Issue 231

Race Preview: Nova Truck Centres "Make A Wish" 150 at Scotia Speedworld

From one of the biggest wrecks in Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour history to the closest finish we’ve ever seen, the Ron MacGillivray Chevrolet Buick GMC 150 had a bit of everything.

I know some fans like to see big accidents and that was quite the sight but there are a ton of teams that have had some late nights in the shop getting ready for Saturday. After the first 20 laps of the race, the cars of Shawn Pierce, Sarah McKay, Steve Halpin and Kyle Reid, among others, looked more like open wheel Modifieds at the front rather than sleek Pro Stocks.

Up front, Cole Butcher, Dylan Blenkhorn and eventual winner Shawn Turple kept us on the edge of our seats. Blenkhorn broke while running up front while Butcher dug deep on the last two trips around Riverside International Speedway but came up just short. While you are going to see different results by looking at the cars from different angles, the transponders crossed the scoring loop 0.002 seconds apart.

Ironically, Turple was involved in the closest finish in Tour history prior to Saturday night when he was edged by Wayne Smith in 2007 at Speedway 660 by 0.004 seconds. This time, he was on the right side of the inch as he edged Butcher for the victory.

With his win, the reigning champion of our Series becomes the third different winner on the year. Looking forward, of the 62 races contested at Scotia Speedworld since 2001, Butcher, Turple and Blenkhorn own 16 feature victories. Now, we milked the fact that Butcher has won half of the last 12 races ran at Scotia Speedworld in a Pro Stock and obviously will be a favorite on Saturday but who could be candidates to extend this different winners streak in 2018 to four?

Only five other winners at Scotia Speedworld are entered in the Nova Truck Centres Make a Wish 150 on Saturday. John Flemming is the winningest driver in Tour history at Scotia Speedworld with nine, Craig Slaunwhite has four wins, Jonathan Hicken has two and Greg Proude and Marty Prevost each have one win. Proude has shown speed this season, Slaunwhite has finished third in each of the three events so far this year and Flemming looked like he was returning to top form with a top five run last weekend. For Prevost, it will be his first start of the season.

Could we see a first time winner at Scotia Speedworld? Give me a Donald Chisholm, a Dylan Gosbee or a Darren MacKinnon here if we extend the streak of different winners in 2018 with a first time winner in Halifax that have won races elsewhere on the Tour. Chisholm struggled a bit with speed during practice for the Ron Mac 150 but you best believe the Nova Racing crew have been searching all week long in the shop. Gosbee is always a contender wherever he goes and if you’re keeping score, Darren MacKinnon has finished sixth in the first three Tour races on the year. Kent Vincent also slots into this category and is looking for some luck to turn his season around.

Add ten drivers in the “King Freight Future Winners class” to the dozen drivers listed above to get a stellar field of 22 for the Nova Truck Centres Make a Wish 150. Leading that list has to be Jarrett Butcher and Nicholas Naugle. Butcher was in the top five during the Cummins 150 in May when his brother left only five on the lead lap. Naugle was in the top ten at Riverside Speedway and has showed consistent speed and constant gains throughout the year. Naugle also took a win earlier in the year at Scotia, winning last week in a Legend car.
DJ Casey’s new Vandoorn car is an absolute beauty. Once he gets that Paul Stulac Cigars car dialed in, the No. 94 will be up front. Is Saturday the night? Maybe not with it only being the second race in the car but we’ll definitely see Casey give it all its worth!

Waylon Farrell took the upper hand in the Exide Batteries Rookie of the Year chase and now leads Braden Langille, who sustained a sprain to his wrist in the Lap 17 wreck last week, by 43 points. The freshman drivers have had an up and down season and will look to bring it to the upswing on Saturday.

Also among those drivers looking for their first Tour win on Saturday include Allison MacKinnon, Shawn Pierce, Stevie Lively and Sarah McKay.

A little birdie told me that we may see a driver change inside the 14 car. When I spoke with Byron Bartlett earlier in the year, he told me that he may be slipping into the seat of Terry Dougay’s car at some point this year and it would likely be at Scotia Speedworld. I heard late this week that this may be the race, so we’ll have to see who straps on the belts when the car rolls out for first practice on Saturday afternoon.

You can probably handicap your field to that point above if you were setting some sort of odds. You have the three 2018 winners, the five former Scotia Speedworld winners (not included in the three point leaders), the four former Pro Stock Tour feature winners that haven’t won at Scotia Speedworld before and the remaining ten “Future Winners” looking for their first Pro Stock Tour victory.

Since I can’t choose a group of drivers for the Pick The Winner contest the Pro Stock Tour has going, and since I missed out on the winners of Race One and Three, I need to throw a bit of a long pass to try and gain some points. With Cole Butcher and Dylan Blenkhorn both winning the Nova Truck Centres 150 for their first career Tour victory, and King Racing/Cassius Clark not in the field, I will go out on a limb and pick JARRETT BUTCHER for his first career Tour win.

If you’re on the fence about making the trek to Scotia Speedworld this weekend, it is going to be a great two days of racing. Yes, the CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series runs Friday night and includes Sportsman and Legend action along with Bandoleros and Lightning cars, but Saturday’s undercard will round out the evening nicely. The MJS and Prime Lift East Coast Mini Stock Tour is on the card for 50-laps and they are expecting around two dozen Hondas to run for the checkered flag. With the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour in town and the forecast looking good for Friday and Saturday, you should be making plans now to head down if you haven’t already!

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