SCOTIA SPEEDWORLD: Two drivers from East Hants led the field for the Tirecraft 200 to green on Saturday night at Scotia Speedworld.
Shubenacadie’s Braden Langille, driving the no. 53 Butcher Racing machine, and the no. 80 of Colon Noble of Nine Mile River were better then the other 19 racers hitting the track for the East Coast International Pro Stock Tour’s season finale.
The two made up the front row for the race.
While it would be Craig Slaunwhite who wound up with the tour championship after the 200 laps and Ashton Tucker in the no. 2 would take the feature win, Langille and particularly Noble impressed in the early stages of the Tirecraft 200.
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Noble led almost 25 laps after the green flag was waved in the Ace in the Hole Septic services-sponsored hot rod to start the race and looked pretty good up front and battling in the top five.
He got collected in a wreck not of his own doing and that appeared to hurt the no. 80 a little and he fell back the rest of the night just outside the top 10.
Noble would finish his lone race of the 2023 calendar in 12th place out of the 21-car field on the lead lap, a good feat for the young driver who spent most of the season in the no. 03 Legend car.
The result earned the Hants East Rural High School driver the Lucas Oil Rookie of the Race honours.
Meanwhile, Langille drove the Atlantic Tiltload machine to an eighth-place finish in his first start of the season as well.
Langille, Russell Smith Jr. in the no. 88 and Slaunwhite won the heat races.
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Lantz’s Matt Vaughan had one of if not his best result of the 2023 campaign in the final race of the season.
He drove the no. 0 East Coast International machine to a finish just shy of a top five in sixth place.
Vaughan was flirting with fourth and fifth for most of the race, especially the back half when his car seemed to come alive.
It was Tucker’s second win in his limited schedule of racing with the Pro Stock Tour in the White Lightning Auto Centre no. 2 machine. He races out of Miramichi, N.B.
Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake, NS) applied pressure on Slaunwhite all afternoon but had to settle for third in the race and second in the championship chase.
Smith Jr. (Lakeside, NS) had another top-five finish, coming home fourth in the Tirecraft 200. Young gun Austin MacDonald had another great performance and finished fifth.
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Slaunwhite becomes the first driver ever to win three consecutive championships in Series history. Slaunwhite only needed a 17th place finish to clinch his third title but in true championship style he was on the track hunting another checkered flag.
He receives $15,000 from the East Coast International Point Fund and a championship ring commissioned by Inglis Jewelers.
The no. 11 of Jordan Veinotte (Dartmouth, NS) is officially the Lucas Oil Rookie of the Year.
Veinotte had mechanical issues taking him out of the Tirecraft 200 early. He wound up eighth in points overall at seasons end.
Mark LeClair (Brackley Beach, PE) took home the Kenny U Pull Hard Charger and the Fast Eddie Lucky Dog Award.
Slaunwhite led the most laps today, so he also picks up the R&D Performance Centre Most Laps Led Award.
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Other local racers had some good results as well:
Steve Lively of Shubenacadie just finished outside the top 10, one spot behind Nic Naugle in eleventh place in the East Coast Financing sponsored entry.
Stewiacke’s Wyatt McCulloch finished 15 laps down in 18th spot in the Farrell Excavating no. 48.
Meanwhile, it was Garth Bezanson of Stewiacke with a 20th place finish after completing 76 circles at Scotia Speedworld before mechanical issue took the no. 49 Hilltop Auto and Customworks entry out of the race.
For the first time in over 20 years, the Street Stocks hit the track at Scotia Speedworld.
The return of the Street Stocks saw an incredible battle between eventual winner Michael Cormier (Grand-Barachois, NB) and Riley Goodwin (McAdam, NB).
Martin Landry (Scoudouc, NB) charged hard late in the race to finish third.
Mitchell Arsenault (Summerside, PE) and Dennis Nickerson (Marshy Hope, NS) took home heat races in the 11-car field.
