Harris says Good bye Earl and Dominates O’Leary 150

Fredericton, NB – After Hurricane Earl made its presence known on the Saturday of SPEEDWEEKEND, the O’Leary Buick GMC 150 got underway on Monday afternoon with a strong field of 40 cars trying to qualify for a field of 26 cars.

Starting on the pole of the 28 car field was Myles Harris who quickly relinquished the lead to the #37 of Bradley Logan on lap 1. Logan would lead the first 26 green flag laps with Harris hot on his tail. On lap 27 after cooling his tires and settling in for the long run, Harris dove to the inside of Logan going into turn 1 and held the spot coming out of turn two. The two would go side by side for several laps with Harris eventually gaining the position “A” in first place.

The race is traditionally broke into two 75 lap segments and Harris would carry the lead into the 75 lap mandatory competition yellow. After the break current points champion Ken Mackenzie took a run at Harris and was successful in driving his #85 to the front off the restart on lap 75. Mackenzie would hold that lead for just six laps with Harris again making a charge after a slow restart. Mackenzie would have to pit under green shortly after that and almost certainly eliminating his chances for a win at this years 150. Harris continued to dominate going forward with serious challenges a couple different fronts from both the #9 of Derek Christie and the #03 of Steve Halpin. Halpin hung around the front all night good enough for a 3rd place but the hard charger of the night definitely goes to the #9 of Christie. Christie started shotgun on the field of 26 cars and made his way to 2nd in the end. Christie didn’t stop at that, making several attempts to take the lead against Harris. In the end, Harris was too strong for the field and showed the nearly 5000 fans a dominating performance. Harris would lead 120 laps overall to take home just over $ 1600 in prize money.

In the other divisions, the 4 cylinders took to the speedway in their final appearance of the year and entertained the fans as well with an excellent side by side affair. In the end, 2010 points champion Kevin Peterson edged the #2 of Robert Flowers for the feature win. Flowers finished a strong 2nd with the #7 of TJ “Hollywood” Madore taking home a respectable 3rd place finish.

In the bandolero division sparks flew early with some uncharacteristic cautions both in practice and during the heats. Those setup an intense battle on the racetrack for the 15 lap feature. In the field on the day were several drivers who would not normally be in the Geary woods but who made the trip from Nova Scotia for the big weekend. One of those racers was young Emily Meehan who drove her #15 to victory lane in impressive fashion. Rounding out the top three was another travelling Bandolero, the #5 of Cole Butcher out of Halifax and the only local driver to hit the podium was none other than Dana Hamm in his #46 ride.

In the Atlantic Open Wheel Modified tour, 17 cars took the Geary woods with the #48 of Jamie Brown taking home the checkered flag. Rounding out the top three were the #3 of Ken Deveau and the #9 of Mark Price in 2nd and 3rd place respectfully. Unfortunately for Deveau he was later disqualified during technical inspection which moved Price to a 2nd place finish and the 4th place finisher of Joe Hoyt up to third.

Speedway 660 resumes action next Saturday night September 11th at 7 pm under the lights for the final event of the year, the Enduro 200 that was lost due to Hurricane Earl. The green flag will fly at 7 pm with Speedway management planning a big fireworks show to end the season.