Issue 229

Race Notebook: Cummins 150 @ Scotia Speedworld

Scotia Speedworld Quickly Becoming Cole’s Castle

If Cole Butcher continues to put on the shows he has at Scotia Speedworld, management may want to consider a name change to the track.

Okay, maybe that is a stretch, but looking at the statistics he has put up at his home track he certainly has owned the place over the last few years when the Tour rolls into town.

Think of it this way. When we go to Riverside International Speedway, we know Donald Chisholm is likely going to factor into the win somehow. The same case could be made when we rolled into Speedway 660 when Shawn Tucker was still racing with us. When you look at the stats sheet since the Tour was founded in 2001, they say the same as Chisholm and Tucker have the lead in wins at those respective tracks. In fact, both own eight wins at those tracks.

Butcher has six wins at Scotia Speedworld. His first win came in the second race in 2015. Since then, twelve races have been run at Scotia Speedworld for the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour and he’s won six, or half of those events since June 2015. Cassius Clark has won four of those last 12 races since Butcher won his first, with Dylan Blenkhorn and Shawn Turple picking up the other two.

If there were an Atlantic Canadian Power Rankings for stock car racing, Butcher would likely be near the top after the win two weeks ago in the Cummins 150, which was followed up last weekend with a Pro All Stars Series North win at Petty International Raceway. At the end of the Cummins 150, there were no other cars near him other than lapped cars. He had gapped the second place car by nearly a straightaway and had left only five cars on the lead lap.

While Butcher is holding a hot hand, let’s not overshadow the two cars that joined him on the podium.
Dylan Blenkhorn and Craig Slaunwhite had fast cars at Scotia Speedworld in Race Two and landed in the top three for the second straight week. With the speed the top three have showed in the first two races at unique race tracks, it will be intriguing to see who can crack the podium with the 67, 99 and 53 being strong early in the year. On the other side, you have three strong race cars there, who will be the first to falter in the trio? Shawn Turple has showed some speed and Jarrett Butcher completed the top five at the Cummins 150. Keep your eye on those two when we come back to Scotia Speedworld in a couple weeks as they could be tough under the lights in June.

With the second half of the race being so fast and the final 57 laps being run to the checkers, it showed who saved enough for the run to the finish. There were great pockets of racing throughout the field. Darren MacKinnon and Donald Chisholm battled late not only to stay on the lead lap but for that sixth place position. Kent Vincent rebounded from a tough week at Petty Raceway to come home with a top ten run, the same can be said for Greg Proude and Jonathan Hicken, who were out late in the Lucas Oil 150 on the Long Weekend.

Shawn Pierce has had two respectable runs to open up 2018. Pierce, with some new colors and Ntyce Motorsports on the hood of his No. 21 car, flirted with the top ten at Scotia Speedworld before fading to 13th in the long green flag run. Pierce was 10th in the standings last year and, I know it’s early, is currently eighth in points after two races. I think this could be Pierce’s best year on the Series if he can continue to produce runs like he has in the opening two events.

Waylon Farrell was the top Exide Batteries Rookie at Scotia with a 16th place finish, besting Braden Langille’s 20th place run and Cory Hall’s 22nd place finish. We haven’t seen anything one way or another about Cory Hall continuing in the No. 13 car, the deal in place pre-season was we’d see Clark back in the 13 at Riverside, but Hall is the Exide Batteries Rookie of the Year leader by two points after two races.

We never saw a ton of major attrition at Scotia Speedworld. Steve Halpin was involved in a stack up which ended his day one lap in and George Koszkulics hit the “slip n slide” in Turn One after his throttle stuck on the No. 88 car. Both are planning to be at the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet Buick GMC 150 on Saturday at Riverside and with the pair showing speed before their mishaps they should be ones to put on your radar for June 16th.

If you missed the Cummins 150, be sure to listen back on it at RaceTimeRadio.com.

 Next week, we preview the season opener for Riverside International Speedway and the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet Buick GMC 150.

Until then, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!