Year In Review

What a year we had in 2009!

We had some change, some incredible races, amazing finishes and a new Maritime champion of Pro Stock Racing crowned. With the banquet upcoming it's only fitting we put wrap up the season that was in '09 on Tim's Corner!

When we pulled into Scotia Speedworld for the first time on May 23rd for the Lucas Oil 100 there were many familiar faces in new places. Pro stock veteran Scott Alexander traded the helmet for a headset as the Race Director for the top touring series in Atlantic Canada. Going from the drivers seat on track to a stool in the tower can be a difficult one but Scott along with the staff on the tour this past season did a great job keeping things running smooth as we rolled around the Maritimes.

Race one saw thirty of the fastest Maritime Pro Stocks attempt to qualify for the twenty-six spots in the Lucas Oil 100 at Scotia Speedworld. Many of the home track favorites were fast in qualifying but it was Springvale, PEI's Greg Proude setting the pace by picking up the Atlantic Tiltload Time Trial Award along with the Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash victory. Proude would put on a show up front with Terence Bay's Craig Slaunwhite, who had a great run to finish out 2008 which included two CARQUEST Tour victories and the coveted Peterbilt 250 title at Speedway 660. The race got a green flag feel to it which featured a long green flag run – something we saw prominently in the first three races of the season and with that saw the strength of the #29 Loyalist Marble and Tile Dodge grow. Proude took command of the Lucas Oil 100 at lap twenty and never looked back to secure his first win at Scotia Speedworld! He was chased by Daryl Mahar and John Flemming to the line, two HRM based drivers that were unsure of their summer plans on the CARQUEST Tour.

Event two saw two threats for the championship in 2009 arise – Shawn Tucker and Mother Nature. The dreaded “R” word pushed racing back to a Sunday at Riverside International Speedway for the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet 100 and would prevent us from racing on the CARQUEST Tour for nearly a month between events number two and three, postponing events at Raceway Park and Speedway 660 and pushing back the Forbes 100 until Sunday. When the weather didn't feature any moisture though it was a two time champ from Fredericton, NB that positioned his #52 Rockico Truck and Trailer/A.L. Gullison Disaster Kleenup Impala in-front of the field!

Proude would pick up where he left off at Scotia Speedworld by taking fast time in James River in the second event of the season but it was Flemming and Tucker who found themselves on the front row of the event. As we've seen many times in recent races at Riverside, Tucker was able to propel himself from the outside line on the start into the lead, something he wouldn't let up for all 100 circuits. Tucker put on a clinic by lapping all but five cars during a seventy-nine lap green flag run. When the dust had settled it was Tucker coming out on top of Shawn Turple, Lonnie Sommerville, Donald Chisholm, George Koszkulics and John Flemming – the only lead lap cars out of the twenty-eight starters!

Tucker would find himself in fourth in points heading back to Scotia Speedworld for event three on the schedule. The Forbes 100 saw Antigonish's Donald Chisholm set fast time in Time Trials along with grabbing the Dash for Cash honors and the pole position that went along with it. As the event was just getting underway though the #89 crew found themselves scrambling as their car was on pit road early after completing only fifteen laps. With the lightning fast Chisholm car behind the wall, Proude's Dodge took control. The driver who found himself in Victory Lane at the same track just over one month prior to the Forbes 100 found himself again in a spot to secure another checkered flag after leading seventy-nine laps of the event, most of those during a seventy-six lap green flag run! Proude's car started going away though at the end of the run and faded back which set up an incredible duel between leader Flemming and Tucker for the victory. The two raced side by side for the win in the late laps and when they came across dead even to the naked eye on lap 100 – everyone in the Scotia Speedworld stands waited for the leaderboard to update with the transponder information which showed Shawn Tucker as the winner! The #52 led the final four laps and took the victory by 0.018 seconds in one of the closest finishes at Scotia Speedworld in recent memory.

The third event shook up the points a bit more as Turple and Sommerville fell from a tie for the point lead to third and fourth respectively as Flemming held a slim four point lead over Tucker in the standings. With only eight of the eleven races giving points for finishing position every point and position was key in producing a Maritime champion in 2009!

One of the biggest announcements in regards to the 2010 season happened during the winter months which would give one driver an opportunity at a big $50,000 payday. The Triple Crown of Maritime Pro Stock Racing was made up of the three biggest races in the Maritimes – the IWK 250 at Riverside International Speedway, the Atlantic CAT 250 at Scotia Speedworld and the Peterbilt 250 at Speedway 660. The purse of those three events combined to be $250,000 and if one driver was to win all three events there would be a $50,000 bonus to that driver, giving the drivers entered in the IWK 250 Presented by Steve Lewis Auto Body a little something extra to shoot for. Last seasons winner Regan Smith was back to defend his title he won in 2008 and had full intentions of winning back to back in James River, along with having a shot at the big payday. “If we ended up winning here today, who said we wouldn't show up at Scotia in August,” said Smith of the Triple Crown payday.

Regan hit the Riverside high banks in July, picking up where he left off last season at the facility by pacing the field in the Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials. When the race went green it was Enfield's Shawn Turple on the pole in his #0 Dexter Construction/Municipal Group Impala. He would lead twenty-five of the first twenty-six laps before the #78 Bluewave Energy Ford Fusion took command. Smith would lead 124 of the first 198 laps, sharing the lead with Dartmouth's Mike MacKenzie. The brakes on Smith's car started to go away in the second half of the 250-lap affair which would be evident as The Oval Outlaw started reeling in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year. Wayne Smith would go to the lead on lap 199 and would have to hold off Kent Vincent in a fantastic finish to win the first jewel in the Triple Crown. The race was without late race fireworks though as Regan Smith and Shawn Turple, two of the pre-race favorites made contact in the final handful of laps of the race. Both would be out of the race due to the incident. Coke 600 winner David Reutimann made the trip from Florida to finish third in the race with Greg Proude and Craig Slaunwhite rounding out the top five.

Next up on the docket was the first round of the Parts for Trucks Challenge at Speedway 660 in the Geary woods. This event had been postponed from earlier in the summer due to rain that was forecast in the area and though Mother Nature threatened the race on July 25th, she sat back long enough to see a great finish in New Brunswick's Capital Region. The Irving Lubricants Pro Stock regulars from 660 looked to keep the Parts for Trucks 100 trophy at their home track but in the end it was a former track champ taking the checkers first – though it was far from easy. Shawn Tucker had one of the fastest cars on the quick 1/3-mile oval but was put behind the eight ball just a dozen laps into the race after being involved in an incident on the front straightaway. Tucker then did what he does best as he moved his white #52 car through traffic during many green laps to position himself on the back of leader John Flemming late in the running. When a red flag set up a shootout to the finish Tucker completed the comeback by getting past Flemming in the waning laps to take his third feature victory of the season. Flemming, who had a spirited battle with polesitter Wayne Smith early in the race finished second with Shawn Turple coming home in third. New Brunswickers Lonnie Sommerville and Mike Stevens, who ran a majority of feature laps in the top five in his #26 Extreme Windows and Entrance Systems Impala completed the top five.

Next up was the first of two 200-lap affairs on the season as the cars would visit Prince Edward Island for the Parts for Trucks/Lucas Oil 200. The Parts for Trucks 100 event earlier in the season had been postponed due to threatening skies which meant those 100 circuits would be run the same night as the Lucas Oil 100, presenting us with a 200-lap supershow. This was also the first event for the new management of the Oyster Bed Bridge track. Robbie MacLean, Bill Kinney, Chris Hucz and Gary Ford purchased the track weeks before the August Tour event which saw approximately 2000 fans gather to see the Maritimes fastest Pro Stockers go at it for 200-laps at the newly named Oyster Bed Speedway. Twenty-seven cars started the main event which featured many caution flags during the three plus hour run time of the race. Championship contenders Mike Stevens, Dave O'Blenis, Lonnie Sommerville, John Flemming and Shawn Tucker among others found themselves many laps down and in the pit area at the checkered flag. Even the pace car got mixed up in the calamity as Kennetcook's Wayne Miller lost control off the fourth corner and shot like a rocket towards the pit access road where Dan MacKay had been inside the Forbes Chevrolet 2009 Chevrolet Impala. Thankfully, everyone walked away without injury, Miller continued the race in his ACL Construction Monte Carlo while Dan MacKay stepped behind the wheel of the Dartmouth Dodge Ram Service Truck to continue pacing the race. If you are looking for a new or used vechicle, please visit Forbes Chevrolet on Portland Street in Dartmouth. I can attest that after being able to drive in the 2010 Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Monte Carlo pace cars we had the fabulous opportunity to use this summer that you need to make Forbes a stop on your car searching trip around the HRM.

When all the red dust settled in PEI, it was an Islander once again defending his home turf as Greg Proude came away with his second win of the season on the Tour. Craig Slaunwhite scored his first podium finish on what had been up to that point a tough season by finishing second with Wayne Smith having to settle for third after leading 101 of the 200 circuits. Roger Crane added a fourth place finish to a season that included a “B” Feature win at Scotia Speedworld in his #76 Montague Tire Chevrolet while Darren MacKinnon also notched a fifth place finish on his home track on August 1st. EIT Race Radio Rookie of the Year contender Josh Jaillet also recorded his first top ten run of the season on the Island. Jaillet, a Sportsman standout from MacDougall Settlement, N.B. made the jump to the Pro Stock ranks this season and battled Stilesville resident Jason Carnahan for top honors.

The second jewel of the Triple Crown came next on the schedule for the CARQUEST Tour drivers as the Atlantic CAT 250 took centre stage. The CAT 250 this season was held over two days along with the Scotia Speedworld Sportsman division's annual 100-lap race which saw Qualifying and a trackside party on Friday (which included a Hot Wing Eating contest that flagman Bobby Neilsen still claims he won!) with the feature racing happening on Saturday evening. Lonnie Sommerville would set fast time in Atlantic Tiltload Time Trial qualifying but it was Shawn Turple with the lucky draw and the fast car in the Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash which put him on the pole for his hometrack's biggest event of the summer! This was a big event for Wayne Smith as he tried to keep his hopes of a 50k payday alive but fell short in the effort as he finished fourth on the evening. John Flemming would lead the most laps (90) in the event but wound up in third as it was a battle between New Brunswick drivers Sommerville and Dave O'Blenis coming to the end of the race. Sommerville led Flemming and O'Blenis through lapped traffic in the waning laps of the event but with less than five laps to go O'Blenis made a masterful move past Flemming to put himself on the back porch of the #23 A.E. McKay Builders Impala. The #48 would get underneath the Sommerville entry and the two would race side by side for two laps before they came up on a lapped vehicle on the low side. O'Blenis would make slight contact with the car, sending him spinning as Sommerville would take the white and the caution flags together, making him the winner of the Atlantic Cat 250 in a wild finish. O'Blenis and Flemming would finish second and third in one of the most entertaining finishes the CAT 250 had seen in years!

The third Lucas Oil 100 event of the season on the CARQUEST Tour was scheduled to take green on August 15th at the CENTRE For Speed in Grand Barachois, NB but when an agreement was not reached between the two parties to host the event the race was held at Scotia Speedworld, site of the Atlantic CAT 250 of one week prior. Greg Proude was looking to make it a hat-trick when it came to Lucas Oil races while Shawn Turple led a tight point battle between himself, Flemming, Tucker, Smith and Sommerville, who sat twenty-five points out of his first championship on the Tour. While Craig Slaunwhite picked up the fast time in Qualifying, it was Mike Stevens who put his #26 Impala on the pole position after the Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash win. The Riverview, NB driver led early in the race but would fade late in the eighth event of the season. This duel would come down to two home province rivals, Wayne Smith and Shawn Turple. Both have had great success at the track and both swapped the lead back and forth with Smith edging Turple in the laps led category (48-36). It was Smith who had the last laugh though as he led the last five circuits to take the win at Scotia Speedworld and close in on the point leader Turple, who finished second. Sommerville followed up the CAT 250 triumph with a third place run the next week, followed to the line by Proude and Flemming.

The second last regular point paying event happened at Riverside International Speedway on August 22nd as the third leg of the Parts for Trucks Challenge was to be contested on the high banks. Last season it was Craig Slaunwhite kicking off an incredible three race run by winning this race along with the Peterbilt 250 and Parts for Trucks 200 to cap his rookie season in 2008. This season he started off the Parts for Trucks 100 by winning the Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash in James River. The evening didn't end in victory lane for the Terence Bay driver but it did end with a runner up finish to friend and point leader Shawn Turple. Turple had a strong car all day long and showed it by winning the Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials and leading 51 of the 100 feature laps. He had to pass IWK 250 winner Wayne Smith on the 49th circuit to take the lead which he held the rest of the way. Turple would extend his lead to nineteen points over Smith as he finished fourth behind hometown favorite Donald Chisholm and in front of Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet 100 winner Shawn Tucker. With one race left to go to gain points on your competitors Smith and Turple along with the rest of the field would have to bring their “A” game to Scotia Speedworld.

Before that though, the final Triple Crown race needed to be run. Speedway 660's biggest event of the season was front and centre during the Labour Day weekend as the Peterbilt 250 was ready to wow another big crowd in the Geary woods. Forty four cars attempted to qualify for twenty-eight starting spots and as it is every year the three rounds of qualifying was well worth the admission. The day didn't start off well for defending race champ Craig Slaunwhite though as his crew was left scrambling following a wreck in the practice session. Slaunwhite was one of the former champions in the race looking to break the streak of a new winner in the Peterbilt 250 each year since its inception. The #99 Halifax Glass and Mirror crew got their work complete on their Chevrolet Impala before qualifying went green and Slaunwhite got up on the wheel to win his heat race, sharing the honor with other heat winners John Flemming, Johnny Clark and Speedway 660 champ Greg Fahey. Kevin Moore, “Flyin” Brian MacNaughton and Dave O'Blenis took consi wins with Greg Proude having to make his way into the 250 by winning the Last Chance race.

The big story early in the feature would be the special guest in the woods as Sterling Marlin would be caught up in an early wreck after having a lightning quick car throughout the weekend. Another visitor from South of the Border would lead the second most laps of the race (behind Johnny Clark) as Travis Kittleson wheeled his #30 A.E. McKay Builders Impala home to an eighth place finish. After a long green flag run in the Peterbilt 250, it set up twenty-six lap shootout to a finish. Johnny Clark, looking to become the first repeat winner of the race led CARQUEST Tour point leader Shawn Turple who got the best of Clark on the restart to take the point. Now, under the caution lead lap cars Lonnie Sommerville and Shawn Tucker went pitside. When that green silk flew to set up the run to the checkers the cars of Sommerville and Tucker flew up to the front. The $15,000 decision to pit or not paid off for Lonnie Sommerville as he led the final fifteen laps to become the first two time titlist of the Peterbilt 250. The Saint John, NB driver would also fall one jewel short of the Triple Crown bonus as he finished ninth in the IWK 250. Turple, Clark, Tucker and Slaunwhite rounded out the top five finishers in the third Triple Crown event.

Just one week after one of the biggest event in Maritime racing the CARQUEST Tour drivers had to reset themselves for one more point race at Scotia Speedworld. The Parts for Trucks 200 finale would decide a champion is what was a memorable point battle in 2009 between Turple, Smith, Tucker, Flemming and Sommerville. Smith made the first statement on the afternoon by winning the final Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials of '09 with Turple clocking in at second place. Tucker would then put his #52 up front during the Dash to cash in P1 for the start of the 200-lap main feature. Outside pole sitter Flemming would lead early in the race before the #89 Keltic Ford/Nova Construction ride of Donald Chisholm took control of the race. Chisholm looked to be on cruise control up front as he led 98 of the 200 laps but Tucker would take the point back in the last quarter of the race. It wasn't easy for Tucker though as Mike Stevens gave him all he could handle for the lead as the two raced to the finish of the final tour race of 2009 with Tucker besting Stevens. Chisholm came home in third with Flemming and Turple closing out the top five. With Smith getting caught up in an early incident leaving him many laps down combined with the fifth place finish of the #0 Dexter Construction/Municipal Group Impala made Shawn Turple the 2009 Champion of the CARQUEST Maritime Pro Stock Tour! With his fourth victory of the season, Tucker vaulted himself to second in the final standings with Flemming, Smith and Sommerville rounding out the top five in the points.

Turple's stats from the 2009 season resemble those of many champions past. Turple only won one race this season but he was the only driver to finish in the top ten of each of the eight point races that paid points for finishing position. Of those nine, seven of those were top five finishes with a worst finish of seventh! On the flip side, we saw second place point man Shawn Tucker win four of those eight races but also finished two races outside the top ten due to crash damage. In '09, consistency proved pivotal in producing a champion on the CARQUEST Tour!

Other numbers that stand out to me looking back at the season include Turple's qualifying efforts. Shawn was the only driver to qualify though the Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials in the 10 races that two lap qualifying was contested. Of those ten times, he set fast time once, set a top five time six times and won two Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash races. Greg Proude's numbers nearly mirror those of Shawn's, posting nine Dash appearances, clocking in with the fastest Atlantic Tiltload Time Trial run twice, landing six top five Time Trial runs along with two Dash triumphs. But what about that other race that Proude didn't start the Dash? He was out winning a Liteco heat race! Wayne Smith, Craig Slaunwhite and Shawn Tucker also were pretty good in cracking the Dash this past season with an 80% success rate in that category with each having one win in that race.

Smith and Sommerville were also able to notch nine top ten finishes this season along with Turple out of the eleven races with Smith and Turple sharing the most top fives during the season with seven. The '09 champ also had the most podium apperarances at five. Smith, Flemming, Sommerville and Tucker all stood on the podium four times through the season. Eighteen drivers won a LiteCo heat race/non Dash qualifying race with Kent Vincent (Crapaud, PEI), Mike MacKenzie (Dartmouth, NS), Dave O'Blenis (Boundary Creek, NB) and Sommerville each snagging four victories. When it counted it was Brudenell, PEI's Jonathan Hicken coming through in the clutch by winning two “B” Features this season. Sleepy Hollow's Darren MacKinnon was also impressive in the “B” by finishing on the podium four times during the season. The Oval Outlaw led the most laps this season with Greg Proude and John Flemming hot on his heals in the category. MacDougall Settlement's Josh Jaillet would walk away with EIT Race Radio Rookie of the Year Honors with Shawn Turple becoming the “Parts for Trucks Challenge” winner.

Well, there it is. A comprehensive look back at the season that was on the CARQUEST Maritime Pro Stock Tour. I hope you had as much fun as I did during this season and will look forward to May when the green flag will drop on a 2010 season. Many questions will be asked before that moment though including if Shawn Turple can go back-to-back and win two consecutive Tour crowns? Can Smith or Tucker win their series tying third titles or will Flemming make another run at the championship and try to lock down #4? Can Jonathan Hicken, Mike Stevens, Shawn Pierce or Darren MacKinnon among others finally break into CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour victory lane? Who will we see making a run at the EIT Race Radios Rookie of the Year award in '10? These questions and more will be answered over the next few months as we work towards crowing a champ in the 10th season of the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour!

Tim Terry
TimTerryOnline.com