NELCAR Legends Tour This Weekend!

Guess who is coming to Spud Speedway for their first trip to the County this Saturday night? The NELCAR Legends Tour! You will not want to miss these guys as they will turn some of the fastest laps of through year at our track. This will be a chance to see the return of a Alexander racing at Spud again as none other than, last weeks first time winner, Wyatt Alexander will look to have success where his grandfather, Bobby Alexander started his hall of fame career. All the action gets under way with a full card of racing plus the tour for just $10.00 for ages 16 & up, $5.00 for ages 5-15, 4 & under are free! Bring the family for just $25.00 for 2 adults and 2 kids! It all starts at 7pm and we hope to see you there to help us welcome the NELCAR Legends Tour to the County for their first trip here. Help us spread the word and invite all of your friends, family, neighbors, your mail man, who ever. This will be a show you wil not want to miss!

August 9th Race Results

Aroostook Trusses Northern Lights

1. #77 Dell Brissette of Caribou, ME.
2. #21 Matt Lloyd of New Denmark, NB.
3. #22 Kyle Wells of Presque Isle, ME.
4. #72 Shawn Dewley of Presque Isle, ME.
5. #95 Galen Morrow of Limestone, ME.
6. #71 Thomas Everrette of Caribou, ME
7. #50 Dusty Glascock of Caribou, ME.
8. #11 Ian Rasmussen of New Denmark, NB.

Starting line up - 71,50,95,22,72,77,11,21
Heat - 11,22,21,95,77,72,50,71

Aroostook Savings & Loan Street Stocks

1. #19 Jeff Willette of Presque Isle, ME.
2. #13 Eric Argraves of Castle Hill, ME.
3. #90 Jon Dixon of Presque Isle, ME.
4. #4 Bobby Anderson of Limestone, ME.
5. #37 Carl Tucker of Presque Isle, ME.
6. #54 JR Howlett of Mapleton, ME.

Starting Line up -13,54,4,90,19,37
Heat -19,13,4,54,37

Haney's Building Specialties Fast Fours

1. #41 Nate Haney of Caribou, ME.
2. #8 Steve Levesque of Blaine, ME.
3. #00 Wayne Fox Jr. Of Caribou, ME.
4. #01 Matt Lloyd of New Denmark, NB.
5. #77 Dell Brissette of Caribou, ME.

Starting Line up - 01,8,41,00,77
Heat -41,8,00,01,77

Coca Cola Outlaw Sportsman
1. #43 Matt Farnham of Mapleton, ME.
2. #81 Glenn Rasmussen of New Denmark, NB.
3. # 23 Connor Thibeau of Fort Fairfield, ME.
4. #29 Robert Tomlinson of Athurette, NB.
5. #44 John Albert of Limestone, ME.
6. #97 William Thibedeau of Limestone, ME.

Starting Line up -43,97,44,81,29,23
Heat -43,29,23,81,97,44

Blacked Out Window Tint Kart Divisions

Kids Karts Participants
#43 Gage Theriault of Limestone, ME.
#16 Ryder Leavitt of Fort Fairfield,ME.
#21 Issac Rossignol of New Denmark, NB.

Jr. Champ Karts
1. #53 Damian Theriault of Caribou, ME.
2. #23 Landen Leavitt of Fort Fairfield, ME.
3. #7 Bryan Searles of Presque Isle, ME.

Starting Line Up - 7,23,53
Heat - 53,23,7

Sr. Champ Karts

1. #77 Tyler Raymond of Caribou, ME.
2. #10 Tom Hale of Westmanland, ME.
Starting Line Up -77,10
Heat - 77,10

100 lap Pink & Blue Bomber Race
1. #14 Joshua Knoll of Auburn, ME.
2. #9 Roy Crawford of Ludlow, ME.
3. #44 John Albert of Limestone, ME.

Next event: Saturday, August 16th at 7pm Maine Bureau of Highway Safety Night.
Get to the track early and receive a FREE T-Shirt! (While supplies last)
A full card of racing in all classes plus NELCAR Legends Tour for the 1st time ever!
Admission $10.00 for 16 & up, $5.00 for ages 5-15 for grandstands, 4 & under are free
Pits $20.00

Spu Speedway Mid Season Report

 

Spud Speedway Mid-Season Review

 

"Door to Door Since '64" has been the theme for racing at Spud Speedway for the 50^{th Anniversary celebration. The season's midpoint seems to be a good place to reflect on what has happened and look forward to the rest of this unique season.}

Racing at the Caribou track is on a two weekend hiatus due to the Northern Maine Fair. Track ownership did not want to take people away from their opportunity to go to the Fair in Presque Isle. Once the Fair has ended the County's only stock car racing venue will be up and running on August 9th until the season ends on September 14th with the Day of Destruction.

Track owner Troy Haney listened to fans requests for more affordable prices and put in place five dollar admission for regular race nights when no special events were occurring. This policy seemed to be a hit with fans since $5 nights have brought in more fans.

Are the grandstands packed? No but more decisions are being made by families to go to the races when they decide what they want to do for entertainment on a Saturday night. Haney's and all the people at Spud Speedway's goal is to make the track more family friendly. It seems like that is the direction in which the track is moving.

Weather has not been a factor which is a welcome change from previous seasons. No rainouts as of yet. The first ever Motorsports Fair had no days rained out and decent crowds with the largest crowd on Monster Truck Night Friday July 11th. Over 1000 fans poured into the Thompson Road track to see six Monster trucks strut their stuff.

Fans were treated to some great stock car races during the Motorsports Fair with the Outlaw Invitational on Saturday Night capping racing activity. The Fair ended with a Car Show and "Battle of the Bands" on Sunday the 13th.  With the sky lite up at night with Smokey's Greatest Shows ferris wheel it reminded one of the atmosphere at the 24 Hours of LeMans or Daytona.

Aroostook Trusses Northern Lights

Northern Lights, Spud Speedway's entry level division, has the largest field of race cars with up to 14 cars registered. They are very competitive with three different winners in the five feature races thus far.

Caribou's Wayne Fox is three for three in feature wins. His job and family obligations have limited his participation but he still is in 10th place despite missing two races.

Matt Lloyd of New Denmark, New Brunswick holds a stable 38 point lead over Caribou's Dell Brissette. Lloyd has one feature win and never finished below third place thus far.

Second place points man Dell Brissette is Mr. Consistency other than a hiccup with a seventh on opening day he has finished third in every race except two. The screaming Honda has been competitive and he wins the loudest car award.

Rookie Ian Rasmussen of New Denmark, New Brunswick the son of Outlaw Sportsman Glen Rasmussen has impressed many fans with his efforts. Rasmussen was starting from the rear of the field until he gained experience. Lately he starts where he belongs and races well showing he has a racer's touch. Rasmussen is sitting in a third place tie with veteran racer and last years Track Champion, Shawn Dewley of Presque Isle, only 78 points behind Lloyd.

Kyle Wells of Presque Isle rounds out the top five in the points battle 82 points out of first.

Haney Building Specialties Fast Fours

Fast Fours can be summed up in two words, Nate Haney. The Caribou man feels like the last several years have been learning years where wins were may have been few but experience has been building. A new engine and tuning work have made him the class of the field. Haney has won four of the five races in the first half of the season including the July 12th race when competitors from Southern Maine tracks invaded the Caribou track. His Nissan 240 SX has been dominant this season winning some races by half a lap.

Stephen Levesque of Blaine sits second in points with a couple second place finishes but holds a slight lead over New Denmark's Matt Lloyd since Lloyd had no result in Fast Fours on July 3rd.

Lloyd is doing double duty racing in two divisions, Fast Fours and Northern Lights thus getting many competition laps and spending time to prepare two race cars. He sits third in Fast Fours only twelve points behind Levesque.

Caribou's Wayne Fox holds down fourth place despite only a couple races in the Fast Fours. Rookie Kadie Craig is in fifth with a couple of crashes that have hampered her efforts. Craig is the only female racer this year at Spud Speedway except at the Outlaw Invitational when Glenburn's Emma Libby made her appearance.

Aroostook Federal Savings and Loans Street Stock

"Throw a blanket over the field" could describe racing in the Street Stock division this year. Street Stock has had some of the closest finishes of any division at Spud Speedway. Lead by perennial favorite Bobby Anderson of Limestone with three wins in five races this Street Stock has seven solid racers.

Anderson's lead over second place Jon Dixon is only 16 points. Dixon has been very consistent this season with only one fourth place finish, three second place finishes and his  first feature race win of the year in action on July 19th.

JR Howlett of Mapleton has been very competitive sitting in third place only 30 points out of first has a win and three third place finishes. After the race on July 3rd with his good friend Jon Dixon,  in which Howlett beat Dixon to the line by mere feet. With his face beaming as sweat poured down his face he congratulated Dixon. "I knew he would race me good,"said Howlett. "He and I race hard and have fun doing it"

Eric Argraves from Castle Hill and "The Orange Outlaw" Presque Isle's Derek Finnemore round out the top five. With the return of Presque Isle's Carl Tucker any one of the Street Stocks could pull off a win on a given night. This division should win the "Having the Most Fun Award".

Coca Cola Outlaw Sportsman

Fort Fairfield native Connor Thibeau leads the Outlaw Sportsman class with victories in 3 of the 4 races counting toward the Championship. The Thibeau Farms Ford driven by Thibeau has made key moves which have put him in front and out of harms way avoiding many of the accidents that seem to plague his fellow racers. Thibeau's fourth place finish in the Outlaw Invitational was his worst finish of the season. Others in the class may wish for such good fortune.

In second place is Arthurette, New Brunswick's Robert Tomlinson with 278 points only 30 points out of first yet a mere 2 points ahead of fellow New Brunswicker Glenn Rasmussen of New Denmark. Tomlinson has finished in second twice and third twice. Tomlinson's consistent finishing record has put him in second.

With only two points separating him from Tomlinson, Rasmussen has finished second twice and fourth twice putting him in contention for second place and within striking distance should Thibeau falter over the second half of the season.

John Albert of Limestone has fought new car blues this season. He has found the wall a couple times and had inconsistent finishes to put him 120 points down. A better finishing record in the second half of the season could move him closer to the New Brunswick duo of Rasmussen and Tomlinson.

The appearance of Matt Farnham in the #43 Outlaw Sportsman  and William Thibodeau in the second John Albert #97 race car has the class on better footing for August and September. Farnham is fresh off a seventh place finish at the Outlaw Sportsman race at Oxford Plains Speedway before the Oxford 250. There were 16 cars in the Outlaw Invitational that was won by Kris Watson of Kenduskeag.

Watson was the winner of the Spud Speedway 50th Anniversary Outlaw Sportsman 100 Invitational on July 12th.  A dozen Outlaw Sportsman showed for the $1000 to win purse. The race also saw the return of former track champion Ken Dumond from Van Buren now living in Gardiner. Dumond raced John Albert's spare car and finished eighth despite a 15 year hiatus.

Maine Motorsports Hall of Fame's newest inductees Bobby Alexander and Chink Maynard were honored in pre-race ceremonies on July 12th. In addition several former drivers returned to the track for the evenings festivities and were recognized during the pre-race.

Blacked Out Window Tinting Service Racing Karts Experience Growth

Every class of karts that race at Spud Speedway have experienced growth adding new racers to the ranks almost weekly. The Senior Champ karts had six karts for their two races during the Motorsports Fair. Last Chance Motorsports's Jere Humphrey has added two karts to the field with Houlton's Nancy Haggerty in one kart and guest drivers in the other.

Two racers from Thundering Valley made their appearance at the new kart track for the Motorsports Fair. Jason Morse of Ripley and Todd Rollins of Clinton finished one-two in the July 12th race after a rough debut the night before. Their Thundering Valley set-up was dramatically different than the set-up needed for the Spud Speedway kart track. After Saturday adjustments they ran up front.

Caribou's Tyler Raymond placed third only inches off Rollins front bumper after winning the race from the previous evening. Raymond is probably leading the Senior Sportsman class once the points situation is straightened out. In second is Westmanland's Tom Hale.

Junior Sportsman has two new racers Landen Leavitt of Fort Fairfield and Bryan Searles of Presque Isle join veteran Damian Theriault of Caribou. Theriault has won every race in the series as the others who are rookies get experience. Theriault showed his driving skills last weekend when he raced at Thundering Valley and placed second in each of his two feature races. This was his first venture to the St. Albans 1/5 mile kart track.

Kids Karts class continues to grow with veteran driver Gage Theriault of Limestone joined by Fort Fairfield's Ryder Leavitt and Isaac Rossignol of New Denmark, New Brunswick.

Sneak Preview of Upcoming Events

Spud Speedway, fans, and racers are known for their support of local non-profits that work tirelessly to assist those in need in Northern Maine. One outstanding way will be the August 9th Pink and Blue race for the County. The Bomber cars take to the track for 100 laps of action with $1000 for the winner if that team has raised at least $50 for the cause.

Aroostook Autism and the Pink Aroostook Breast Cancer Support group are the beneficiary of the effort. The fundraising event is done in conjunction with Cary Medical Center and Pines Health Center.

The Alexander family along with several other New England Legends Cars (NELCAR) race teams will invade the caribou track. Wyatt Alexander Racing (WAR) has to be the crowd favorite because of his ties to the County with Grandfather and Crew Chief Bobby Alexander pointing him toward Victory Lane. Will this be the fourteen year olds first NELCAR win? He came very close at New Hampshire Motor Speedway recently placing a season high second place.

Speedway 95's Outlaw Racers will compete with and against Spud Speedway's Outlaw Sportsman on August 23rd for a top prize of $1000. All classes will race that evening as well.

Saturday night stock car racing continues the final three weeks  with close racing and points battles ensuing. The season comes to an end on Sunday September 14 with the "Day of Destruction" featuring demo derby, Tuff Trucks, Bomber race #3, and more.

Written by: Tom Hale