Penalties From August 20th Bomber Feature Announced
On Saturday August 20th, 2022, a series of incidents and altercations occurred during the scheduled 30-lap Bomber feature at Speedway Miramichi, which was cut short to 25 laps.
After over a week of thorough investigation, meetings and discussions with both sides as well as witnesses, and hours of video review, management and race control is today announcing the penalties and sanctions which will be assessed. These penalties were assessed taking into account the 2022 Speedway Miramichi Stock Car Competition Rules, and considering the facts uncovered during the review of the altercations as well as the uniqueness of each situation.
For mobile users - please see the PDF below for the full penalty report due to formatting issues on some mobile phones.
Individual | Role | Violation(s) | Penalty |
Axten MacLean | Driver - #13 Bomber | 2022 Competition Rules Section 16 – Driver / Racing Conduct - Violation for use of vehicle as a weapon. Section 17 – Crew Members - Violation for actions of crew members. | - Loss of finishing position for the event – will be scored as last place. - Driver will have to start at the rear for the heat and feature at the next event. - A one-year individual probation has been assessed. |
Timmy Blakely | Driver - #69 Bomber | 2022 Competition Rules Section 16 – Driver / Racing Conduct - Violation for use of vehicle as a weapon. Section 17 – Crew Members - Violation for actions of crew members. | - Loss of finishing position for the event – will be scored as last place. - Driver will have to start at the rear for the heat and feature at the next event. - A one-year individual probation has been assessed. |
Johnathan Dickson | Driver - #3 Bomber | 2022 Competition Rules Section 18 – Behaviour and Altercations - Violation for fighting in the pit area. | - A $50 fine has been assessed for fighting. - A one-year individual probation has been assessed. |
Todd MacDonald | Spectator | General Track Procedures - No fighting in the pits. | - As a spectator, the penalty assessed is a ban from entering the pit area for the remainder of the 2022 season. |
Brad MacLean | Crew - #13 Bomber | 2022 Competition Rules Section 18 – Behaviour and Altercations - Violation for going to another pit stall to cause an altercation and physical contact (grabbing the driver). | - A $50 fine has been assessed for going to another competitor’s pit for confrontation. - A one-year individual probation has been assessed. |
Aimee MacLean | Associated Member - #13 Bomber | 2022 Competition Rules Section 18 – Behaviour and Altercations - Violation for going to another pit stall to cause an altercation and physical contact (hitting the driver). | - A $100 fine has been assessed (doubled due to hitting a driver still in their car). - A one (1) race suspension has been assessed for the contact with a driver in their car. - A one-year individual probation has been assesed. |
Entire #13 Bomber Team | N/A | Various | A one-year probation applies to the entire #13 team subject to conditions. |
Entire #69 Bomber Team | N/A | Various | A one-year probation applies to the entire #69 team subject to conditions. |
The one-year probation applies to all members of the #13 and #69 teams, which will result in long-term suspensions being assessed should the terms of probation being violated. While this probation letter only names the #13 and #69 teams, the same penalties would be assessed should another team attempt to involve themselves and reignite this situation against either driver.
These penalties are based on the following facts, the majority of which are agreed upon by all sides with a few exceptions. The facts, in brief, are as follows:
There was an ongoing feud between teams #13 and #69 in the Bomber division during the 2022 racing season. When aware, Speedway Miramichi had intentions of having a meeting with both sides. However, prior to the July 2nd race, there was a discussion as individuals on either team took it upon themselves to address the situation. At this point Speedway Miramichi had reason to believe the situation was diffused and no further action was necessary. However, as the summer progressed it was learned that associated members actions and words had seemingly reignited this feud.
The August 20th Bomber race was a messy race plagued with many incidents. Both drivers involved in the altercations - Timmy Blakely (#69) and Axten MacLean (#13) - were having rough races - a flat tire put Blakely down laps, while MacLean was sent to the rear for spinning to bring out a yellow near the halfway point.
The rough race was throughout the field, with a lack of respect on the track. This resulted in many cars being down laps, and many cars having damage, which led to confusion additionally.
On lap 24, a tire came off the #3 car drawing a caution. There was limited cooperation when resetting the lineup, and the ensuing restart was jumped by the front row and called back by race control.
As race control was dealing with these multiple other issues under the caution for the jumped restart, the #13 and #69 cars ended up side by side having a "disagreement" over positioning amongst the confusion on the track.
With race control continued dealing with other matters, the disagreement escalated and the #69 ran into the back of the #13 car during the caution period multiple times. On the ensuing restart, the #69 pushed the #13 car, with the outcome being the #13 spinning into the #18 car and drawing another yellow flag.
On the ensuing restart, the #13 chased down the #69 car, and hit the back of the #69 car before spinning the #69 car around. The caution waved which ended the race.
As the on-track situation unfolded ending the race, tempers escalated in the pits with words being exchanged. A fight broke out in front of the pit grandstands between Johnathan Dickson (driver of the #3 Bomber) and Todd MacDonald (a spectator) in the pits. Several individuals attempted to break up this altercation.
Upon the altercation being broken up, individuals including Brad MacLean and Aimee MacLean (part of the #13 team), headed to the #69 pit stall as the drivers returned to the pits from the track. Accounts of the events do not match entirely here, but a second altercation unfolded while the driver was still in his car.
Once everyone was separated, several individuals involved in the multiple altercations were ejected for the remainder of the event.
Since August 20th, meetings were held with individuals teams, as well as a meeting with select members of both teams partaking.
All parties involved have agreed the best course of action moving forward is to not allow any more feuding or altercations to occur and for clean racing to occur. All parties involved exchanged hand shakes upon completion of the August 29th meeting.
Teams were informed of the penalties during the August 29th meeting, and formal letters are being sent to both teams.
All aspects were taken into consideration for penalties, including the fact there was a known feud earlier in the summer, and race control missing initial contact while dealing with other issues.
We thank everyone for their cooperation and patience as we worked to resolve this matter, and we look forward to moving on with some great, exciting, and respectful action at our next event on September 10th.
Official results and points will be finalized in the coming days as this incident and review are closed.
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