Fan Guide – ‘Chi City Showdown at Speedway Miramichi

What were you doing in August 1999?

For those that want a refresher, in August 1999, Jean Chrétien was the Prime Minister of Canada (Bill Clinton was in office to our south), Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera was the top of the Billboard Charts and Regis Philbin was asking a primetime audience “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

It also marked the final time the roar of Pro Stock type race cars were heard on the North Shore of New Brunswick.

It was August 7th, 1999 when MASCAR made their final appearance at Miramichi City Speedway. The 100-lap event was won by Halifax, Nova Scotia’s John Flemming and featured a 17 car field of the best from around Atlantic Canada.

Fast forward to Saturday, September 27th, 2014. History will be made again at Speedway Miramichi, as the return of Pro Stock cars will be the marquee attraction at the second annual September event at the track, dubbed this year as the ‘Chi City Showdown.

The two day event will be capped with a Pro Stock 125 event, which has drawn the eye of some of the best in the region. Dave O’Blenis of Boundary Creek and Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, who dominated the Coors Light 125 Sportsman event last September, will be bringing their Pro Stock cars to try and duplicate their performances from one year ago. Ken MacKenzie, who also has a major Sportsman win under his belt at Speedway Miramichi, will be looking to add to his hardware case with a ‘Chi City Showdown trophy.

Then there are some big names hoping to make Speedway Miramichi their playground.

Jonathan Hicken, who won four races on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour this season, will be looking to add a Speedway Miramichi checkered flag to his impressive resume. The 2013 Pro All Stars Series winner Cassius Clark of Farmington, Maine, will be sliding in the window of the iconic Rollie MacDonald owned #13 King Competition Chevrolet and he’s not coming all the way from Maine to settle for second!

Another driver who doesn’t like to settle for second will be back behind the wheel of a race car this weekend for the second time in 2014. Six time Maritime Touring champion Wayne Smith of Timberlea, Nova Scotia will have his #44 K. Hubley Woodworking and Contracting Chevrolet in tow this weekend with his eyes set on winning. Smith finished sixth in that last Pro Stock race on the Miramichi in 1999.

The John Flemming Motorsports #97 Happy Harry’s Affordable Building Center Dodge Charger will also be at Speedway Miramichi, but reports indicate it may not be Flemming himself behind the wheel. Flemming, the 2014 and now five time Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour champion, will hand the wheel over to Prospect Road, Nova Scotia’s DJ Casey. Casey finished second in the Dartmouth Dodge Sportsman Series at Scotia Speedworld in his second season in 2014 and is the 2006 Bandolero Canadian National champion.

The Brad Silliker owned, Miramichi based team will see John Rankin behind the wheel of their #2 entry, Miramichi’s Brady Creamer and youngster Dana Hamm from Cambridge-Narrows, who has experience in recent years at Speedway Miramichi in a Bandolero and Atlantic Modified, will also be searching for the top spot on Saturday. The driver for the Carnahan Motorsports #55 car has yet to be announced, and more entries are expected before race day.

Note: Just added to the expected entry list are Cornwall, PE’s Dylan Gosbee and Chipman, NB’s Cole Boudreau. Boudreau is the 2014 Speedway 660 Pro Stock Rookie of the Year and a former winner in a Bandolero at Speedway Miramichi.

And that’s not all!

While Pro Stocks are the top attraction, racing in the Street Stock and Bandolero class will play support on Saturday, while the Sportsman, Mini Stock, Atlantic Modified and Eastern Super Mini Cup Series will light up the night on Friday.

With complete entry lists not available at this time, we can tell you some of the region’s best are looking to hang it all out to take home the ‘Chi City Showdown glory. For Sportsman, Mini Stock, Street Stock and Bandolero teams, this is the final round of the NB Big Dawg Challenge, a series of races between Petty Raceway in River Glade and Speedway Miramichi. Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside, NS/Sportsman), Alexandra O’Blenis (Boundary Creek/Street Stocks), JR Lawson (Shubenacadie, NS/Mini Stock) and Braden Langille (Shubenacadie, NS/Bandolero) lead their respective NB Big Dawg Challenge divisions heading into the final race of the series. Points accumulated for the Mini Stock class will also go toward the Speedway Miramichi Mini Stock house division standings.

The event serves as a point race for the Atlantic Modified Tour and the Eastern Super Mini Cup Series. The Friday night show will be the penultimate event on the AMT, with the final event taking place next weekend at the Atlantic Championships at the CENTRE For Speed, while the ESMCS will crown their 2014 champion. Prince Edward Island’s Amanda Wheatley sits in the point lead with one race remaining for the Mini Cup Series.

The race is also the last scheduled event for Bill “The Bullet” Sommerville in his Hall of Fame. Sommerville, who will be inducted into the Maritime Motorsports Hall of Fame in November at their Gala Awards in Charlottetown, PE, will retire from full-time driving following Friday night’s 75-lap Sportsman race. While he hasn’t completely ruled out a start or two in the future, reminding everyone he still has an old Sportsman car in the corner of the shop, this marks the last start of his full-time racing career.

Courtney O’Blenis will be debuting her own Street Stock ride Saturday night in the 75-lap feature. O’Blenis drove her sister’s car in a Street Stock card at the track earlier this month, in which she came home the winner in the Semi. Courtney will have to get by her sister Alexandra and more than a dozen others who are expected if she wants to get back to victory lane in the Street Stock. In addition, the youngest of the O’Blenis clan will be doing double duty on Saturday as she will be driving in the Bandolero feature.

Fans will see the debut of “The Cone” restarts in the Maritimes when it comes to Sportsman and Pro Stock features on ‘Chi City Showdown weekend. When the field is told to cross over, a cone will be place on the track and each driver in the single file line coming to the cone will be able to chose their line on the restart, committing to whichever line they choose, top or bottom, when they pass the cone. For example, if all 14 cars in a 14 car field choose to start on the inside line, the field will restart single file. If the first five cars in line choose to start on the inside and the sixth place driver chooses to start on the outside, he/she will move up to the outside of the front row. The wrinkle creates extra strategy for teams as they go through their big features on the weekend.

These are just some of the storylines to follow as we work our way through the weekend at Speedway Miramichi. The weekend begins on Thursday with an open practice from 3pm to dusk. Pro Stock competitors can also practice their cars on Friday morning from 11:30am to 2:30pm.

For any information not included below, please visit SpeedwayMiramichi.ca, Facebook.com/SpeedwayMiramichi or @SpeedMiramichi on Twitter.

Feature photo by McCarthy Photographic

RACE DAY FORMAT

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th

Formats are subject to change without notice | Click picture to enlarge format

*Note, a Pro Stock practice is scheduled from 11:30am to 2:30pm.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th

 

OPEN PRACTICE

There will be an open practice on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th from 3pm to dusk for ALL DIVISIONS competing on the ‘Chi City Showdown.

An exclusive Pro Stock practice will be held on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th from 11:30am to 2:30pm.

ADMISSION PRICES

Friday and Saturday Night (separate admission, no weekend passes)

Adult – $15/night
Youth (9 to 17) – $10/night
Children Under 8 – Free

Pit Admission ; $25/night

NB BIG DAWG STANDINGS

Bandolero

	Car#	Driver	Points
1	51	Braden Langille	99
2	48	Courtney O’Blenis	94
3	6	Adam Meehan	94
4	08	Corey Hall	94
5	32	Ashton Tucker	91
6	84	Levi Rossiter*	90
7	55	Mackenzie Brewer	90
8	33	Cole Tanner	89
9	43	Hudson Weston*	84
10	68	Michael Cormier	84
11	18	Joshua Langille	80
12	13	Wyatt McCulloch	40
13	87	Danny Chisholm	38

 

Mini Stock

	Car#	Driver	Points
1	81	JR Lawson	146
2	66	Brad Daley	143
3	10	Patricia Taylor	132
4	89	Mike Edwards	97
5	88	Kody Quinn*	97
6	46	Gerry Bernard	91
7	92	Neal Crawford	89
8	91	Josh Moore	88
9	4	Eugene Weagle	88
10	17	Clinton Wright	84
11	44	Jorden Smith	48
12	5	Kyle MacMillan	47
13	14	BJ Donovan	46
14	26	Chris Savoie	42
15	58	Logan Power	42
16	9	Brandon Watson	40
17	60	Mike Weagle	39

 

Street Stock

	Car#	Driver	Points
1	14	Alexandra O’Blenis	149
2	85	Ken MacKenzie Jr	144
3	87	Nick Cudmore*	139
4	42	Mike Duskey	136
5	49	Gary Wade	131
6	29	Geoff Tugwell	97
7	00	Martin Landry	95
8	5	Bob Prosser	46
9	22	Jim MacMullin	45
10	44	Jamie Creamer	44
11	54	James Matchett	44
12	92	Shawn Lewis	44
13	24	Marshall Barry	43
14	19	Harry Wormell	42
15	13x	Joel Clancy	42
16	6	Tim Layton	41
17	82	Darcy O’Neill	40
18	60	Eric Matthews	40
19	63	Steve Scully	39

 

Sportsman

	Car#	Driver	Points
1	44	Russell Smith Jr	149
2	53	Laurie Cormier	145
3	48	Dave O’Blenis	141
4	88	Luc Bourgeois	138
5	7	Byron Bartlett	123
6	24	Marc Williams	123
7	33	Denis Mallet	123
8	29	Matt Maillet	118
9	74	Alexandra O’Blenis*	94
10	61	Chris Cormier	86
11	72	Shawn MacLean	75
12	10	Devin Snell	46
13	77	Colby Smith	46
14	22	Remi Gaudet	45
15	18	Harry Ross White	44
16	85	Ken MacKenzie	43
17	09	Nick Cadger	42
18	12	Wade Slauenwhite	40
19	15	Dan Bourque	38
20	10	Richard Salter	36
21	99	Phil Barkhouse	34
22	92	Doug Whyte	31
23	05	Fred Schofield	30

 

PAYOUTS