OYSTER BED BRIDGE: It might have been Cory Hall racing to another win on the FGI Pro Stock Tour on a late Saturday night in PEI, but three local drivers who were in the top 10 were happy with how their races went and the results they came home with.
In the Mr. Lube+ Tires 150 at Oyster Bed Speedway, Gage Gilby of Enfield just missed out on a podium finish coming across the checkered flag in fourth; Porters Lake’s Jordan Veinotte was impressive in sixth; and Shubenacadie’s Braden Langille, who was battling with Gilby most of the race, crossed the finish line in seventh.
Ashton Tucker came across the finish just ahead of Enfield’s Jarrett Butcher to round out the podium.
Gilby and Robbie MacEwen made it the top five.
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Veinotte was the most relieved post-race when speaking to The Laker News about his sixth-place finish in the no. 11V Veinotte’s Trucking & Auto Service sponsored hot rod. He has had a bit of a rough go as of late with not making the finish in races and mechanical issues.
“We were chasing problems all day, a couple of oil leaks,” he said. ‘The car wasn’t handling the best and to be honest we think the front brakes went away in the race, we’re not sure.
“To finally finish a race and not all tore to hell is nice and going home and thrashing on things.”
He said the team had a goal going into the race.
“Our goal was to finish and we achieved, got a sixth-place finish and it was clean,” said Veinotte.
Veinotte was in the top five most of the day, but MacEwen got him in the waning laps to push him down to sixth.
Stephen Lively (Shubenacadie, NS), Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside, NS) and Dylan Gosbee (Cornwall, PE) won their respective Atlantic Tiltload heat races, which set the 20-car field.
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Langille said the 26 Coldstream Clear Distillery race team struggled for most of the day.
“Oyster Bed really hasn’t been a track where we’ve been great so to go home with a seventh-place finish is good,” he said. “It’s a momentum builder for us for sure.
“We struggled all day and thrashed on it, and never really had a moment where we thought we had a good car.
“We made it better for the feature and missed some wrecks and made it to the end.”
Langille felt they had a fifth-sixth place car.
“It’s just the way the restarts happened in the end we got hung out in the wrong lane but that’s part of racing especially here where it’s so tight and really a one lane racetrack.”
The heat races were done in sunshine and warmth while the race happened under the late-night sky and temperatures cooled off, as did the track.
Gilby thought the race was all about attrition, but his no. 25 Supplement King-CKG Elevator team put in a good effort.
“We kind of kept ourselves clean and ended with a fourth place so it was a good night,” said Gilby.
He was asked what more he may have needed to get that one extra spot and land with a podium finish.
“I probably needed better short run speed,” he said. “We fired off good and had good long run speed.
“We were quicker than Tucker and Jarrett at the end there, but we just ran out of time.”
Gilby said the race temperature didn’t really play a role.
“It didn’t change the car a whole lot,” he said. ‘All my guys put in a hard day’s work. Big thanks to them all.”
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Lively finished the race in 12th place in the no. 30 East Coast Financing hot rod; the no. 80 of Alex Johnson, in his OBS debut, had brake issues and settled for last place in the M & M Sheet Metal-sponsored car but good experience and seat time at a different track.
Additional contingency cash and prizes were also awarded too:
Eastlink Fastest Lap Award: Cory Hall
R&D Performancentre Most Laps Led Award: Cory Hall
Swift Springs Hard Charger Award: Braden Langille
QA1 Free Pass Award: Robbie MacEwen
Fivestar Hard Luck Award: Russell Smith Jr
Lucas Oil Rookie of the Race: Tanton Wooldridge
The finishing order:
1st – #83 Cory Hall
2nd – #2 Ashton Tucker
3rd – #54 Jarrett Butcher
4th – #25G Gage Gilby
5th – #40 Robbie MacEwen
6th – #11v Jordan Veinotte
7th – #26 Braden Langille
8th – #01 Tanton Wooldridge
9th – #25 Ryan VanOirschot
10th – #51 Mark LeClair
11th – #0 Sam Rogers
12th – #30 Stephen Lively
13th – #28 Matt Palmer
14th – #36 Gary Elliott
15th – #07 Allison MacKinnon
16th – #32 Chris Hughes
17th – #16 Dylan Gosbee
18th – #18 Darren MacKinnon
19th – #88 Russell Smith Jr
20th – #80 Alex Johnson
The Fort Garry Industries Pro Stock Tour races back to Scotia Speedworld for the Mr. Lube + Tires 200.
Tickets are available by heading to EventBrite.ca for the September 20 event on the outskirts of Halifax.
