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Matt Watson Breaks Records, Wins Centre For Speed Atlantic Championships for Eastern Mini Cup

Series Release

Get out the broom, because Matt Watson made it a clean sweep Saturday, winning his record breaking 7th consecutive feature race Saturday at the Centre for Speed, to sweep the 2015 ESMCS season, and become the Atlantic Champion for the Mini Cup division. Watson held off hard charging drivers including Chris Wilson, Courtney O’Blenis, & Steven Curtis on a Green-White-Checkered Restart to take the 20 lap feature at the Centre for Speed. This came after Watson finished 2nd in the heat race in a photo-finish, losing just his 3rd race of the year. By winning 15/18 races and racking up 326 points, Watson’s 2015 season will go down as the most dominating season in series history.

Wilson gave it all that he had, but he had nothing for Watson, forcing him to settle for a 2nd place finish to wrap up the year. Wilson previously won at the Centre for Speed in 2012, as had Courtney O’Blenis, who was subbing for Jared Tozer Saturday. O’Blenis started at the back and drove to a 3rd place finish, in just her 3rd series start, and 1st start since her win in 2012. Steven Curtis finished 4th, which was good enough to hang onto 2nd in points by a mere 2 points. Rounding out the top 5 was Mark Ferguson, who picked up his first top 5 finish in 3 months, and ended a streak of 3 consecutive DNF’s; that was as good as a win for Ferguson who held on to 4th in points in his sophomore season.

A number of drivers faced problems during the 20 lap feature. Rookies Kyle Maher and Mike Weagle failed to finish, after they faced mechanical problems during the race. They finished 6th and 7th respectively. Kirk Sheasgreen started on the pole and led lap 1, but when a caution came out after the completion of lap 1, another car made contact with Sheasgreen as they didn’t realize the yellow was out. That would damage Sheasgreen’s car enough to end his night. Rounding out the field was Dave Griffin, who was collected in the lap 1 wreck, hitting the wall hard after trying to avoid the incident.

A total of 2 yellows slowed the race. The first was the lap 1 yellow, which occurred when Mark Ferguson spun around in turn 4, and collected Griffin. The other was a self-spin by Steven Curtis on lap 19. Curtis was running 3rd at the time. There was a total of 2 lead changes among 3 drivers. Sheasgreen led lap 1 before being the incident under yellow. Chris Wilson got the lead on that restart and led 2 laps, before Watson grabbed the lead and paced the final 17 laps of the race.

The 10 lap heat race was an exciting show that went caution free. Mike Weagle picked up his 1st career Mini Cup victory by winning the race over Matt Watson in a photo finish. Kyle Maher finished the heat race in 3rd, while Chris Wilson & Courtney O’Blenis rounded out the top 5.

The season is now complete for the Eastern Super Mini Cup Series. Matt Watson will officially be crowned the 2015 champion at the upcoming banquet. The date for the banquet is TBD. Stay tuned in the upcoming days for voting for the 2015 Eastern Super Mini Cup Series Year End Awards!

Feature Results

1- Matt Watson #88
2- Chris Wilson #2
3- Courtney O’Blenis (subbing for Jared Tozer) #55
4- Steven Curtis #12
5- Mark Ferguson #41 (-1)
6- Kyle Maher #78 (DNF)
7- Mike Weagle #16 (DNF)
8- Kirk Sheasgreen #43 (DNF)
9- Dave Griffin #3 (DNF)

Final Points

1- Matt Watson #88 326 Points
2- Steven Curtis #12 255 Points
3- Chris Wilson #2 253 Points
4- Mark Ferguson #41 242 Points
5- Mike Weagle #16 241 Points
6- Jared Tozer #55 222 Points
7- Kyle Maher #78 221 Points
8- Kirk Sheasgreen #43 213 Points
9- Derek Goodwin #24 131 Points
10- Don Gaudet #3 121 Points
11- Dave Griffin #3G 83 Points

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