Oyster Bed Speedway
Oyster Bed Speedway Surf and Turf “Two Weekends Left”
Heading into the final two weekends of racing at Oyster Bed Speedway, there is about 10 different drivers still with aspirations to become a Division Champion. Both race cards are scheduled for Saturday night (16th & 23rd) at 6PM, reserving Sunday afternoon at 2PM for a rain date if needed. As the season winds up we will be taking a closer look at each division. We will examine the contenders for the Division Crowns, Rookie of the Year candidates and some other drivers who may have caught our eye this season.
We start were we do on most race days with the Mini Four fun division. This division has grown in leaps and bounds all season long. With an abundance of rookies in the division the racing has been outstanding all season long. Watching drivers learn in this class has been a treat. On some nights with car counts well into the teens to take the green flag the opening division was at times resembling the Street Stock Division. Geographically speaking Prince County has taken over this division. 39 of the 50 wins in the division have come from Drivers from Miscouche to Tignish.
The class of the Division all season long has been the #21 Mitchell Montgomery in his Vector Aerospace Rocket and Jordan LeClair in the Fear the Beard # 47. LeClair has scored more wins than the Defending Champion but Montgomery betters his rival in top three finishes and a narrow 21 point lead. Neither driver can afford any more bad luck and top three finishes will be key. Neither will want to let the other out of their sights during a race unless it’s in the rear view.
#47 Jordan LeClir with one of his many fans.
Jeff Richard once again this season has done an outstanding job with the #48 car. The Tignish native is poised for another solid finish in the division points after finishing second two years ago. Following a triple win performance on September 9th he continues to hold down third in points. Richard came out of opening weekend 4th in points and has never dropped lower than third since then.
#88 Anthony Chaisson in his second season at OBS
No other driver has been a brides maid more often than the #88 Anthony Chaisson. The driver from Miscouche which is another community producing race car drivers at an alarming rate has ten second place finishes. Despite only having two wins this season, the fourth place driver in points has 17 top three finishes tied for second with Jordan LeClair and only one behind the division leader. If this team continues to battle the way they have their first Feature Win should be around the corner. This team is right there with the best of them in a very tough Division.
Moving onto the Outlaw Division there has been a lead change at the top in points every week for the past four weeks. Heading into the weekend a mere 42 points separate the top 5 drivers. Back on top is two-time Outlaw Division Champion #45 Kendall Palmer. He takes a 19 point lead over his Son #19 Coady Palmer who ran into some mechanical issues last weekend, resulting in him relinquishing the lead he had in points.
#36 Devon Gallant
Rookie Driver Devin Gallant, in his #36 VW has had a fantastic run this season scoring three total wins including his first career Feature Win. Piloting last seasons Championship car he leads all rookies in points and is third overall.
Lucky #13 Harley Cornish had his best results of the season last Saturday night opening up his night with a driving double and a second place finish in the feature. This moved the former Mini Stock Division Champ into fourth.
Even with a weekend off from the points race the pressure was still intense for the Street Stock drivers last weekend during the Annual David Lambe Memorial Race. The 06 of Alex Sheehan was able to win his heat race and more importantly dominate from the start of the 50 lap feature race to the end. In two of the last three years the race winner also went on to Capture the Division Title. Sheehan goes into the weekend trailing the #80 Amanda Wheatley by 6 points. Just like her closest rival Wheatley was able to win her qualifying heat race but wasn’t able to challenge Sheehan for the win settling for a second. Both drivers have combined for 20 wins out of the 46 races run in the division.
#06 Alex Sheehan following his David Lambe Memorial win.
With both eyes glued to the top two drivers in search of their first Street Stock Division Crown, Nick Chaisson who already has two is within striking distance of both drivers. With 5 total wins on the season including the Maritime Street Stock Showdown 100 lap event the veteran driver is only a dozen points out. The #27 of Chaisson will need to take advantage of some better track position to narrow that gap.
Rounding out the classes is the Late Model Division. I will have to say I have seen fields over the years of 10-12-14 or in this years case an average of 8-9 cars. No question we have seen higher car counts in the division. One thing we have rarely saw over the years was that entire field of 8-9 cars run around the track for any number of green flag laps and have the entire field come across the start finish line all within a second of each other. And not just in one race but on a regular basis. In some seasons you would see two or three drivers taking 90% of the wins. Sometimes one driver would have almost every feature in that given year. This year 4 different drivers took home Feature wins. Including one of the most thrilling feature finishes I have called at OBS last Saturday night when Jamie Stewart claimed his first ever Feature win in a Late Model in dramatic fashion. Every full time driver has at least one win to their credit. Personally, I thought it would be harder to get people to move to the class if all they see is one or two drivers winning every night compared to seeing a division were different drivers are winning every night. Maybe we could look at tires. Have a discussion on FB….
The 48 of Mark LeClair takes a comfortable points lead into the second last weekend. LeClair will be looking to keep his nose clean and get some consistent finishes to close out the season and the Points Championship.
#77 Randy Millar.
In order for either Matt Palmer or Randy Millar to have a shot at catching LeClair they will have to put together an amazing day and hope LeClair has some bad luck run his way. With both trailing by around 60 points, it is a daunting task but not impossible. The biggest point spread last Saturday night was 40 between the best driver last Saturday night and the worst finishing driver. While both former Champions have all the ability in the world to put up the best performance of the night rarely have we seen LeClair be the worst finishing driver on any given night. No matter the end result over the next two races I will enjoy watching these two drivers at least race it out for second place maybe more….
Racing gets underway at 6PM on Saturday night.
Written By Track Announcer Jeremy MacDonald
