O’Blenis Wins NB Short Track Challenge Opener at Speedway 660

GEARY, NB – Dave O’Blenis may not have had the best car on Saturday night, but it ended up being just good enough to win the Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman 100 at Speedway 660. Lonnie Sommerville led the first 92 laps of the race before running out of fuel in front of O’Blenis. From there the Boundary Creek driver held off Matt Rodgers and Drew Greenlaw to win the first event in the three race New Brunswick Short Track Challenge.

“Lonnie had the best car all night and we struggled early in the race, but my crew did an amazing job when we came in the pits during cautions and they got it good enough to catch Lonnie” said O’Blenis. “I tried a couple of moves on him but wasn’t able to make the pass and then was shocked when he ran out of gas, it’s not the way we like to win but we’ll take it. Dave O’Blenis (2nd from left) won the Martin’s Home Heating 100 on Saturday night. Matt Rodgers (2nd from right) was second while Drew Greenlaw (left) was third. Richard Martin (right) sponsored the race.

Twenty-seven cars were in Geary for the race and 25 started the Martin’s Home Heating 100. Sommerville, Greenlaw and Dylan Blenkhorn won the qualifying heat races.

“Third placed in the Martin’s Home Heating 100 is the biggest moment of my racing career” said Greenlaw, a Grade 11 student from Eastport, Maine. “When I was a kid running Bandos I never thought I would be able race up front in a Sportsman event with Lonnie, Dave and the rest of these awesome drivers.”

It was also a great night for the Raynes clan at Speedway 660. Ryan Raynes won his first ever street stock heat race early in the evening and followed that up with a DMR Auto Sales feature win. His Uncle Rob was second, while Geoff Tugwell finished third. Roger Slocum won the other street stock heat.

Matt Crocker had fans on the edge of their seats in the Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter feature. Crocker used both grooves to come from the back of the field to win the race. Jeremy Doran was second, while Kyle Boudreau came home third. Doran and Bryan Suttie won the heat races.

Braden Langille was the class of the field in the West Wood Estates Bandolero division on Saturday night. Langille won both the feature and the heat race. Ashton Tucker settled for second in the feature while Riley Goodwin had a strong third place finish.

Martin’s Home Heating 100 Results

1.Dave O’Blenis; 2. Matt Rodgers; 3. Drew Greenlaw; 4. Lonnie Sommerville; 5. Rany Moore; 6. Shawn Warren; 7.George Jamieson; 8. Luc Bourgeois; 9. Dawson McIntee; 10. Devon Snell; 11. Alexandra O’Blenis; 12. Byron Bartlett; 13. Richard Atkinson; 14. Hubert Cormier; 15. Braxton Stafford; 16. Andrew Rodgers; 17. Dylan Blenkhorn; 18. Justin Cole; 19. Jeff Doherty; 20. Brent Roy; 21. Ken MacKenzie Jr.; 22. Matt Maillett; 23. Greg Fahey; 24. Ryan Messer; 25. Chris Cormier.

DMR Auto Sales Street Stock Feature

1.Ryan Raynes; 2. Robert Raynes; 3. Geoff Tugwell; 4. Courtney O’Blenis; 5. Luc MacLaughlin; 6. Roger Slocum; 7. D’Arcy O’Neill; 8. Rick Cashol; 9. Destiny Enkel; 10. Rodney Ness.

Fredericton Gun Shop Sharp Shooter Feature

1.Matt Crocker; 2. Jeremy Doran; 3. Kyle Boudreau; 4. Malcolm Suley; 5. Bryan Suttie; 6. Neil Miousse; 7. Curtis Collins; 8. Ryan Richard; 9. Brody Levesque; 10. James McCoy; 11. Courtney Barton; 12. Brian Maillet; 13.Kyle MacKinnon; 14. Adam Gavel; 15. Allison Hall; 16. Brandon Powe.

West Wood Estates Bandolero Feature 1.Braden Langille; 2. Ashton Tucker; 3. Riley Goodwin; 4. MacKenzie Brewer; 5. Michael Cormier; 6. Adrian Stairs; 7. Joshua Langille; 8. Hudson Weston.

Speedway 660 resumes action next weekend with racing on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. At 6:30PM Saturday there will be weekly championship points racing in five divisions and on Sunday at 2PM fans will be treated to the first ENDURO 200 of the 2015 season.