Maritime Racing
Late Model, Street Stock Point Standings Tight Heading Into Monday’s Show at OBS
Track Release/Photo by Scott Sinclair
OYSTER BED – There is only two weekends of races left at Oyster Bed Speedway and two divisions have all but crowned a champion but the top two divisions may come down to the final race of the season before a Championship is awarded.
None is closer than the Late Model division where 5 points separate the top three drivers. Kris Fournier has been the division leader for most of the entire season and is now trying to cling onto a slim lead in the points race. A disappointing feature finish last weekend opened the door for his two closest competitors to close the gap. The former points Champion so far this season has been resilient and leads the division in feature wins with three.
Matt Palmer has been in second place for most of the season and despite having only one feature win which came more than three months ago during the opening weekend he leads the division in top three finishes with thirteen. Palmer will have to make sure he keeps Fournier behind him in each race and one way to guarantee that would be for a few wins to close out the season.
Mark LeClair in his first season in the Late Model division has not looked like a rookie. The veteran Street Stock division driver made the jump this season to the Speedway’s top division and has been racking up the wins since his first one came in late June. Since then he has been nothing short of spectacular amassing a division leading 10 wins including two feature wins.
With only being five points separating the top three drivers each and every race to close out the season will be intense and crucial.
The same scenario is playing out in the Street Stock division. Defending points Champion Mark MacLean has been hanging onto the points lead for most of the entire season. That points lead has now been cut down to a 14 point lead over Colton Ford and Alex Sheehan is 17 points out.
MacLean has made it to victory lane this season 4 times including a feature win and has finished in the top three a total of 15 times. Seldom do you ever see MacLean at the bottom of any race and has been the model of consistency. After leading some of the David Lambe memorial MacLean was involved in an accident and the team will be looking to rebound after that disappointing finish.
Colton Ford has been the class of the field so far this season. He leads the division in feature wins, total wins and top three finishes. Coming off the biggest win of his Stock Car career last weekend in capturing the David Lambe Memorial, Ford seems poised to take on the defending Champion and make the final two weekends of racing memorable.
With all the attention squarely focused on MacLean and Ford, Alex Sheehan may have a shot at flying under the radar and sneaking into the top spot. Sheehan may not be as flashy of a driver as his two closest competitors having only captured one heat and one feature win on the season but don’t count out the quiet driver. His average finish has slipped a bit in the second half of the season but his third place finish in the David Lambe Memorial race last weekend may be enough to propel him into Victory Lane.
The annual Labour Day racing gets underway at 2 pm Monday and will feature all four classes of racing with the annual Demolition Derby wrapping up the afternoons festivities.