You nominated your favorites, you voted  for them – and we listened!

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing results for the Tim’s Corner Motorsports Best of Maritime Awards. Fans voted through three rounds on nine different categories, with the nominees for the TCM Power Performer of the Year to be announced in early November.

A panel of three had an influence in the TCM Breakout Performer of the Year and the Kings County Performance Rookie of the Year Awards, while twenty judges narrowed the 2014 Finish Line Vinyl Design Best Looking Car Award to five cars. Fan voted categories included Favorite Tracks (Weekly, Monthly, Special Event) and Touring Series, Favorite Staple Race Track Food and the prestigious TCM Most Popular Driver Award.

SCORING EXPLANATION – TCM MOST POPULAR DRIVER AWARD

The breakdown for this is pretty simple. Think of it as your typical night at the short track where you have to qualify into the feature. Over 70 drivers were nominated by you, the fans, to take part in this year’s TCM Most Popular Driver Award voting, which saw three rounds of voting. The first round of voting, call it a heat race if you will, trimmed the field to 26 (originally set to 25, there was a tie for 25th). The second round of voting, or the semi-finals, took that field of 26 and put it down to the top ten. Those final ten went at it in the final round of voting, with the winner being the top driver in the third round.

Without any further adieu, here is the rundown of the ten finalists and where they placed in the final round of voting in the TCM Most Popular Driver Award.

Photos by McCarthy Photographic, Unless Otherwise Noted

10th – #22 Jeffrey Breen – Antigonish, NS – NAPA Sportsman Series

ROUND ONE – 2% of Vote – T14th
ROUND TWO – 5% of Vote – T7th
ROUND THREE – 5% of Vote – 10th

Notes: Breen had strong finishes to the first two rounds, gaining the votes he needed to advance in the last days of each round.

9th – #47 Dave Timmons – Inverness, NS – NAPA Sportsman Series

ROUND ONE – 6% of Vote – 2nd
ROUND TWO – 7% of Vote – 3rd
ROUND THREE – 7% of Vote – 9th

Notes: While Timmons saw increased votes in each round, including nearly doubling his votes in the final round, the 4th place driver in the NAPA Sportsman Series in 2014 has to settle for ninth in the TCM Most Popular Driver voting.

8th – #8 Kent Vincent – Crapaud, PE – Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour

ROUND ONE – 2% of Vote – T14th
ROUND TWO – 5% of  Vote – 10th
ROUND THREE -7% of Vote – 8th

Notes: By the skin of his teeth, Kent Vincent was able to battle it out for the win in the TCM Most Popular Driver Award in 2014. Vincent escaped Round Two with tenth place, by a single vote, over fellow Islander Matt Palmer and by three votes over Alicia Mowat and John Flemming.

7th – #40 Robbie MacEwen – Sherwood, PE – Oyster Bed Speedway Late Models

ROUND ONE – 6% of Vote – WINNER
ROUND TWO -9% of Vote – WINNER
ROUND THREE -9% of  Vote – 7th

Notes: Robbie MacEwen was the winner of the first two rounds of this competition, but could not transfer that to the final round. MacEwen edged Dave Timmons by a single vote in Round One and topped Brad Eddy by eight votes in the second round.

6th – #97 Chris Duncan – Hampton, NB – Petty Raceway/Speedway 660 Pro Stock

ROUND ONE – 3% of Vote – 13th
ROUND TWO – 6% of Vote – 5th
ROUND THREE -9% of Vote – 6th

Notes: Duncan, the Petty Raceway Pro Stock champion, missed the top five in the final round by 20 votes.

5th – #33 Cole Tanner – Shubenacadie, NS – Bandoleros

ROUND ONE – 5% of Vote – 5th
ROUND TWO – 5% of Vote – T7th
ROUND THREE -11% of  Vote – 5th

Notes: For the third consecutive year, Cole Tanner is one of the top five Most Popular Drivers in Atlantic Canada. After putting up top ten efforts in the first two rounds, his fans showed up in Round Three, putting him just a single vote out of fourth.

4th – #16JG Brent Roy – Hanwell, NB – Speedway 660 Sportsman

ROUND ONE – 5% of Vote – T3rd
ROUND TWO – 7% of Vote – 4th
ROUND THREE -11% of Vote – 4th

Notes: One of only two drivers to post top five finishes in all rounds, Brent Roy had his fans out in force throughout the battle for the TCM Most Popular Driver Award.

THE PODIUM

3rd – #75 Emily Meehan – Rawdon, NS – Scotia Speedworld/Maritime League of Legends

ROUND ONE – 2% of Vote – T14th
ROUND TWO – 5% of Vote – 6th
ROUND THREE -12% of Vote – 3rd

Notes: Strong start. Really strong finish. Just short of the goal.

“Miss Rawdon Rocket” Emily Meehan showed speed out of the gate in the final round of voting for the TCM Most Popular Driver Award, leading after 24 hours of voting took place. While her numbers continued to grow over the next week, they did not grow as rapidly as her counterparts and slipped to as low as seventh at one point in the voting.

Then came the final push.

With the power of social media, the second year Acadia University student took to social media in the final days of voting. In the final 24 hours, a push of over 50 votes came her way and it appeared she would be on her way to winning, but fell about 30 votes short when the final tally was made.

On track, Meehan completed another successful campaign at the helm of her Legend car. Meehan won one feature at Scotia Speedworld en route to a fifth place finish in the Strictly Hydraulics Legends division, a slim six points out of third. Speaking of third, she finished in the three hole in the Maritime League of Legends Tour point standings.

2nd – #02 Brad Eddy – Lower Sackville, NS

ROUND ONE – 5% of Vote – T3rd
ROUND TWO – 8% of Vote – 2nd
ROUND THREE -14% of Vote – 2nd

Total Percentage – 10% of total votes over three rounds

While his schedule may have scaled back to four races this season, fans surely have not forgotten the name Brad Eddy.

Eddy, who made three starts on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour in 2014, along with taking part in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown in South Boston, Virginia, led the TCM Most Popular Driver Award voting with three days to go in the voting. Closely pursued on his trip up the chart after a slow start in Round Three, he held an advantage of over a dozen votes at one point heading down the stretch before handing over the advantage with under 24 hours to go in the ballot, finishing second by five votes.

While the final round is the deciding factor, Eddy collected the most votes of any driver in the competition over three rounds, taking just over 10% of the over 2,600 total votes cast.

His racing future plans may be undecided at this point, one thing is for sure. Wherever he goes, whatever he sits his butt in, Eddy will have the support of race fans, as is shown here during the TCM Most Popular Driver Award voting.

Aaaaand the winner is…

 

 

1st – #32 Sarah McKay – Quispamsis, NB

ROUND ONE – 4% of Vote – 8th
ROUND TWO – 5% of Vote – 9th
ROUND THREE – 15% of Vote – WINNER

While she may have won the Fan Votes in both the Kings County Performance Rookie of the Year and the Finish Line Vinyl Design Best Looking Car chases by landslides, this one was a nailbiter down to the wire.

After tabulating votes, Sarah McKay is your 2014 TCM Most Popular Driver winner by a margin of five votes.

McKay, who finished second one year ago in the vote, took command of the voting on the final night,  holding the slim lead 0ver the final  hours of the voting. Not straying far from the top three in final round voting, she handily made the top 25 in Round One while she held on to a top ten spot in Round Two as her competitors made hard pushes to crack the final round.

Congratulations Sarah on your first TCM Best of Maritime Award victory! She will receive her award banner as the winner of the TCM Most Popular Driver voting Saturday night at the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour Banquet at Ramada Plaza in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The TCM Most Popular Driver Award banner is presented in part by Infinite Creative Solutions and McCarthy Photographic.

FIRST ROUND RESULTS (TOP 25)

Total Votes: 594

1st – #40 Robbie MacEwen
2nd – #47 Dave Timmons
3rd –  #02 Brad Eddy
3rd – #16JG Brent Roy
5th – #33 Cole Tanner
6th – #3 Alicia Mowat
7th – #5 Matt Palmer
8th – #32 Sarah McKay
8th – #46 Andre Chamberlain
10th – #84 Levi Rossiter
11th – #118 Mike Brown
12th – #53 Laurie Cormier
13th – #97 Chris Duncan
14th – #75 Emily Meehan
14th – #22 Jeff Breen
14th – #8 Kent Vincent
17th – #23 Drew Greenlaw
18th – #97 John Flemming
19th – #5 Jonathan Hicken
20th – #44 Nathan Blackburn
21st – #15 Roger Slocum
21st – #74 Alexandra O’Blenis
23rd – #85 Kenny MacKenzie Jr
24th – #00 Martin Landry
24th – #48 Courtney O’Blenis
24th – #52 Shawn Tucker

SECOND ROUND RESULTS

762 total votes

1st – #40 Robbie MacEwen
2nd – #02 Brad Eddy
3rd – #47 Dave Timmons
4th – #16JG Brent Roy
5th – #97 Chris Duncan
6th – #75 Emily Meehan
7th – #33 Cole Tanner
7th – #22 Jeff Breen
9th – #32 Sarah McKay
10th – #8 Kent Vincent
11th – #5 Matt Palmer
12th – #3 Alicia Mowat
12th – #97 John Flemming
14th – #15 Roger Slocum
14th –  #00 Martin Landry
16th – #23 Drew Greenlaw
17th – #84 Levi Rossiter
17th – #5 Jonathan Hicken
17th – #74 Alexandra O’Blenis
20th – #48 Courtney O’Blenis
21st – #52 Shawn Tucker
22nd – #53 Laurie Cormier
23rd – #44 Nathan Blackburn
24th – #85 Kenny MacKenzie Jr
25th -#118 Mike Brown
26th – #46 Andre Chamberlain

Previous champions of the TCM Most Popular Driver Award:

2014: Sarah McKay of Quispamsis, NB
2013: Mike Stevens of Salisbury, NB
2012: James Doucette of Miscouche, PE

 

About Tim’s Corner:

Tim’s Corner began as a weekly stock car racing column appearing on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca and MaritimeProStockTour.com, penned by track and series announcer Tim Terry. It has now grown to include basic media services for motorsport teams big and small. TimsCorner.ca, the official website of Tim’s Corner, also features Tim’s Corner Unplugged, a podcast hosted by Terry which focuses on the motorsports scene. For more information on Tim’s Corner and services offered, visit TimsCorner.ca!