It was a cool and overcast late spring day in James River but the action was hot on the track in Saturday’s Spring Fling season opener at Riverside International Speedway. In spite of the blustery weather, hundreds of fans showed up to see a great show that featured the inaugural East Coast Enduro Challenge, the Whispering Winds Maritime All Star Series Mini Stocks, and a Street Stocks.
Andrew Cluett lapped all but the second-place car and picked up a whopping $3000 as the winner of the East Coast Enduro Challenge. Thirty-one cars answered the bell for the event, the riches of its kind ever held in the Maritimes. Two broke in practice, and two were DQ’d for technical violations. Cluett recorded the fastest lap of the race at 71.105 mph around the 1/3-mile high banked oval. Cluett, Dennis Nickerson, and Dylan Partridge won the Enduro heat races.
In Whispering Winds Maritime All Star Series Mini Stock action Blake MacDonald and Adam Aker won the Twin 25s, respectively. 14 drivers entered the event; two broke in practice. Tim Wright posted the fastest lap for the division on the day at 74.074 mph. Blake MacDonald and Daniel MacDonald each won a heat race.
Dennis Nickerson dominated the Street Stock division winning both ends of the Twin 35 features. Josh Arbeau won the heat race. Seven cars entered; one broke in practice and could not race. Nickerson posted the fastest Street Stock lap at 78.379 mph, barely edging Arbeau’s fastest lap at 78.324 mph.
Full results for all of Saturday’s Spring Fling racing action is here.
Riverside is back in action June 26 & 27 for the Maple Leaf Classic Weekend presented by Tidal Tractor. Friday, June 26 will see a concert with east coast music legend, the Matt Minglewood Band along with opening act Hammer Down, from Antigonish. On Saturday it’s one of the biggest days in Canadian stock car racing with two of the nations top touring series, NASCAR Canada and the Fort Garry Industries Pro Stock Tour. Between the two, 450 laps of championship points feature racing will be contested – 300 for NASCAR Canada and 150 for the Pro Stocks.
Qualifying will include time trials for NASCAR and heat races for pro stock. Nova Scotia’s Cole Butcher will make his first home appearance in the pro stock division on an off-weekend from his full-time ride in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) in the U.S. – Riverside is a proud partner in Butcher’s NASCAR effort as a sponsor, with the track logo on the truck tailgate at all 25 NCTS races this year.
The NASCAR Canada Series race is the only one for it east of Quebec this year; it’s the first of three stops at Riverside this year for the FGI Pro Stock Tour.
