Maritime motorsports photographer Ken MacIsaac was at Sydney Speedway this past weekend; his recap and gallery follows… Sunny skies and warm temps greeted fans and competitors for Sydney Speedway’s opening day race card. The first event of the Late Model Sportsman Triple Crown highlighted the afternoon with Howie Center’s Chris Reid winning the heat and 100 lap feature. Reid, who currently resides in Fort McMurray, Alberta, flew home earlier in the week to prepare his car for the event. “The car was completely rebuilt in the last year or so by Colby Smith. It’s amazing the attention to detail he put into it. Second to none. We tested last week, and I knew on the first lap that this is by far the best car I’ve ever had. Robby (Chris’ father) spearheaded the overhaul. I never even knew, until I came home last year to race, that it was gone to get refurbished. We put in a set-up I used last year on his #42 car, and it worked really well. I wanted to use this race as a test session for August’s big Maritime All Star Sportsman Tour event, and we’re happy to get a win right out of the box. Jason ‘Bubba’ Barr came down from the mainland to help us, and Matt Penny was a great help in the pits too. The day was just flawless. I’m flying back to Fort McMurray on Monday and I’m racing a dirt track on the weekend with my brothers. Can’t wait for that. It’ll be a lot of fun.” Sydney’s Ronnie MacKay finished second in a team car to Chris. “The day went pretty well for us. We had a little altercation in the heat race, but that’s racing, especially on the first day out. The two 50 lap segments were good. We raced hard, all of us, but the last 50 we made some adjustments and the car was quite good. But when you’re racing with Chris and Jerome, there isn’t much room for error, as those guys don’t make many mistakes.” Jerome Kehoe fought brake issues all day, but still managed a third place finish. “ We just couldn’t get the brakes right. I did a few laps in practice and noticed right away it was messed up. We changed the master cylinder out a few times but it didn’t fix the issue. We missed the heat, but decided to run the feature only because the car count was low. I didn’t want to mess up someone’s day because of our brake issue. If there had of been a bigger car count we would’ve parked it. We wouldn’t have been able to avoid a car spun out in the corner. It was a long day when you’re working on the car and not tweaking the set-up. At some point we did have a good laugh and we ended the day good.” Robby Reid (of Robby’s Towing) has been a great supporter and sponsor of not only local racing, but of other maritime racers and tracks as well. Robby owns 3 of the Spotsman cars and helps many others at the track. Watch for his story this summer. The four cylinder mini stocks brought a good car count with 2 heat races and a feature. Kody Quinn and Darrell Hulme split the heat wins with Quinn winning another feature in his #88 Honda. “The day was really good and the car was consistent. The long 75 lap races are tough. You really got to save your tires and brakes. It was my 17th consecutive win at the track. It was nice to see Josh back in a car. I’m sure you’ll see lots of door to door battles between us this season.” Josh Benac had a strong finish in second. “It was great to get back to the race track and see all the familiar faces and lots of new ones. I had a great day. I was very pleased with the changes I made to the car over the past several weeks. I still feel like there’s more to get out of it, which is what will have to happen to finally defeat the 88. But we’re getting closer every race.” Darrell Hulme finished third. “The car worked great during practice. We had been out and rented the track prior to the race so we knew it was working well. We managed to win our heat race which gave us the outside pole position for the feature. Starting outside of Kody Quinn is an honour and a great feeling to know you’re right there with the best of the best. However I don’t know what it’s going to take to beat the #88. He’s just that good! All in all it was a great day and the car came home in one peice.” The track’s newest class, the economical V6 Thunder class had veteran Sam Burke win his heat and feature. “Last October, we couldn’t come close to JT’s #16 car, so we knew we had to make some changes. The track modified a few rules which allowed us to tweak the car a bit. Those changes helped. The day started off with me realizing I had no fire extinguisher. I had to try and find one to borrow. That caused me to miss the driver’s meeting so I had to start at the back in the heat. I came from the back to win it, but as I was heading to the pits, it ran out of gas. Another lap or 2 and I wouldn’t have finished the race. It was great seeing a few more cars there and I hear a few more are coming. It’ll be a great, fun competitive class once it gets going” JT Turnbull won the inaugural race for the V6 Thunders last October. With a badly smoking car, he managed to bring it home in second. “We had such a great day. Finished second in the heat but the car was getting a bit hot. Went out in the feature and it finally died on the last lap. It got so hot that it melted the coil packs to the motor, but that’s part of racing. We’ll be back for the next event, with the same car.” Ryan Dixon ran a Winter Enduro in early 2021 at the track. That was the extent of his experience, but he managed to finish third in the feature. “I just have to thank my sponsors because without them, I wouldn’t even be here. Strang Road Racing, A&P Transmission and JT Undercoating. Saturday afternoon, we thought we were all ready for Sunday. I started the car, ran it for a bit and it started to over heat. Turns out it blew the frost plug right off the motor. Ended up getting some plugs, filled it with water and everything was good. There’s a lot I have to adjust and learn, but we’ll get better over the season.” The next event for Sydney Speedway is June 26th featuring the Legend cars. Mini Stocks, V6 Thunder and Bandoleros are also on the card. Click images to supersize or to view slideshow. Copies are available by emailing KensPhotos@ns.sympatico.ca.
