JAMES RIVER, N.S. - When the dust settled at the Ron MacGillivray Chev Buick GMC 150, June 16 at Riverside International Speedway, veteran Shawn Turple came away with a photo-finish win over Cole Butcher.
It was third career win for Turple at the James River, Antigonish County track, and for him and the other drivers, it was as much a battle of attrition as driving ability and car performance, as a major pile-up of cars happened even before lap one was completed.
Another multi-car crash occurred on lap 17 and before the race was completed, a total of six cautions and three red flags broke up the 150 laps.
“You just have to wait it out,” Turple said of the stop-and-go nature this year’s MacGillivray 150 at Riverside.
He talked about the importance of his tire-bleeders working properly during the stops and cautions.
“Other than that, the other night, I didn’t have any worries,” he said. “My car was starting fine after the red flags. Sometimes that’s an issue but you do get a free-push start after a red flag. That’s about it really,” he said.
Turple noted his other wins at Riverside came at the grand reopening race in 2006 and the fall event in 2009.
“So it has been quite a while since I was in victory lane there,” he said, turning his attention to praising the venue.
“Nicest race track in the Maritimes that we go to; everyone says it’s the nicest track in Canada.”
“It’s a beautiful facility; we’re lucky that John rebuilt it and Donald and them maintain it at such a high level … it’s quite a spot,” he said, referring to father John ‘Nova’ who passed away in 2014 and son Donald, who was in the field Saturday night and finished in 20th spot after being involved in one of the aforementioned crashes.
Turple talked about how the win, in race three of the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour, sets him up for the rest of the season.
“It’s great to get a win early in the year, it takes the stress of getting one off of your shoulders a little bit,” he said.
“But, realistically, if you’re talking championship, it’s Cole and Dylan [Blenkhorn] and probably Craig Slaunwhite, we’re going to have to battle all year long,” he said, noting the key is to “minimize mistakes” during races.
“I expect all of us are probably, if everything goes well, going to finish somewhere in the top five every week. So it’s trying to avoid those bad nights, a DNF [did not finish] or getting caught up in a wreck which, a lot of the time, you can’t do anything about. You just try and put yourself in the best position you can and, hopefully, have a fast race car that night.”
Napa series
In Henry’s Napa Autopro 75 race earlier in the night, Russell Smith Jr. claimed the checker-flag by edging out Matt Vaughan and Frank Fraser Jr., in another close race.
“Nothing … the only thing that went right here today is that we’re here in victory lane,” Smith Jr. quipped, when asked about what worked in helping him to the win.
“I seem to have pretty good luck here on this track. We’ve run pretty well before and today was just one of those lucky days where, I would say, we have a top three car, but I would say it was the three car,” he said, basically rating his car as third best entering the race.
For more race results, visit rivesidespeedway.ca.
The next races on the schedule for Riverside International Speedway take place during Super Weekend (July 12 to 14) which features the IWK 250. For ticket and other information, visit the website already listed.
