THE CALM AFTER THE STORM
When the dust had settled over Speedway Miramichi, everyone knew they had just witnessed an event that lived up to the hype! 9 competitors participated in the Day of 8's Figure 8 Trailer Race, with 4 Utility Trailers, 4 Campers and even a Push Snowblower attached to a car! The action took off right from lap 1 when Duncan Robichaud parked his #308 Camper in the X for Ricky Boudreau to crash through the back of it followed by RJ Driscoll with "The Tornado" to complete the job on the trailer. But Duncan's deck, axle & wheels remained and he was still good to go! #99 Mathieu Brideau got up on the back of Cody Legere's #04 Trailer and forced a wheel off, eliminating the 04. Randy Girouard lined his #8 Pickup and Camper through Mathieu Brideau's Pop-Up Tent Trailer, destroying the shell but the bottom remained intact, keeping Brideau in the game. Rejean Robichaud sent his #77 into the rear of the #999 camper in the X, killing his own vehicle as RJ kept on rolling. Finally, Brideau's #99 pushed itself up and over the frame of "The Tornado" pushing the entire sheel of the trailer off the frame, but unluckily jacked himself up on the frame, leaving both vehicles dead in the water and out of the event. The only remaining vehicles were the 04 who was unaware he was missing a wheel and out, giving Duncan Robichaud the win with his #308 Ranger and remains of his Camper.
Kicking off the night in Stock Car competition was the Mini Stocks. Unfortunately we had another limited field of 3 cars, but nevertheless, the guys delivered great action! The heat race seen some back and forth passes for the lead between JR Lawson (#81) and Rob Poirier (#0) who stayed bumper to bumper/door to door over the 10 laps, overlapping Rookie competitor Joel Despres in the $52. Defending Champ JR Lawson drove away with the heat win.
Their feature battled over 20 laps showed more of the same. Lawson and Poirier remained mere feet away from each other throughout 20 laps with some bumping and sliding along the way. Joel Despres showed some improvements over last months event as far as speed and handling as he gets into the groove of the vehicle and the track, but the battle throughout remained with a tight finish at lap 20, and Rob Poirier collecting the checkered flag over JR Lawson!
Street Stock competition was contested through a small field of 4, but following suit with the Mini's, there was constant action throughout. The 10 lap Heat race was off to a rocky start when Jason MacCallum's #27 attempted an outside pass on race leader Axten MacLean coming out of turn 4 on the second lap and made contact with the wall on the front stretch, knocking him out of the heat race. Axten gave the courtesy tap and went to the back for the restart. Off the green, Street Stock Veteran Brad MacLean pulled away from his competitors and Street Stock Rookie Axten MacLean made his way around the 93 of Alex Michaud, but didn't have the time to make it around the 13, giving Brad the Heat win.
Jason MacCallum's #27 made it out for the 20 lap Feature, and he wasn't coming to play. Axten MacLean pulled ahead in the lead from the start and maintained it throughout, with the big battle being fought hard for 2nd place between the 13 and 27. Brad MacLean maintained his 2nd place position as Jason MacCallum tried every trick he could pull to get around the 13, inside & outside pass attempts, pushing and even spinning, all to no avail as Brad held him off and maintained his position. In the final lap, the senior MacLean gave a few hits to the back of Axten letting him know the win won't come easy, but ultimately, it was Axten MacLean who claimed victory in the Tom Nicholls Racing #28!
Easily the most entertaining group of Stock Car drivers in the area, the rock 'em sock 'em sliding sideways thrill show Bomber Class did not fail to deliver the big action on the track!
Heat 1 was contested over 10 laps with 8 cars, and had some tight, heated action throughout. With Returning Champion John Dickson claiming the win over Veteran driver Robert Legere and top competitor Axten MacLean.
Heat 2 also did not lack in action, with a lot of bumping and sliding throughout the 10 laps and 6 cars. Ultimately, rising star Riley Connell brought the #43 to the checkers over the current points leader Alex Duguay and Randy Girouard.
Their 28 Lap feature was about as edge-of-the-seat action packed as they come. After a surprise field invert decided by crowd vote, the leaders had to start at the back and fight their way up to the front. Axten MacLean, pulling double duty and just coming out from his Street Stock Feature win came out late and wound up in the front of the field for the feature in a stroke of luck. Axten pulled the #13 ahead for the lead from the get-go as the action unfolded behind him with Alex Duguay trying to take the lead. After a few sessions of contact, the 11 dumped the 13 car intentionally between turns 3 & 4, forcing the 11 to the back of the field. The race remained fast and action packed for the remainder until Rookie racer Nick Hallihan lost his vehicle around a turn forcing another Yellow. On the restart, Cody Legere ran into the wall hard in turn 1, ending his race and forcing a Green/White/Checkers ending to the race with Axten MacLean getting his 2nd Feature win of the day. Robert Legere launched the 04x from next-to-last to 2nd spot in a true show of wheelmanship and Riley Connell rounded off the podium in 3rd spot.
Starting off the DEMO portion of the day, as always, was the Dash for Cash. 10 laps fought by 28 cars starting out in randomly drawn positions. With Mathieu Brideau drawing pole position in the #99. Mathieu was like a rocket on rails in his Honda Pilot, navigating through the field of Demo drivers cleanly, earning himself the 1st demo win of the night, and the Dash for Cash payout.
The ladies of the Powder Puff division went out next, contesting 18 laps. There was some very tight racing from the start with everyone staying clean throughout the first half of the race. Jocelyn Murdock ran her #19 into turn 1 a little too hot and lost control of her vehicle midway through the race to bring out a yellow flag. From the restart to the checkers there was a hard battle for the lead between points leader Monique Benoit, Melanie Bastarache and Tania Jean. When the 18th lap was over, it was Tania Jean in the #22 who claimed the checkered flag, with Bastarache in 2nd and Benoit in 3rd. An ending which is going to scramble the top of the points standings for the Powder Puffs.
The Demo drivers returned to the track afterward, only this time in reverse for 5 laps. Mathieu Brideau took the lead early on with Marc-Andre Benoit following behind in the #81. The race came to a red flag halt after Dan Goodin rolled his 420x onto the roof in turn 1. After the driver came out of the vehicle uninjured and the car was put back on its wheels thanks to RJ Driscoll and AA Towing, the race recommenced. Brideau and Benoit took over the top positions again in no-time and made their way through the field of cars until they both made contact and lost their vehicles at the same time. After some scrambling throughout the remaining drivers, it was Duncan Robichaud who managed to make his way through the carnage for the win.
For the first time this season, we contested the Tire Race. 8 laps around the track with tractor tires placed between the turns and the drivers need to do a circle around them in order to complete the lap. Lap 1 saw the first tire pushed far into the infield, forcing a caution to get it back into place. After the restart, it didn't take long before it was pushed out again and a car broke down with his drivers door exposed, forcing caution number two. After the restart, the tires were once again pushed into the infield so we kept the race going making sure the drivers did a full loop between the turns. After so much spinning and banging throughout the carnage, Mathieu Brideau once again took the checkered flag with the #99.
A total of 10 cars competed in the crowd favorite Burnout Competition! With a very close call by cheers between Rene Thibodeau who put on a hell of a show in a dropped top Dakota, and Birthday Girl Averi MacLean who celebrated her 13th Birthday by performing burnouts in a Street Stock. Ultimately the victory by a super close crowd cheer went to Rene Thibodeau.
After the dust had settled from the Trailer Race, we brought the cars out for the Day of 8's Demo Finale. 25 competitors took part in the dust-filled derby, delivering huge hits in the infield. In the end it was down to the 57 of Shawn Mazerolle and the 94 of Shawn Sisk. Just as it seemed like Mazerolle wasn't going anywhere, he got the 57 going delivering one final shot to Sisk seconds before timing out, taking out the 94. Giving Shawn Mazerolle the big Demo win over his 24 competitors!
All in all, we were blessed with great weather, a great number of fans and even greater action from our drivers. Making the Day of 8's a great success! Now we have almost a month of downtime to clean up the mess and get everything ready for our running of the T&L Abatement and Remediation Firecracker Night, highlighted by the Bomber 50 on Saturday, July 22nd! Until then, follow our social media for updates on points standings and other news!
RESULTS;
Mini Stock Heat
1st: #81 JR Lawson
2nd: #0 Rob Poirier
3rd: #52 Joel Despres
Street Stock Heat
1st: #13 Brad MacLean
2nd: #28 Axten MacLean
3rd: #93 Alex Michaud
Bomber Heat 1
1st: John Dickson
2nd: Robert Legere
3rd: Axten MacLean
Bomber Heat 2
1st: #43 Riley Connell
2nd: #11 Alex Duguay
3rd: #8 Randy Girouard
Mini Stock Feature
1st: #0 Rob Poirier
2nd: #81 JR Lawson
3rd: #52 Joel Despres
Street Stock Feature
1st: #28 Axten MacLean
2nd: #13 Brad MacLean
3rd: #27 Jason MacCallum
Bomber Feature
1st: #13 Axten MacLean
2nd: #04x Robert Legere
3rd: #43 Riley Connell
Powder Puff
1st: #22 Tania Jean
2nd: #11 Melanie Bastarache
3rd: #007 Monique Benoit
Dash For Cash
1st: #99 Mathieu Brideau
2nd: #81 Marc-Andre Benoit
3rd: #22 Mitch Brideau
Reverse Race
1st: #308 Duncan Robichaud
2nd: #99 Mathieu Brideau
3rd: #35 Nathan Richard
Tire Race
1st: #99 Mathieu Brideau
2nd: #57 Shawn Mazerolle
3rd: #35 Nathan Richard
Figure 8 Trailer Race
1st: #308 Duncan Robichaud
2nd: #420 Jean-Philippe Vienneau
3rd: #99 Mathieu Brideau
4th: #999 RJ Driscoll
5th: #8 Randy Girouard
Demolition Finale
1st: #57 Shawn Mazerolle
2nd: #94 Shawn Sisk
3rd: #85 Dylan Storey
4th: #764 Ricky Boudreau
5th: #027 Kyle Hay
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