Ken’s Photos & Recap: Sydney Speedway, June 26

Maritime motorsports photographer Ken MacIsaac was at Sydney Speedway this past weekend; his recap and photo gallery follows…

Sydney Speedway held their second event of the 2022 season on Sunday afternoon, June 26^th.

The Cape Breton Antique and Custom Car Club had a mini display on site before the participants paraded their vehicles around the track where fans in attendance voted on their favorite. Paul Morrison’s ’53 Chev pickup with a Cummins diesel engine garnered the People’s Choice Award.

The Mini Stocks ran time trials to determine their starting position in the heat races. Darrell Hulme had the fastest time with a 15.750 lap. Josh Benac and Mike Weagle were 2^nd and 3^rd fastest.

Hulme started on the pole in heat 1, but Weagle came on strong in the 88 and took the win. Heat 2 had third generation driver Josh Rozicki score the popular win. The 50 lap Mini Stock feature had 13 cars start with Moncton’s Mike Weagle getting the win in the former Kody Quinn 88. “ I saw the car was for sale on Facebook, so I called Kody and he said ‘come buy it, and you can run it on the weekend’, so I called my buddy and said ‘road trip’. Sydney is a different track than I’m used to. You really work for it here. I raced here about 8 years ago and won a heat race, but that was a long time ago. We’ll be back. Can’t make the August race, but hopefully in the fall.”

Second place at the line was Darrell Hulme in the 58. Suprisingly, Hulme’s car was DQ’d in post race tech. “We got second place, and then failed tech because we broke a sway bar link and both sides were not the same.”

Josh Benac, who crossed the line in third, was awarded second. “I was very pleased with the day I had. It was a very competitive feature. I was trading paint with the 58 lap after lap. It was a lot of fun. I hope the spectators enjoyed the show. The green white checkered was very exciting to be a part of. Congrats to both Darrell and Mike and thanks to those guys for a great run.”

While Steven Matthews finished a strong fourth in his Neon, he was credited with a third place finish. “This was a blast! I really like the tight relatively flat tracks. My Home track is Scotia Speedworld and Sydney has that same feel to me where you gotta get up on the wheel, hit your marks and not overdrive the entries. I arrived in Sydney on Saturday afternoon and we went right to work at Jerry & Belinda Hayes’ place. The car was pretty good in all practices with only minor adjustments. In Time Trials I hit some kind of fluid and couldn’t get much grip for the 2 laps. The heat race I messed up and went the wrong way with a couple adjustments. We got the car fixed back up for the 50 lap feature and started 7th. We got by 2 cars pretty early and rode around in the top 5 for most of the race. A couple of yellows near the end hurt us as the car was good on the long run and only getting better. Wish the race was a 75 lapper, but we crossed the stripe in 4th. Once tech was cleared, we were told we got 3rd place. Can’t thank Jerry & Belinda and Rob Campbell for all their help and support making the Sydney trip all possible! I will definitely be back. “

The V6 Thunder cars ran two heats with former driver Gary Williams grabbing a win along with last month’s feature winner Sam Burke. The Thunder event was advertised as having a $1000 winner’s purse, if 15 or more cars showed up. The car count was just shy of that, but the track owners decided to offer the amount regardless. This made for some great racing and aggressive driving. Sam Burke used his years of experience to come out on top. “The day started off good. First thing i noticed driving into the pits was all the new cars. I made a few minor changes since the last race, so i took the car for a few practice laps to test it out and the car ran great. The first heat I started 11th so i knew i had some work to do. I made my way up thru the field until i got to the 78 and just didnt have enough to get to him and pass. I knew i had to make a few more changes for the feature if i was going to beat the 78. I started 3rd in the feature and we battled hard almost the whole race. Lots of cautions came out which kept putting me back in second place as they go by the results of last lap completed. So I ended up having to battle for first 4 times. I ended up overtaking the 78 for the win on the second last lap. It wasn’t easy and was a great clean race between Dennis and myself. It was good to see Mike Rozicki back on the track and Dennis Nickerson make the trip down from Antigonish.”

Antigonish’s Dennis Nickerson last raced in Sydney in early 2021 for both Winter Enduros. He kept that car, and raced it to a 2^nd place finish on Sunday. “Pulled the car in the shop late Saturday, drained the antifreeze and updated some safety requirements and loaded it at 10:30 pm. Car felt decent in practice after a couple tire pressure adjustments. It worked good in the heat race. Started the feature on the pole and led for about half. Had a good battle with the 60 car on several re starts. We had a good clean race. The right front tire started to come apart and I was losing brakes. Sam’s car had better drive off the corner. Think the Malibu might only be a second place car. This is 3 times in a row. I think it was awesome of Sydney Speedway to still put up the $1000 to win even though they didn’t reach the min amount of cars. Really think more tracks need these cheap classes of cars to keep racing alive. Hopefully the class can reach 15-20 on a regular basis. I’ll be back in August with my Sportsman car.”

Third place finisher was rookie Brad Mugridge. “The car was working fine for the heat race, but it wouldn’t start for the feature until the last minute. The fuse to the ignition system went. After last month’s race, the passenger side caliper was stuck solid. So we fixed that last weekend and the car drove pretty well today actually. As for the race, I tried to stay out of the way of the 44 and 70 because I could see what was happening there. My goal was to finish ahead of my little brother Adam, which happened. “

The all new 4 Cylinder Hobby Stock division debuted on Sunday. This cheap entry level class provided lots of action and tight racing with Zach Langille winning the heat and feature. “The car was bad fast. I had it sitting in the back yard for 8 moths just waiting for word on when it would get the green light. I hammered at it over two weeks to get it ready. Brian Axworthy donated the cage out of an old civic he had and surprisingly, it fit half decently. I didn’t know what we really had when we arrived to the track but I felt like it would be quicker than the old Cavalier Enduro car I ran. And it sure was! Getting the first checkered flag over Glen (Cooke) in the heat was an awesome feeling. I felt like a professional on the crossover pass to get under him, I wish I could’ve heard what the booth was saying! I never realized how much wind resistance goes against the checkered flag on the victory lap. I almost lost it on the back stretch. It felt awesome to back up the heat win in the feature in front of a good crowd. Happy to put on a show for the fans and Lynden and Kyle. Can’t thank those guys enough for all they have done at the track, and can’t thank the sponsors enough. Shout out to Robby’s and love that I was able to put ‘mom’ in victory lane. It’s been a long time coming.”

Equally happy with his second place finish was Brandon MacMillan. “Craig MacKay messaged me Saturday afternoon and asked me if I wanted to run his #18 Hobby stock for him. I jumped at the opportunity. The car ran good right off the trailer. The races were a blast! Most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time. I got to run door to door with Glen Cooke, who I grew up watching, and I ended up with a 2nd place finish in the feature! I cant thank Craig enough for asking me to drive the car for him. I hope to be back behind the wheel in August!”

Veteran Glen Cooke came in third. “I dug the car out of the woods last week. Transmission line was rotted off, and it’s starting to get soft. I ran this car back in 2019 and in both the Winter Enduros last year. The 2 front calipers were stuck in the first heat, fixed that and it worked better. But man it’s hard on the right front tire. I’ll be back for sure. This was alot of fun.”

The next event for Sydney Speedway is the Grand Re-Opening featuring the Maritime All Star Sportsman tour on August 6.

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