podium spots. Rankin has been on top of his game in 2017 and rattles off another feature victory. John, the 2009 Sportsman champ, races hard every week and says the points will look after themselves.Courtney O’Blenis had her best outing of 2017 and finished second. This talented young rookie is starting to feel right at home in her Sportsman car.Courtney gets a big celebratory hug from sister Alexandra. The O’Blenis sisters started racing Bandoleros before moving up to Street Stock and then to Sportsman. Alex has also tried her hand in a Pro Stock!Andrew Rodgers drove home third in the Sportsman feature. We found the car and the trophy, but Andrew had disappeared. That’s because he was doing “double-duty” and had dashed back to the pits to jump into a Pro Stock for the Best of the Best 150! BTW Steve (Andrew & Matt’s Dad) squeezed into the car and drove in back to the pits.The Clark Chevrolet Best of the Best  150 gets underway with Shawn Warren running side-by-side with Cassius Clark. Cassius grabbed the lead early on, but had several challengers in the race. The race had its fair share of cautions, but provided fans with lots of exciting action. Dave O’Blenis came up through the pack and challenged Clark for the lead. Dave ran the wheels off the 48, but the 13 was just too tough on this night.Ben Rowe  (#8) had to pit early with a minor mechanical issue and had to start at the back of the pack after a caution. Ben came up through the field with lightning speed and challenged Cassius for the lead. Late in the race Ashton Tucker (#32) roared up front, challenging the two veteran drivers from Maine. Ashton had the Speedway 660 fans on their feet cheering for one of their own. Spurred on by the crowd young Ashton passed Rowe and set his sights on the leader. Tucker raced Cassius as hard as he could, but just was unable to make the pass. On a late restart Rowe managed to use the inside starting position to get under Ashton to take back second spot. Cassius Clark always takes an “old-school”  victory lap after winning a race. And that’s exactly what he got to do on Saturday night after winning the Best of the Best 150.Kyle Clark, from Clark Chevrolet, congratulates Cassius Clark for winning the Best of the Best 150. BTW these two Clarks are not related and met each other for the first time Saturday night in Victory Lane! The King Performance Racing Team celebrates back-to-back Best of the Best 150 wins. They’ll be back on SpeedWeekend in pursuit of their third McLaughlin Roof Trusses 250 win.Ben Rowe finished a strong second in the Best of the Best 150. The legendary short-track racer from Maine will be back on SpeedWeekend. He comes up our way to drive for “Hurricane” Hal O’Neal twice a year.Ashton Tucker is congratulated by Kyle Clark for an unbelievable third place finish. Just two years ago Ashton was on his way to winning a Bandolero championship and now he is one of the top Pro Stock drivers on the Speedway 660 roster!It was a proud moment for Ashton, his race team and family. Young Tucker has got a couple of point races remaining at Speedway 660 before strapping into the car for the McLaughlin Roof Trusses 250 on SpeedWeekend.And here’s the podium shot. Cassius Clark, Ben Rowe and Ashton Tucker. The Clark Chevrolet Best of the Best 150 was an exciting race with an incredible finish. Congrats Boys!

Thanks for checking out the Best of the Best Photo Album and thanks for being fans of the Speedway 660 brand of racing. We want to thank all of the race teams in all four divisions for putting on a great show this past Saturday night. A special thank-you to our amazing marketing partner Clark Chevrolet for presenting an action packed night of entertainment for our fans.  (Photos by Michelle Roy)