Issue 51

Preview - Parts For Trucks 200

The tenth season of the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour will rumble to a close this Saturday night but not before crowning a 2010 champion! Six drivers still mathematically have a chance with four drivers having a realistic shot at the championship trophy that will be presented in Charlottetown on November 20th. Before we get into the race preview itself, let’s take a quick look at the championship picture with one event to go!

1st – SHAWN TUCKER – FREDERICTON, NB – 1965 POINTS

#52 A.L. GULLISON DISASTER KLEENUP CHEVROLET IMPALA
Consistency wins championships, especially when there hasn’t been a two-time winner on the Tour this season. Shawn will look to not only take his first victory of the season at a track he’s finished second at thrice this season but he will also look to nail down his third CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour championship. If he could do so, it would tie him with John Flemming for the most championships in the CARQUEST Tour era (2001-2010). Of note, Shawn is also the defending champ of the Parts for Trucks 200.

2nd – SHAWN TURPLE – ENFIELD, NS – 1949 POINTS

#0 DEXTER CONSTRUCTION/MUNICIPAL GROUP CHEVROLET IMPALA
Turple could join John Flemming this weekend as the only driver to win back-to-back championships in the CARQUEST Tour era if he can gain the extra sixteen points needed to catch Shawn Tucker. Turple comes off a second place run in the Pro Stock 250 last weekend and hopes to win his second Tour event of the summer at his home track!

3rd – WAYNE SMITH – TIMBERLEA, NS – 1936 POINTS

#44 JETCO CONTRACTING CHEVROLET IMPALA
“The Oval Outlaw” will look to take his sixth Maritime Touring title this weekend and third in the CARQUEST era as he goes into battle at his home track. Smith won the Lucas Oil 100 at Oyster Bed Speedway earlier in the season and ran many laps of last week’s event in the top five. He sits twenty-nine points behind Tucker.

4th – DONALD CHISHOLM – ANTIGONISH, NS – 1933 POINTS

#89 KELTIC FORD FUSION
The Parts for Trucks 100 winner from Riverside International Speedway earlier in this season finished third in this event one season ago. Chisholm is in championship contention as he sits just thirty-two points out of first and sixteen out of second. Watch for the #89 car to be near the front at the end of 200 laps!

Though they will still be in mathematical contention when they drop the green silk on Saturday afternoon, they will likely need each of the top four to falter in order to have a chance at the championship.

5th – JONATHAN HICKEN – BRUDENELL, PEI – 1911 POINTS

#5 CHAPMAN BROTHERS CONSTRUCTION/CASTLE BUILDING CENTERS CHEVROLET IMPALA
The only team with two wins this season sits fifth in the standings with one event to go. Though not impossible, fifty-four points will be a tall mountain to climb in the finale for the Parts for Trucks 100 at Oyster Bed Speedway winner. Expect Hicken to pick up where he left off one week ago as he ran a majority of laps in the Pro Stock 250 near the or at the front of the field!

6th – KENT VINCENT – CRAPAUD, PEI – 1906 POINTS

#8 VECTOR AEROSPACE DODGE CHARGER The only Dodge driver still mathematically involved in the championship hunt is Kent Vincent. The IWK 250 Presented by Steve Lewis Auto Body winner can make big gains this weekend with a solid run in the season finale as he is only thirty points out of third place in the standings!

When the green flag flies, all other drivers will be eliminated from championship contention but that doesn’t mean they’ll be going any less hard for the final checkered flag of the season. When you look at favorites outside the top six, one has to look at Salisbury, New Brunswick’s Mike Stevens. Stevens drove his #26 G. Bourque/R. Stevens Mechanical Ford Fusion to his first ever Pro Stock Tour victory at the Speedworld just three short weeks ago. Greg Proude is another driver that deserves a look when it comes to favorites. The #29 APM/PEI International Motoring Festival Dodge Charger won the first race of 2010 at Riverside International Speedway and is a former winner at the Speedworld that could take the Parts for Trucks 200 trophy away. Proude led late in the Pro Stock 250 last weekend before coming home in the fourth spot!

There are a lot of teams looking for their first Pro Stock Tour victory of 2010 and only have one shot left to do so. Names like Slaunwhite, Flemming and MacKenzie are former winners on the Tour that will roar into their home track with one more chance for glory this season. EIT Race Radio Rookie of the Year leader Jerome Kehoe of Sydney turned some heads at the Lucas Oil 100 in August by having a top five run for most of the event. Chris Hughes is expected to return to run the last race of the season and will look to put his #32 car into victory lane. Lots of good names have yet to hold feature checkers and will have the last opportunity to do so this weekend!

Leonard Boutilier holds a very special distinction this weekend. Not only is the Dutch Settlement driver in the thick of the Rookie of the Year battle and will be looking for a top ten overall point finish this season, he will be the only driver that can say he has raced with Ken Schrader twice in the last two years at Scotia Speedworld. Boutilier was part of “Ken Schrader Night” in the #45 Sportsman car last season and he took that Robert Hage owned car to a second place run – beating Schrader by two positions! Boutilier, who made the Dartmouth Dodge Dash for Cash last time out at the Speedworld and started in row two for the Lucas Oil 100 will be one to watch on Saturday.

Speaking of Schrader, the Fenton, Missouri native is set to make his second start at the Speedworld in the last thirteen months. Schrader ran a fifty lap event last season in a Sportsman car which was won by James Graves and will look to better his finish by three positions as he will wheel a Parts for Trucks sponsored Impala out of the Steve Henderson stable in Truro. With the best Pro Stockers in Atlantic Canada set to do battle with the NASCAR Legend it is anyone’s guess as to who will come out on top.

Note the time change for this Saturday’s event compared to others this season. The Atlantic Tiltload Time Trials roll at 3:10pm with Dartmouth Dodge Qualifying rolling at 4pm. There is racing tomorrow (Friday) night at the Speedworld beginning at 7pm with the Sportsman, Legends, Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros and the Trucks crowning champions as part of Scotia Speedworld’s Weekly Racing Series Finale Friday. More info can be found at ScotiaSpeedworld.ca for that event. Make it a weekend and come out for one final shot of speed in 2010 at the Enfield track!

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