MAIN PHOTO: Hailey Bland of Lakeview in the no. 27 makes an attempt at a pass on the outside of the 63 of Andrew O’Connor. (Healey photo)
OYSTER BED BRIDGE, PEI: Oyster Bed Bridge Speedway (OBS) left a good first impression on a young newcomer bandolero racer from Lakeview.
Hailey Bland was among the 17 bandolero drivers to take the green flag on Labour Day during the Tim’s Corner Motorsports (TCM) September Shootout at the track near Brackley Beach in P.E.I.
It was the track’s season finale for the 2022 race season, all culminating with a demolition derby.
The Lockview High student came away with a third-place finish among the Beginner bandoleros in their feature race, and a fifth and sixth place results in the features that saw the Beginners racers allowed to compete up a level with the Outlaw drivers.
In those two features, the Beginners started at the tail end and had to work their way to the front, which Bland, who is in Grade 10, did magically both times in her no. 27 Dartmouth Metals-The Laker News-sponsored bando.
Overall, it was Caden Tufts taking home the TCM September Shootout trophy with a pair of feature wins behind the wheel of the no. 00. Tufts said going into the weekend it was going to be his last in the bandolero as he was shifting his focus fully to his Legend car for the remainder of the season.
Bland was impressed with OBS.
“It’s a pretty awesome track,’ she said. “I got to race with a lot of different drivers.”
She was happy with her performance on track as well, especially racing against the next division up, the Outlaw bando drivers.
“There was a lot of crashes, which I’m not used to,” she said, “but it all went good in the end.”
Bland said there were some takeaways for her from the day of racing at Oyster Bed.
“Everyone has different ways of racing. You just have to work with it,” said Bland. “You don’t get angry at other people because it may not be their fault it could be the car. Keep your cool.
“I’ve never been to OBS before, so it was all new to me when I got here. I figured it all out.”
Besides Bland, Nine Mile River’s Bristol Matthews had finishes of fifth in the beginner feature in the no. 99; and 10th and 12th in the feature with the combined Outlaw and Beginners.
Bella Pashkoski of Beaver Bank placed fourth in the Beginner feature in the no. 85 but did not race the two combined features.
Bella’s brother, Brett Pashkoski, also of Beaver Bank, came home in 11th in the first combined feature, and fourth place in the second feature.
