Maritime Racing
Top Stories of 2016 on TimsCorner.ca
What a year 2016 was!
We saw a lot of interesting stories break in 2016 and some pretty intriguing trends to go with them. From Bandolero to Pro Stock, Avondale to Miramichi to Clare, off track announcements to on track victory lane celebrations, the stories span across many different parts of our community.
We’ve taken a look at our statistics on site from the past 12 months, along with our Facebook insights and have come up with the top 12 stories, by month, that shook the ground in Atlantic Canadian racing, along with a few stories that had our social media followers liking and sharing throughout the past year. Some of the stories are sure to jog some memories, some might even have you shaking your head as to how they got there. Nevertheless, without them, we wouldn’t have the racing community we have today.
If you want to revisit the story, just click on the link or photo and you’ll be able to zip back in time!
Let’s dive into it, shall we?!
*Note – Maritime related Ballot or Voting Pages (Petty Fan Choice, TCM Finish Line Vinyl Design Best Looking Car or TCM Martin’s Home Heating Most Popular Driver Award) have been omitted from the top content rankings, as have individual pages and contest posts on our social media platforms. Below are the news stories that got the most page views within their respective month.
All photos from McCarthy Photographic, unless otherwise indicated
JANUARY 2016 – Top Content
Scotia Speedworld Issues Helmet Requirement for the 2016 Season
Note – the helmet requirement was rescinded before the season began but will be a requirement at all race tracks in Atlantic Canada in 2017.
FEBRUARY 2016 – Top Content
Petty International Raceway Announces 2016 Schedule
MARCH 2016 – Top Content
Flemming Motorsports Loses Tools, Cars in Overnight Fire
APRIL 2016 – Top Content
PEI’s BPMS Sees Changes After Brandon Snow Sidelined
Photo by Marlie Paynter
MAY 2016 – Top Content
TCM Top Ten – Ten Things to Watch for at the Speedway 660 Opener
Photo by Speedway 660 Photos
JUNE 2016 – Top Content
For the Fans: Some Have Lost Focus of Those Driving the Sport
JULY 2016 – Top Content
Northrup Launches New Team, Racing to Raise Awareness for Mental Illness
Photo by Brian Northrup
AUGUST 2016 – Top Content
Matt Rodgers First of 36 to Register for 2016 Speedway 660 Pro Stock 250
SEPTEMBER 2016 – Top Content
Expected Entry Lists -2016 A.E. McKay Builders Sportsman 150 and McLaughlin Roof Trusses Pro Stock 250
TCM Photo
OCTOBER 2016 – Top Content
Quick Results and Race Notes – Day Two of the Atlantic Championships (Pro Stock 200)
TCM Photo
NOVEMBER 2016 – Top Content
On the Market: Cape Breton Miners Memorial Speedway For Sale
TCM Photo
DECMEBER 2016 – Top Content
PASS North Returns to Speedway 660 in June 2017 – With SIX Oxford 250 Provisionals on the Line
Speedway 660 Photo
“Social Media Sweethearts”
While the above 12 garnered the most traffic on TimsCorner.ca in their respective month, we had some stories and posts on our social media platforms that saw some love throughout the year from race fans around the region.
Here are a few that gained some attention outside of the 12 stories above. You can click the photo to take you to the original Facebook post.
NASCAR to Newfoundland – Eastbound Becomes a NASCAR Whelen All American Series Track
The announcement that Eastbound Park was joining the NASCAR Whelen All American Series family in March was huge for racing in Atlantic Canada. Eastbound Park was the first sanctioned track in the region under the NASCAR Weekly program and first in Newfoundland to be NASCAR sanctioned. The Atlantic Dodge Dealers Hobby Stocks were distinguished as the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Division II while the top bill of the NAPA Auto Parts Sportsman took the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Division I title. “Little Sexy” Jesse Hicks won the first Hobby Stock race of the year with Mark Best taking the division championship.
While Shane Coffen was the first NASCAR Whelen All American Series Division I winner in Newfoundland with the Victoria Day Speedfest win in the NAPA Auto Parts Sportsman, it was this guy who took home the title…
“History Has Been Made”
Early in the morning of September 25th (just before 2am local), Jason Groves of Hearts Desire, Newfoundland drove to the championship in the NAPA Auto Parts Sportsman division at Eastbound Park. Three drivers, Groves, Josh Collins and Mitchell Fahey, entered with a shot at the championship but it was Groves who was able to edge out the championship over Parts for Trucks 150 race winner Collins. The race night was delayed due to rain in the area throughout the day.
Groves and his Team 74 crew celebrated their accomplishments in Charlotte, North Carolina in December during the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Banquet.
Of note, the early morning post of Groves holding his track championship flag generated over 550 likes, the most of any post on the Tim’s Corner Motorsports Facebook in 2016!
For The Fans; Continued
A simple gesture from Brandon McFarlane to sign a flag for a young fan not only drove home a point from an article wrote by Tim Terry weeks before, it was popular with fans on social media. In fact, the post had the most engaged users of any of our Facebook posts in 2016 and generated the second most likes.
Click the above photo to go to the post and read the story!
“The Legend” and his Hardware
When Cy Harvey sent us this photo to post, we knew it would be popular among fans of the sport new and old.
The photo with “The Legend” and a number of his trophies earned over the years landed as one of most “liked” photos of the year and was shared over three dozen times. Harvey is still going strong, making part time appearances in his Truck, Legend and Pro Stock entries. Not to mention, he went to victory lane twice two weeks ago at Truro Raceway as two of his horses won on the half mile in Bible Hill!
Shawn Waterfield Wins NAPA Sportsman Series Championship
After years of close calls and being on the wrong side of the point championship, Shawn Waterfield and his Sydney based team celebrated in October as the champions of the NAPA Sportsman Series.
With a comfortable lead over Darren Price, Waterfield went out in the season finale at Cape Breton Miners Memorial Speedway and paced the field for the most laps in the finale to not only take the season long title but the checkered flag in the last race of the season. With the track for sale, it is also the last Late Model checkered flag at the track, for now at least.
The victory lane post landed in the top ten for the most liked photo of the year, generating nearly 300 likes.
MacLean Takes Halloween Spooktacular Over “The Thrill Maker” and MacInnis
One of the most liked victory lane photos came from what some might call an unlikely spot compared to other venues in the region.
Speedway Miramichi and their Halloween Spooktacular event saw a number of away cars come to compete in both the Mini Stock and Street Stock feature, it was the Street Stock feature that made the haul up to the North Shore worth it for many fans in the stands.
While there was some excitement and paint exchanged throughout the day, it was local Miramichi driver Brad MacLean walking away with the checkered flag. MacLean had to hold off “The Thrill Maker” Craig Ward and traveling Islander Jeff MacInnis for the win. The race was deep with talent which also included the likes of Mike Duskey, Patrick Horne, Dan Duke and Justin Cole, just to name a few.
Be sure to put the Halloween Spooktacular on your 2017 schedule, you’ll want to check out Miramichi in October if you have yet to!
Cole Butcher’s Snowflake Sixth Place Showing
Hot on the heels of his Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour championship, Cole Butcher headed south to Pensacola, Florida for the Snowball Derby weekend at 5 Flags Speedway. Butcher drove a Donnie Wilson owned entry in the Snowflake 100 on Saturday evening and would wind up sixth after conserving his tires and equipment throughout the race prior to a mad dash to the front at the end. Butcher had speed throughout the week, posting fast times on Thursday and pacing the Saturday morning practice session.
Not lost between the local year and the Snowflake 100, Butcher posted a seventh place finish in the season finale for the Pro All Stars Series North at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine.
This photo, sent by Butcher to TCM, boasted the fifth most likes of any photo posted to our Facebook feed in 2016. Congratulations again Cole on your championship season and great run at Pensacola!
“Port City Princess” Queen of Speedway 660 Street Stock Field (Speedway 660 Photo)
The most traffic seen on our social media platforms of any results based release on TimsCorner.ca this season? Not the IWK 250 with Donald Chisholm scoring an emotional hometown win or Joey Doiron taking his first “250” win in the McLaughlin Roof Trusses 250 or even the aforementioned Cole Butcher winning the Atlantic Cat 250.
It wasn’t even a Late Model that drew fans to like and share the results from Speedway 660 on June 11th.
Destiny Enkel’s first Street Stock win at Speedway 660 drew hundreds of likes and dozens of shares to our results from that Saturday night in the Geary woods. While there were many popular first wins throughout the Maritimes this season, our numbers show Enkel’s was the favorite among our readers on our website and social media in 2016!
Hicks Okay After Massive 12+ Car Pileup at Eastbound
“Big Sexy” Gerald Hicks went from battling for the lead to ending up with a destroyed race car in a matter of a few hundred feet.
Hicks was on the outside of Josh Collins as they battled for the lead on a late race restart. The two tangled coming to the green flag, driving Hicks into the inside wall and back out into traffic where more than a dozen cars got some sort of damage from the incident. As seen from the photo below, Hicks had damage on all four corners of the car and even bent the center section of the chassis. The safety gear did its job though and Hicks walked away without injury and was even able to muster a smile after the racing program for us.
The team worked and the car was back out for the next race, showing the dedication of the team.
Of the posts made by Tim’s Corner Motorsports in 2016, 61 of those generated more than 100 likes between the original post and shares made of the post. Of those post, a dozen drivers or teams appeared in the photo or headline of those posts. Josh Collins leads the way with five appearances in 100+ like posts, followed by Gerald Hicks with three. Mark Best, Cole Butcher, Joey Doiron, Jason Groves, Jonathan Hicken, Harry Ross White, Austin MacDonald, Emily Meehan, Randy Millar and Matt Rodgers all saw their name, race car and/or face on at least two posts that generated 100+ likes in 2016.
The 12 drivers listed here are up from five in 2015 and three in 2014. Meehan, Butcher and Hicken were on the list in 2014 while Collins makes the list for the second consecutive year.
The Year in Review features continue with three photo galleries next week from our contributing photographers including Mike McCarthy, Tanya Everett and Mike Francis. These galleries feature favorite photos selected by those behind the lens. We’ll also have our annual By The Numbers article along with a “2016 Stop and Go” article, taking a quick look back at some of those special memories from the past year.
The 2017 calendar year will also include three more look backs to 2016 in the way of Tim Terry’s reflection article on the year, the announcement of the #TCMBestof2016 EIT Race Radios Hometown Hero Award and the Kings County Performance Rookie of the Year Award. These lead up to the final “event” of 2016, the Speedway 660 Banquet, in January.
Matt Rodgers was one of 12 drivers who made multiple, high traffic, headlines on our social media platforms in 2016. He is seen here with Drew Greenlaw’s Sportsman car, a car in which he drove to victory lane in a substitute role at Speedway 660 on the same night as his Pro Stock debut!
