Issue 60

Time to ‘Truck’ into 2011 for Pro Stock Tour

The 2010 season for the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour came to a close this past Saturday night in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The Delta Prince Edward played host to the Year-End Awards and Dance which was enjoyed by drivers, crew, friends, family and staff of the Tour. Here’s a few snippets of the action from Saturday night.

• Shawn Tucker received his 2010 championship on Saturday night. In his acceptance speech he thanked his crew and his family among others for a great season.
• Like many others this season, Tucker acknowledged the fantastic rookie battle and gave credit to top rookie Jerome Kehoe for coming out on top of the battle between he, Leonard Boutilier and Brad Brown. The difference between the top two freshmen after eleven races was fifty-three points.
• Speaking of Boutilier, Leonard’s new nickname may be “lucky” as he took away two of the three vendor draws of the evening. Driver #45 won the R&D Performancentre Five Star Body Award to go along with the Linde Group Electric Welder that was used by Tour teams throughout the 2010 season.
• The #5 team continued their winning ways this season as Jonathan Hicken’s name was drawn as the AFCO Shocks Vendor Award from R&D Performancentre. The blue #5 graced victory lane thrice this past season.
• Crapaud’s Kent Vincent was voted by his peer as the Most Sportsmanlike Driver. The award is coined by some as one of the hardest and most coveted award to win in any racing circle.
• The Delta Prince Edward was a fantastic host for the event. With the building overlooking the Hillsborough River and with light snow falling outside, the downtown Charlottetown hotel was a beautiful setting for the evening. The guests were treated to a buffet style dinner and dessert before the awards got under way and danced the night away following the presentations.

In previous years, the banquet has served as a stage to make major announcements for the next season. For the past ten years, CARQUEST has been the presenting sponsor of the Maritime Pro Stock Tour and though they will still be involved at the top level of racing in Atlantic Canada in 2011. Kevin Stewart and Marc Cloutier from CARQUEST were presented a special hood with the CARQUEST Pro Stock Tour logo and driver signatures on it prior to the presentation of the point fund awards.

With the announcement came another as Parts for Trucks will be stepping up as the major sponsor for the series in 2011. Parts for Trucks has been Atlantic Canadian owned and operated for 91 years and is well known to race fans in the area as a sponsor on the Tour. The Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour will see their first green flag in May 2011.

So ends another successful season of Pro Stock Racing in the Maritimes. 2010 will be remembered for many reasons – Mike Stevens and Jonathan Hicken winning their first events, Kent Vincent’s win in the IWK 250, ten different drivers winning in eleven races, Jerome Kehoe’s Rookie of the Year performance and Shawn Tucker’s championship run among other memories. 2011 is expected to see the same hard-nosed, bumper-to-bumper and wheel-to-wheel excitement that comes with the Maritime Pro Stock Tour!

For more information on Tim’s Corner, check out my Facebook page. On the page, you can keep up to date with all the latest news and updates from myself on the Maritime Pro Stock Tour and Scotia Speedworld.

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