GEARY, N.B.: The exhaustion mixed with satisfaction was on the face of Gage Gilby after the checkered flag flew on Saturday night.
That’s because the Enfield hot shoe had just driven 150 laps on a warm late May afternoon in his debut East Coast International Maritime Pro Stock Tour race at Speedway 660 in the Geary Woods, near Fredericton, N.B.
The driver of the no. 25 CKG Elevator- E-Commerce Solutions-Ryson Construction hot rod brought home an eighth-place finish at the checkered flag of the East Coast International 150.
“It was a lot of fun, tired for sure, but I learned a lot too,” said Gilby in a post-race interview with The Laker News. “Going to get ready for next week at Scotia.”
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Gilby was 14th in the first practice session on the track of 17 that hit the oval, putting in a time of 14.168. Cory Hall was fastest in first practice with a time of 13.770.
The crew of the no. 25 worked on the car, and he did get out a little for the next two sessions, but the times were still in the 14.0 seconds range.
However come heat racing time he was ready to go and came home in fourth in heat two.
That left Gilby qualified for the ECI 150 in seventh place ahead of Tucker and Hall.
“I’m definitely excited about it (finishing in eighth),” he said. “There’s definitely a lot of pluses to look at this week.”
He spoke about some of the lessons he learned in his first Pro Stock race.
“Overall being on there with a bunch of cars,” he said. “The art of passing is a little bit different, just learning where I was on the track. It was a good day.”
Gilby battled with 08 Naugle and 41 Rodgers in the last 50 laps. He talked about that hard racing between the three good drivers.
“It was lock in time and drive and see what we got,” said Gilby. “Thankfully, I got Naugle with three to go. He raced me clean, thank you Nic Naugle for that.”
He commended spotter Josh Langille for getting him through some of the tough spots with traffic all around.
While it looked like Ashton in the no. 2 was going to take the win before a pro-Tucker crowd, Butcher managed to overtake him for the final two laps and Tucker had to settle of second.
Butcher emerged from his no. 54 Superior Foundation-sponsored hot rod and stood waving the checkered flag to a roar of boos from the crowd, who likely were pulling for Tucker or another local to best the driver from Porters Lake.
“I think we did a great job all day and worked on the car all day to get it where it was,” he said.
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Jordan Veinotte rallied back from a broken rear-end that forced him to miss both heat races to grab a 10th place finish in the no. 11 Veinotte’s Trucking and Auto Service machine.
Shubenacadie’s Steve Lively had a good race going but saw the beach during the feature. He came home in 17 place, 20 laps down in the East Coast Financing no. 30.
After post-race tech and unofficial results were updated, Gilby’s finish was improved to seventh after Cory Hall, who finished third at the line, was disqualified by tour tech officials.
Veinotte bumped up to ninth place and Lively to 16th.
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Atlantic Tiltload Heat Races kicked off the action on the track with Ian Rasmussen in the no. 81; the 08 Brycon Construction machine of Nic Naugle of Dartmouth; and Tucker winning their respective 10-lap dashes, respectively.
That set the field for the East Coast International 150.
Other contingency winners include:
Eastlink Fastest Lap Award: #08 Nicholas Naugle (14.045 sec)
R&D Performancentre Most Laps Led Award: #54 Jarrett Butcher (75 Laps)
Swift Springs Hard Charger Award: #11v Jordan Veinotte
QA1 Free Pass Award: #25 Ryan VanOirschot
Willwood Racing Future Winner Award: #10 Devin Snell
Aero Wheels Last Car On The Lead Lap Award: #08 Nicholas Naugle
Fivestar Hard Luck Award: #32 Chris Hughes
Lucas Oil Rookie of the Race: #25G Gage Gilby
The East Coast International Pro Stock Tour returns to Scotia Speedworld next Saturday, June 1for the Kenny U-Pull 150.
Tickets are on sale now www.maritimeprostocktour.com or available at the gates on race day.
