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Tim’s Notebook – 41st Annual Castrol Radical Speedsport

Were you one of the nearly 20,000 that took in the 41st Annual Castrol Radical Speedsport show at the Moncton Coliseum on the weekend?

If you were not, you missed one of the best shows in years!

With well over a dozen stock cars in attendance of the hundreds of vehicles scattered around the Coliseum complex, and hundreds of race fans and teams stopping by to get the scoop on the racing season, there was no shortage of news and rumors of the racing season flying throughout.

Here’s just a few of the news tidbits we found out throughout the weekend.

– If you missed it here Friday, Wayne Smith is returning to Sportsman competition, sliding in behind the wheel of the Craig McFetridge owned #41 Dulux Paints Chevrolet. The team will focus on big races in 2015, including the three race New Brunswick Short Track Challenge between Speedway 660, Petty Raceway and Speedway Miramichi. You can read more in our story here.

Joel Hickox released his plans for 2015, which include the goal of the Rookie of the Year Award on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. Hickox still has his rookie status on the Tour and are gearing their #22 Hickox Service Center Dodge up for the season. The team still has a Street Stock as well, which might see a few races at Oyster Bed Speedway in 2015.

Dustin Tucker has set his sights on the seven race Atlantic Tiltload Maritime League of Legends Series in 2015. Tucker had both his Legend car and Pro Stock at the show on the weekend and plans to hop between both this Summer. The Pro Stock car will run at Speedway 660 on a partial basis when Tucker isn’t on the road with the Legend car.

– As for Dustin’s father? Don’t call it a retirement by any means, but Shawn Tucker will not be racing full time anywhere in 2015. The former multi-time Parts for Trucks Tour, Re/Max 250 and 2013 IWK 250 champion has no future races on his schedule, but according to Dustin, Shawn will focus primarily on the testing portion of the Tucker Racing Products team. Hey, maybe Dustin will let Shawn run his Legend car this year?

– In some of the biggest “driver” news of the show, Speedway 660 Sportsman veteran Randy Moore (below, left) will be returning to full time competition in 2015. Moore will be driving a former Sommerville Racing Sportsman car and is anxious to return to the Geary woods this summer. Moore finished eighth in the season standings in his last full-time effort in 2013.

– Also returning to the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman division at Speedway 660 is Richard Atkinson (below, right). Atkinson had surgery at the end of the 2013 season, which sidelined the Geary driver for 2014. As you could probably tell by our Speedweeks coverage in Florida, he was itching to go down there and got to shake the rust off at the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Orlando. Atkinson was sixth in his last full-time season at Speedway 660 in 2013.

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– Upon looking over their car at the end of 2014, George Jamieson said that his Dodge motor was running on seven cylinders for most of the Sportsman season. Even with the car being down on power, they were still able to lock down sixth place in the standings at Speedway 660 with two third place feature finishes on one less cylinder.  Just think – if the #96 team is firing on all eight next season, they will be a dangerous threat for the championship in Geary.

Chris Duncan is unsure of his plans for the season. The current track champion for Pro Stocks at Petty Raceway and former multi-time track champion at Speedway 660 says his car is ready to go and was weighing his schedule options at Speedsport on the weekend. Duncan said we should know his tentative schedule “in a week or so.”

Brandon Skidmore unveiled a sharp new Five Star Body on his Atlantic Modified Tour ride at the show. While he may have been the only Modified on display from the series, there was plenty of representation from the tour checking out the show on the weekend, including reigning series champion Ryan Messer and “Mr. Excitement” Doug Matchett. While Messer will be moving to Sportsman in 2015, he will be receiving his championship trophy from 2014 two weeks prior to his debut. The Atlantic Modified Tour will hold their 2014 Banquet on Saturday, May 2nd at the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. The season gets underway two weeks later at Petty Raceway in River Glade on May 16th.

Dawson McIntee celebrated his 16th birthday at the show with his #19 Sportsman car. The livery on the car goes back to what race fans were accustomed to seeing in Dawson’s Bandolero days. McIntee won a Sportsman feature at Speedway 660 in his rookie season in 2014.

– There was plenty of Mini Stock talk this weekend, outside of Patricia Taylor and Mike Weagle‘s eye catching display in Hall B (more on that in a bit). Speedway 660 lead technical inspector Donnie Greer chatted with Lake Doucette Four Cylinder Frenzy and Atlantic Champion “Mr. Honda” Scott Williams and 2012 Scotia Speedworld Thunder champion Kyle MacMillan for a while on Sunday afternoon at the TCM Booth about their Hondas and Four Cylinder racing in the region. Speedway 660 only allows domestic models in their Sharp Shooters division and while it was mentioned that will not change in 2015, Hondas and the possibility of other international models may be considered in future rule book discussions.

_2DS1894“Mr. Honda” Scott Williams, pictured here from the Thunder 50 at Scotia Speedworld last July, knows a thing or two about winning in a Mini Stock in Atlantic Canada. Photo by McCarthy Photographic

David Cuff has relocated to the Moncton area and his Four Cylinder expertise has been called on more than ever these days. While Cuff is still helping out Petty Raceway and Cape Breton Miners Memorial Speedway Rookie of the Year Kody Quinn, who was at the show Friday and Saturday, he is also helping out the efforts of Logan Power and the “Chase the Racecar Team” of Patricia Taylor, Mike Weagle and his father Eugene Weagle. Regardless how the season plays out, Cuff is sure to be putting on the miles to make a handful of Mini Stocks go fast this year.

Jeremy Doran still hasn’t helped Shelby Hughes repair her Enduro car he rolled over on Speedweekend at Speedway 660. Hughes will be preparing a new car for the three race Enduro season, which will kick off in the Geary woods on Sunday, June 14th at 2pm, while Doran will likely find himself defending his 2014 Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooters championship. Maybe Doran should let Hughes drive his Cavalier this season as a return for the Enduro driver swap last year on Labour Day? C’mon “Rockstar,” you know you wanna!

Clinton Wright has one more race left in him. While he’s still picking which race at Petty Raceway he and his black #17 Civic will take part in, a nagging back problem will be seeing him hanging up the helmet after the 2015 season.

– 2014 Oyster Bed Speedway Outlaw champion Tyler MacLean is starting work on his car for the season. While he aspires to move up a division, he is preparing his Honda for a part-time season, which will also include some races at Petty International Raceway in 2015.

– The Chase the Racecar Team is fundraising this season for the Sears Kids Cancer Ride. Donations at the show totaled $157.20 and the team has two events prior to the season starting. In addition to the debut of their paint schemes on their Civics for 2015, the team unveiled their newest addition to the team – a Eastern Super Mini Cup Series entry. The car is the 2014 champion car that was campaigned by Prince Edward Island’s Amanda Wheatley and the team is planning on getting to as many ESMCS races they can that do not conflict with their Mini Stock schedule. Patricia Taylor and Mike Weagle will split the driving duties. More information on the team can be found on their Facebook page.

– Speaking of the Eastern Super Mini Cup Series, they are excited for their upcoming season and also had Chris Wilson and Steven Curtis at the show representing the series. Expect some new rookies and some series veterans to return to the series, which will visit Speedway Miramichi, Oyster Bed Speedway and Petty Raceway in 2015.

– The MacKenzie race team is all but ready for the racing season. Kenny MacKenzie Jr., as mentioned on our Silly Season page, will be moving to Sportsman full time in 2015 while Kenny Sr. will be running the Pro Stock at Petty Raceway full time. The team still has “Marmaduke,” and the championship winning Street Stock will see some track time with Junior this season as well on a part-time basis. Senior also has a potential race at Riverside International Speedway still on the radar – pointing towards a bucket list item he wants to knock off before he hangs up the helmet. He accomplished one bucket list item last year by competing in three Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour races at Petty, which he will make return starts in this year.

– You can be sure to catch the sights from Speedsport with Tanya Everett Photography. Along with the photos in this Notebook, she has hundreds of shots from the weekend, including the Moncton Miracles Dance Team, Miss Castrol Brandi Gray, Booker T – and not to mention the stars of the show, the cars! Check out Tanya’s Facebook page for complete galleries, and be sure to throw her a like to follow along with her adventures all season!

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Speedway Miramichi has moved their season opening event, which will feature a Demolition, Four Cylinders, Eastern Super Mini Cups, Street Stocks and the Atlantic Modified Tour, to Sunday, May 31st at 2pm to not conflict with an event the day prior at Petty Raceway.

– It will be a busy season for “The Legend” Cy Harvey. In addition to his Coors Light Truck he ran last year, he will be running a Legend car this season alongside Legend rookie Stevie Lively and has also purchased a Pro Stock car from Mike MacKenzie. He still has an older Pro Stock in his stable, which might see some track time with a couple of Scotia Speedworld’s stars behind the wheel. “I told the boys (Vernon Brown and 2014 Thunder car champion Dave Matthews) that if they wanted to get the car set up, take it to the track and make it turn then they could run it,” Harvey said in short. Stay tuned!

– The #BackOfThePackCrew was out in full force checking out the show on Sunday. Gary Wade, Andre Chamberlain and “The Port City Princess” Destiny Enkel are preparing for the season in the Street Stock division and will be out in force when we roll around to #TCMOpeningWeekend.

– The Bandolero division was well represented on the weekend, including cars from the Michael Cormier, Levi Rossiter and the two Langille Racing entries from Coldbrook, Nova Scotia. While numbers for the division in New Brunswick are not as bright as they have been in recent years, the talent scheduled to take the green flag at the province’s tracks are sure to leave fans on the edge of their seats.

– While Brady Creamer and Justin Cole‘s racing teams were seen out on the town throughout the weekend, the top party goer from Speedsport 2015 may very well be Brent Roy. While Roy did not have a stock car in the show (he just returned from Calgary to prepare Sportsman and Pro Stock entries for 2015), he was next door in Hall C with StanceEast. Roy showed up Sunday morning with a wrapped hand. When asked what happened, without getting into details, he thought he sprained his wrist. He knows he’s got less than four weeks until the Riverview Ford Lincoln Season Opener, right?!

– We want to congratulate Daniel Nunes for winning the free draw we had at Radical Speedsport. Dustin Tucker drew Daniel’s name Sunday afternoon as the winner of two tickets to the Scotia Speedworld Season Opener on May 23rd and 24th, two tickets to the Cape Breton Miners Memorial Speedway Opener at June 27th and a $25 iRacing Gift Card.

Eric Goodfellow was selected as the winner of our #TCMOpeningWeekend social media contest. His share on Facebook was drawn from a Random.org list of eligible shares from our Facebook page and re-tweets from our Twitter feed to win two grandstand tickets to the Maritime season opener – the LaFarge Aggregates and Concrete Season Opener at Petty Raceway on Saturday, May 16th at 4pm.

– A huge thanks to Keith Mackintosh and his entire staff at St. Louis Bar and Grill Moncton for once again being the “Official Moncton Area Pit Stop of Tim’s Corner Motorsports.” A lot of race fans stopped in on their way to or from the show to Mountain Road for a meal. While their menu gives you tons of options, we can tell you that Wayne Smith’s go-to on the menu is the Angus Burger (which is $5 on Wednesdays), the Honey Garlic Wings passed tech with Donnie Greer on Saturday night and Craig McFetridge and Tim are fans of the Deep Fried Pickles and their Bacon Wrapped Mac ‘n Cheese is a great starter (which are half price on Thursday nights).

Tim’s go to on the menu though? Let’s just the St. Louis Wing Poutine is also “Port City Princess” approved after this weekend!

 

– In addition, a big thank you to Marco and the Atlantic Motel for putting TCM up for the weekend. If you are looking for a place to lay your head when you’re rolling through Moncton, or a place to crash after a race at nearby Petty International Raceway, check in with the Atlantic Motel at www.atlanticmotel.ca!

– Last, but certainly not least, a huge thank you goes out to Greg Turner andbookert2 his staff at Radical Speedsport. This was our fourth year at the show, and third year with a booth within Speedsport, and this was by far the busiest show we have seen. From Peyton List, to WWE Hall of Famer Booker T (whom Craig McFetridge and Tim had a “geek moment” meeting on Sunday), the second annual Pin Up Contest, the Miracles Dance Team, Brandi Gray, the cars, the list goes on and on, there was something for everyone at this show!

After 41 years, Greg and his wife Claudette are moving on but are handing the wheel to the show over to Joe Savoie. We look forward to working with Joe and the Speedsport staff again at the 42nd Annual Radical Speedsport in 2016, which will be TCM’s fifth year!

***

There you have it – a “short” Notebook for those who missed Speedsport. Make plans now for next April if you missed this one, because it is truly the kick off to the racing season and a great way to put the Winter months in the rear-view mirror.

Stay tuned to TimsCorner.ca in the next week – we have the second annual Tim’s Corner Motorsports Atlantic Canadian Short Track Draft over this weekend (postponed from last week due to last minute panel deliberation), along with stories on Cole Tanner and “The Overall Experience” along with a piece on a New Brunswick Street Stock driver giving back. It all leads into the #TCMOpeningWeekend at Petty Raceway, Speedway 660 and Oyster Bed Speedway on the Victoria Day long weekend!

Until then, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!

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