The newly renamed Bud’s Speedway (formerly Sydney Speedway) held its grand re-opening this past weekend. Ken MacIsaac was there; his recap and photos follow… Sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted fans as Bud’s Speedway held its grand re-opening celebrations. The Auto World Maritime Allstar Sportsman Series (MASS) highlighted the card with the Robby’s Towing 100-lap main event. Fourteen cars entered the event, with two qualifying heats setting the stage for the feature. Deven Smith (Lakeside, N.S.) and local favorite Chris Reid (Howie Center) won the heat races. Reid led the field to green in the feature and had some early challenges from teammates Ronnie MacKay and Jerome Kehoe. Colby Smith was moving to the front while Brady Creamer, who started mid-pack was challenging Smith and Kehoe for the position. Riverview N.B.’s Laurie Cormier, who started dead last, was picking cars off and challenging for third by mid-race. With Creamer solidly in second, Cormier, Kehoe, Smith, and Harry Ross White were battling for position near the front. Creamer remained within a bumper of Reid for the remainder of the race, trying the outside several times. Reid maintained the bottom groove and held off Creamer for the win. This was Chris Reid’s second consecutive feature win at Bud’s, his comments follow: “Our day went okay. We struggled to find grip on worn-out right-side tires. We changed the car back and forth a million times. Bubba and Taylor worked tirelessly to get me what I needed. We tried something in the heat race that worked good and probably should have left it alone. Made a spring change for the feature and the car was fighting grip up off all night, so I just tried to save some for when Brady got there. I knew if I didn’t give up the bottom he was going to have a hard time getting by us. We had a great race with him for 50 laps. He tried everything he could do to get by but there just wasn’t much grip outside. It was amazing to see the grandstands full. Other then Riverside, it was the biggest crowd I’ve seen in years anywhere. Thanks to all that came out to support us. Tip of the cap to Lyndon, Jamie, Kyle, and Heather and all the staff. They really made the place a great spot to race. Looking forward to see what the future holds for them. I have to thank my parents, Robby and Mary Lee for all their hard work. Couldn’t do it without them. Matt Drake, Bubba and Aiden Barr, Taylor MacLean, Jordan Fraser they do more then I could ask for each and every week.” Third place finisher was local favorite Jerome Kehoe. However, post-race tech resulted in a disqualification. According to Kehoe…“The Distributor was locked up. They’re saying it must have mechanical weights. Such a minor infraction.” Deven Smith in the 94 officially moved up to a third-place finish, while Laurie Cormier in the 53 finished fourth and Louisbourg’s Darren Price, in his first race of the year, came home fifth. Craig McFetridge from the MASS Sportsman tour was pleased with the event: “We were very happy to be part of the grand reopening. Those opportunities don’t come along very often. Have to thank Lynden and Kyle for making that happen for us. When I came from the driver’s meeting to the front and saw folks lined up to the road, it makes a touring series very happy, and I am sure the owners were even more thrilled. Our car count was a little on the low side, but I felt the racing was great. We definitely have, and the speedway has a great baseline as we move ahead as both a series and a track. Stock car racing in Cape Breton is definitely back on the map and the owners shared great plans on their vision and continual upgrades to the facility.” The competitive mini stock class ran two heats earlier in the day with Ryan Price and Austin Boudreau taking the wins. Matthew Gaudley took two hard hits in his heat race eliminating him from the main event. “The left rear camber adjuster let go going into turn 3, and I couldn’t get control of the car,” said Gaudley. “The car is destroyed. Luckily I only have some bruises. I’m building another one and hoping to get one more race in before the end of the season.” Price brought the field to green for the 50-lap feature later in the evening, fighting off a strong challenge from Austin Boudreau, in the former Darrell Hulme car. Josh Rozicki, Dyllan Farrell and Josh Benac were fighting for third and catching the leaders. While Price continued to lead, Jamie Peach and Brian Axworthy moved into the top pack. Contact between Peach and Axworthy collected Rozicki in turn 3. The final caution set up an exciting finish, with Price holding off Benac and Boudreau. This was Ryan Price’s first feature win in front of the largest crowd at the track in years. “The day started off pretty good. After practice, I figured I had at least a top 5 car. I never thought I had the car to win, but once the feature started I just kept the pedal down and didn’t look back. It feels absolutely amazing to get my first win running my dad’s old paint scheme. I would like to thank all the drivers that stopped on the track to congratulate me. I never thought something like that would happen. Also would like to thank Curt Rozicki and his family for giving me the opportunity to race their car. Have to thank Jonathan MacInnis for helping work on my car nearly everyday.” The new 4-cylinder Hobby Stock class, while still short of a full field, ran a heat and feature combined with the V6 class. Zach Langille has been the man to beat this season, notching both a heat and feature win. “The day started off rough. The truck we had hooked to the trailer blew the fuel filter housing apart while pulling out of the driveway. So we swapped trucks while blocking the road off. Then made it a few blocks up the road only to have the car fall off the trailer. So we got the bad omens cleaned off the plate right away. With only a few of us Hobby cars, it made sense to go and put on a big show while mixed in with the V6 Thunder class. That helped out timing-wise because I don’t think anyone expected a near-jammed place. It was awesome to see the track’s hard work getting shown off to everyone and being appreciated. Hopefully, the crowd enjoyed it all! I know I had a ball coming through the pack to beat up on the v6 cars! Can’t wait to go for the three-peat in September! Shout out to all the friends that helped out and the sponsors, Mallard electric for sponsoring the class, Russell Hawkins for the brakes, of course, Robby Reid, and my number 1 fan, mom.” The V6 Thunder class ran two heats in the afternoon, with JT Turnbull and Gary Williams notching the wins. Turnbull held on for his second feature win of the year, after losing an engine crossing the finish line in May. “We had an awesome day of racing. The car was working much better with the new motor. I’ve been going to the track since 1997 and haven’t seen the stands so full. Great job to everyone involved in making that event happen. Can’t wait to be back in September.” The Bandolero cars held an exhibition race in an effort to gain more interest in the entry-level kid’s class. Brett Biron, son of former street stock and sportsman driver John Biron, crossed the line first capturing his first win. “It was fun racing with another car and I made another friend too. It was pretty intense on the outside racing Sid (Reid). Hopefully, we’ll get a few more cars for the September race.” Sidney Reid, son of Chris Reid, ran his very first Bandolero race and finished a close second. “I had a blast. I have the bug now. I want to thank everyone at the track and all the people who helped get this going, especially Matt (Drake) for the long-distance pep talks.” It’s been two years since the street stock class raced at the speedway, and Saturday evening they returned to put on an exciting show for the fans. Dennis Nickerson purchased Patricia Weagle’s (Petty Raceway) street stock in the pre season with plans to race the car in selected events throughout the year. Bud’s Speedway was its first outing. Dennis, who was also running his Sportsman car at the track, had a heated battle with local favorites Neil Campbell and Colton Beaver. “The car was sitting in the trailer a week ago, the way we bought it from Patrica last winter. A couple of the guys down here were messaging me wanting me to bring it down. I didn’t have proper gearing for the car so I wasn’t planning on going. Then I got a message from Curt Rozicki saying he got gears for me, and sponsored me some tow money. So big thanks to Curt. Practice was the first laps I turned in the car. It wasn’t bad but had a miss fire and needed to be freed up. Found 2 bad plug wires and changed the right rear spring. Had a good battle in the feature with the 35 car and passed him on the last corner to win feature. Was really fun to run a street stock again, look forward to going back. It was awesome to race there in front of such a huge crowd and hearing the cheers from the crowd after my burnout. Also, having my grandson in the stands will be something to remember. Thanks to Jason Russell for pushing to get the streets back and congrats to Kyle and Lynden on such a great event.” “ Track owners Kyle MacKinnon and Lynden MacDougall were extremely happy with the day’s events. “We are very pleased with the support and the turnout we had for our grand reopening event. We’d like to thank all of the race fans, teams, drivers, crews, sponsors, staff, and volunteers for coming out and showing their support. We’ll be hosting our next event on September 3 and we’ll be showing our appreciation to our Napa Auto Parts Mini stock division with a minimum payout of $1000 to win. We’ll also be running our Saf-Way Auto Parts V6 Thunder Division, The Mallard Electric Hobby Stock Division, and the CarStar Collision Care Demolition Derby. The rulebook for the Demo Derby will be released next week. We are working on a few other details for this event that we aren’t ready to announce just yet, so stay tuned for those! We have big plans for this place for next year and we’re excited to share it with the community. Again, we’d like to thank everyone for all of their support and contributions so far and we hope to see everyone on September 3.” Click images to supersize or to view as a slideshow. Copies are available by emailing KensPhotos@ns.sympatico.ca.
