Whether it was the largest opening day car count or the largest opening day crowd since opening day in 1996 or the launching of a new division, this night had it all.   Not to mention some awesome side by side racing.
On a gorgeous May night, Speedway 660 introduced its Bandolero division with kids ranging in age from 8 to 15.  Eight of these miniature stock cars raced for the checkers with the no 8 of DJ Casey winning the event in the Young Guns category and the 9 year old Ryan Messer winning the Bandits category in his inaugural Bandolero ride.   As a whole the group of youngsters put on an excellent display of driving skill with some great racing through the field.  Co-owner Chris Johnston said “It’s amazing the talent these kids have at this age.  They drive those cars like their veterans.”

In the 4-cylinder division, the night belonged to a new comer; Mike Weagle of Moncton won both his heat and feature in impressive fashion.   This division reached new heights as well with a total of 6 new cars being added to the division.   Co-owner Steve Burns said after the event, “this division has more than doubled in just one year so we are expecting great things in the years to come.”
In the Leisure Family RV.com Street Stock division 21 cars hit to the oval.   Matt Matheson, the #2 car took home the Robin’s Inn Hat Trick award by winning his heat, the dash and the feature in an impressive season debut.   Jason Shannon and Rick Cashol both had strong starts to their Championship bids in 2010 with 2nd and 3rd place finished respectively.
In the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman division, 25 cars made the track to the Geary woods with Glyn Nott also taking home a win in all three of his races.   Nott said afterward “opening day is always tough, a lot of times top ten is all your looking for but this is special when you can start out the year like this.”   Brent Roy finished a strong second place with some great side by side racing and Ken McKenzie of Moncton made his debut as regular points car in fine form with a 3rd place finish.   After the race McKenzie remarked “I love this place, tons of fans and great competitors”.
Finally in the Coastal Blending and Packaging Pro Stock division local favourite Shawn Tucker took home the win in the 40 lap main event just edging out 2009 track Champion Greg Fahey in an exciting seesaw battle between the two veterans.  “Greg was really strong and it was all I could do to hold him off” said Tucker just after his first win of the season.  Fahey led the race for several laps but in the end was not able to regain the top spot after a restart late in the race.   Matt Harris finished a strong third managing his way nicely through a 5 caution race.

All in all some great action and an excellent start to the 2010 season.   In total over 70 cars entered for competition on this day marking the largest opening day car count in the history of the speedway.   This was accompanied by a crowd of over 4000 fans who had waited patiently for their summer past time to begin once again.

Speedway 660 continues its busy schedule next Saturday night, June 5th with Kids Day and the District Schools challenge.

<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} span.EmailStyle15 {mso-style-type:personal; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-ascii-font-family:Arial; mso-hansi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:windowtext;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

Coastal Blending & Packaging Pro Stock – Feature
Finish	Car No	Driver	Hometown
1	52	Shawn Tucker	Killarney Road, NB
2	20	Greg Fahey	St. Stephen, NB
3	87	Matt Harris	Fredericton Jct., NB
4	48	Dave O’Blenis	Boundary Creek, NB
5	18	Brian MacNaughton	Lower Coverdale, NB
6	69	Brian Gillespie	Nackawic, NB
7	88	Kevin Moore	Pepper Creek, NB
8	17	Brent Wiggins	Fredericton, NB
9	16	Jordan Gahan	Fredericton, NB
10	97	Chris Duncan	Kingston, NB
11	35	Brad Mann	Glenlevet, NB
12	12	Michael Kyle	Berwick, NB
13	55	Carl Raeburn	Saint John, NB
14	24	Kevin Boyle	Saint John, NB
15	29	Robert Tomlinson	Arthurette, NB

Martins Home Heating Sportsman – Feature
Finish	Car No	Driver	Hometown
1	12	Glyn Nott	Burton, NB
2	26	Brent Roy	Hanwell, NB
3	85	Ken Mackenzie	Salisbury, NB
4	27	Bill Sommerville	Saint John, NB
5	1	Micheal Banks	Lake George, NB
6	5	Wade Harris	Canal, NB
7	29	Matt Maillet	Burton, NB
8	70	Dave Biggar	Lake George, NB
9	44	George Jamieson	Fredericton, NB
10	9	Derek Christie	Fredericton, NB
11	11	Cal Hatfield	Rothesay, NB
12	40	Richard Atkinson	Geary, NB
13	33	Charlie Wilkins	Keswick, NB
14	28	John Rankin	St.Martins, NB
15	43	Shawn McLean	Lewis Mountain, NB
16	44S	Steve Seveck	Nackawic, NB
17	03	Steve Halpin	Saint John, NB
18	42	Matt Rodgers	Saint John, NB
19	80	Dan McNeil	Douglas, NB
20	99	Shawn Hyslop	St. Stephen, NB
21	81W	Jamie Weston	Saint John, NB
22	41	Robert Raynes	North Summerville, NB
23	17	Joe Hoyt	Fredericton, NB
24	89	Kyle Carr	Saint John, NB
25	34	Randy Moore	Saint John, NB

Leisure Family RV.com Street Stock – Feature
Finish	Car No	Driver	Hometown
1	2	Matt Matheson	Geary, NB
2	28	Jason Shannon	Hoyt, NB
3	54	Rick Cashol	Saint John, NB
4	23	Mike Francis	Saint John, NB
5	20	Peter Gaddess	Minto, NB
6	88	Brian Fox	Burton, NB
7	04	Joe Albert	Minto, NB
8	18	Shannon Brake	Saint John, NB
9	15	Roger Slocum	Quispamsis, NB
10	29	Kevin McKeen	Fredericton, NB
11	11	Rodney Ness	Hanwell, NB
12	13	Jack Lane	Geary, NB
13	8	Benji Ruff	Florenceville, NB
14	5	Brad Slipp	Saint John, NB
15	83	Trent Noble	Tracy, NB
16	1	Heidi Cooper	Hanwell, NB
17	4	Richard Hartley	Saint John, NB
18	99	Rob Pethick	Nackawic, NB
19	54P	Paul Miller	Fredericton, NB
20	10	Devin Snell	Fredericton, NB
21	05	Dana Brooks	Fredericton, NB

4 Cylinder – Feature
Finish	Car No	Driver
1	60	Mike Weagle
2	16	Kevin Dunster
3	3	Kevin Peterson
4	15	Sean Peters
5	2	Robert Flowers
6	77	Ira Farnell
7	7	T.J. Madore
8	76	Nathalie Russell

Bandoleros – Feature
Finish	Car No	Driver
1	8	D.J. Casey
2	1	Ryan Messer
3	3	Alicia Mowat
4	00	Cole Boudreau
5	46	Dana Hamm
6	4	Peter Martin
7	19	Dawson McIntee
8	20	Nathaniel Gullison