NASCAR and ECI Pro Stocks headline Riverside International Speedway, all four United Racing Series divisions visit Delaware Speedway, Can-Am TQ and Outlaw Midgets head to Sauble Speedway, DIRTcar returns to Ontario, and more, in this week’s preview.
Riverside International Speedway – NASCAR, Pro Stocks, Hot Rods
The NASCAR Canada Series (NCS) will highlight a busy weekend of racing at Riverside International Speedway, in Antigonish, NS. The series will be making its first stop at Riverside since 2019, when Jason Hathaway visited victory lane. Mark Dilley, who won the first series race at the track in 2007, will run both 150-lap contests as part of a three-race retirement tour. To read more about Hathaway and Dilley teaming up at Riverside, a special track for both drivers, check out our article here.
The winner of the NCS race at Riverside went on to win the championship in eight of 13 seasons, while the winner of two previous races at Newfoundland’s Eastbound International Speedway won the title over the last two years. Andrew Ranger picked up the win at Eastbound last weekend.
The East Coast International Pro Stock Tour will race at Riverside on Saturday, with a 150-lap contest. Nicholas Naugle picked up his first win of the season last weekend at Scotia Speedworld, ending Jarrett Butcher’s win streak at two straight events to start the year; Butcher finished runner-up at Scotia. The series’ next event will see them return to Riverside for the prestigious IWK 250 on July 20.
The Hot Rod Classics round out the touring series in action at Riverside, with a race on Sunday. Jeff Ainslie picked up the victory in the season opener earlier this month at Lake Doucette Motor Speedway. The Hot Rod Classics feature will precede NASCAR on Sunday, while the Pro Stock Tour is scheduled for just after 6 p.m. local time on Saturday. Both NCS races will take place at 8:30 p.m. local time.
United Racing Series – All Four Series at Delaware
The United Racing Series (URS) will continue its Canada Day weekend tradition of competing at Delaware Speedway, where all four tours will be on the schedule; this marks the first of just two times that all four series will race on the same card in 2024.
The APC United Late Model Series and Dayco Super Stock Series most recently competed at Peterborough Speedway, two weeks ago, where Dan McHattie (APC) picked up his first career win and defending champion Carson Nagy (Dayco) returned to victory lane. Meanwhile, the Just Foam It OSCAAR Modifieds and JRS Auctions OSCAAR Hot Rods saw TJ Edwards (Mods) and Rob Bromley (Hot Rods) pick up wins at Sauble Speedway.
There has been some early parity across the URS, with three different winners in the first three races for the APC Series and Mods, and two different winners in the first two races for the Hot Rods. The Super Stocks race at Peterborough was their season opener, meaning there’s been nine different winners in the first nine races combined for the URS.
The Dayco Super Stocks Series will race at Delaware on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. local time, with a 50-lap feature, while the APC Series’ 100-lap race will take place at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Both the OSCAAR Modifieds and Hot Rods will have two features each – 25-lap races for the Hot Rods on Friday at 8:15 p.m. and Saturday at 6:50 p.m., and 30-lap races for the Modifieds on Friday at 8:45 p.m. and Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
Canadian Series News & Notes
There will be even more Canadian series in action this weekend:
- The Canadian Vintage Modifieds will race at Flamboro Speedway on Saturday. TJ Marshall and Rodney Rutherford picked up feature wins two weeks ago; the duo are the only multi-race winners so far this season.
- The Ontario Modifieds Racing Series will have another chance to open their season on Saturday at Flamboro Speedway after the first race of the year, scheduled for May 25 at Peterborough, was rained out. John Baker Jr. won last year’s championship, with four wins in 11 races.
- The Ontario Sportsman Series will be in action at Sauble Speedway on Saturday. Brad Robinson picked up the win, two weeks ago, at Sunset Speedway, snapping defending champion Cory McAllister’s team streak of five straight wins. McAllister finished second and leads the standings by 39 points over Brendan Patrick.
Jason Metcalfe scored the victory in the Outlaw Midgets race at Peterborough Speedway. COURTESY: Outlaw Midgets The Outlaw Midgets will run two races this weekend at Sauble Speedway, with the features being held on Saturday and Sunday. Jason Metcalfe picked up the win last time out, on June 1 at Peterborough; Nick Spiesz started the year with a win and a runner-up finish to take an early but slim two-point lead in the standings over Mike Homewood.
- The Can-Am TQ Midgets will also hold races at Sauble Speedway on Saturday and Sunday. Last weekend’s race at Peterborough Speedway was rained out, making it the second event of the season to fall victim to Mother Nature. There are four different winners in the first four races of the year, with Jeff Blackburn, Daniel Hawn, Darren McLennan and James Stanley visiting victory lane.
- The Ontario Outlaw Super Late Models will be in action at Sunset Speedway on Saturday. Shawn Chenoweth visited victory lane in the season opener at Sunset, before J.R. Fitzpatrick claimed the checkered flag in the Don Biederman Memorial at Flamboro two weeks ago.
- The Rallye Auto International Baie-Des-Chaleurs will take place this Friday through Sunday in New Richmond, QC. The fourth event of the Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru (CRC) will also be part of the Eastern Canadian Rally Championship and North American Rally Cup. Antoine L’Estage and Alan Ockwell lead the CRC overall driver and co-driver standings over Jerome Mailloux and Philippe Poirier.
- The Avion Motorsports RS1 Series continues its season on Saturday at Oliver, BC’s Area 27. This is the fourth of eight races on the calendar.
International Series News & Notes
There will also be some international series worth noting:
- The DIRTcar Sportsman Series West Region will feature a pair of Ontario stops this weekend, visiting Merrittville Speedway on Saturday and Humberstone Speedway on Sunday. Canadian Cody McPherson is currently tied with Brad Rouse for the most DIRTcar Sportsman Series wins, with 19 checkered flags. A victory this weekend would give McPherson sole possession of first on the all-time wins list for the 34-year-old series.
- All three national NASCAR series will race at Nashville Superspeedway, with the Truck Series on Friday night, Xfinity Series on Saturday and Cup Series on Sunday. Canadian Stewart Friesen has two top-fives in three Truck Series starts at Nashville; he’s currently 11th in the standings.
- Formula One will race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Sunday. Canadian Lance Stroll has four top-fives in nine starts at the track; he’s currently 11th in the standings.
- The CARS Tour Late Models will be in action at Caraway Speedway, in Sophia, NC, on Wednesday. Canadian Treyten Lapcevich finished third, his best result to date in the series, on June 15 at Dominion Raceway. Lapcevich is currently fourth in the standings, 22 points back, with top-ten finishes in seven of eight races so far this season.
