DIRTcar makes its first Canadian stop of the year, another Ontario touring series starts its season, and the traditional Monaco-Indy-Charlotte triple-header will provide hours of racing to watch on Sunday. That and more in this week’s preview.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series
The second DIRTcar Sportsman Series North Region race of the season will take place on Saturday night at Brockville Ontario Speedway. Central Square, NY’s Tyler Corcoran won the Can-Am Speedway opener late last month, giving him an early points lead, but there will be no shortage of Canadian content to watch for.
Chelsea, QC’s Cedric Gauvreau recorded a podium finish at Can-Am, giving him an early third-place points position. Kingston, ON’s Jessica Power and Cornwall, ON’s Shane Pecore rounded out the top-five, while Elgin, ON’s Brennan Moore recorded a top-10 finish. That makes it nearly half of the 10 Canadians who raced at Can-Am finishing in the top third of the field.
The DIRTcar Sportsman Series will be joined by the DIRTcar 358 Modified, Crate Sprint, Rookie Sportsman, Vintage, and Mini Stock Series divisions at Brockville.
Ontario Modifieds Racing Series
The Ontario Modifieds Racing Series will open their 2024 season on Saturday at Peterborough Speedway. The schedule features eight race days split between Peterborough and Flamboro Speedway, concluding at the Autumn Colours Classic. Defending champion John Baker Jr. returns in search of a sentimental overall victory in the Bill Pickford Memorial, a race named in honour of his late friend; this year’s memorial is scheduled for July 20 at Peterborough. Baker recorded four wins in 11 races last season, including a co-victory in the Bill Pickford Memorial.
Ontario Legend Car Series
The Trailers Plus Ontario Legend Car Series will contest the middle race in a stretch of three straight weekends at Peterborough Speedway, with a feature scheduled for Saturday night. Following a rain postponement at Sunset Speedway, the season opener was held on the Victoria Day weekend at Peterborough.
A red flag for multiple incidents sidelined some frontrunners early, before a couple of cautions slowed the field with about 10 laps to go in the 25-lap event. Mitch Wright stayed close throughout the running, before taking the lead and winning the race. Dawson Drimmie, Wes Cuthbertson, Cole McFadden, and Mark Griffin completed the top-five.
ECI Pro Stock Tour
The East Coast International Pro Stock Tour will make a second attempt at starting its season on Saturday at Speedway 660. Last weekend’s race at Scotia Speedworld was postponed due to weather, with a make up date scheduled for next Saturday, June 1.
Twenty drivers are on the initial entry list for Saturday’s 150-lap race, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time. This will be the series’ only stop at Speedway 660, which is located near Fredericton, NB. Three-time reigning champion Craig Slaunwhite will compete in select events this year; the series is guaranteed to have a new champion, with no past title winners joining the points battle.
International Series
It’s Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., which means it’s time for the traditional triple-header of historic races for three of the top motorsports series in the world. The Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 have been scheduled to take place on the same day since the early 1970s, with Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix joining them more regularly over the last couple of decades.
Sunday’s schedule starts with F1 at 9 a.m. ET, followed by IndyCar at 12:30 p.m. ET and NASCAR at 6 p.m. ET. All three races will be on U.S. network TV for perhaps the final time, with Amazon’s Prime Video taking over the Coca-Cola 600 broadcast next season. TSN will air all three races in Canada, including CTV 2 simulcasting the Indy 500.
Canadian Lance Stroll will continue his F1 campaign in Monaco; he’s currently 11th in points. For the first time since 2006, there will be no Canadian drivers in the Indy 500. Many eyes will be on NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who’s looking to become the first driver to race in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day since Kurt Busch in 2014.
News & Notes
- VARAC’s Vintage Historic, Classic and Modern Classic divisions will take part in the Spring Classic this weekend at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant. This will be the final event before the 44th annual Vintage Grand Prix, which takes place June 13-16 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Porsche will be honoured as the featured marque at the Vintage GP, with special races including Porsche vs. The Field in the Rudy Bartling Nation’s Cup.
- Following a rained out opener earlier this month, the Ontario Pro Challenge will look to start its season on Saturday night at Flamboro Speedway. Multi-time champion Tim Norris will return to defend his title.
- The Alberta Extreme Sprints will have a pair of exhibition races at Rad Torque Raceway on Friday and Saturday. Declyn Fleming and Brody Anderson recorded the wins on opening weekend.
- Canadian Stewart Friesen is currently 13th in points entering Friday night’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway; the Xfinity Series will race at Charlotte on Saturday afternoon.
- The CARS Tour late models will race at Tri-County Speedway on Saturday. Canadian Treyten Lapcevich is tied for fourth in points and is the only driver with five top-10s in the first five races.
- Nova Scotia’s Cole Butcher won Thursday’s ASA STARS National Tour race at Hickory Motor Speedway. Kyle Steckly ran towards the front before a transmission issue ended his day. The series’ next race is scheduled for June 14 at Madison International Speedway.
- The Freedom 90 for USF Pro 2000 takes place Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Canadian Mac Clark is currently 11th in the standings.
