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Fredericton, NB – In front of another record breaking shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, Fredericton’s Shawn Tucker won the Irving Oil 250. Berry Mills Darren Sherwood placed second with an outstanding run while Temperance Vale’s Leon Christie took third on the last lap after John Flemming ran out of gas on the back stretch. The 7,000 plus people who made their way to the Geary facility for the event were kept on the edge of their seats with side-by side, bumper-to-bumper racing from the front to the back of the field and several lead changes. Thirty-four cars attempted to qualify for the event and record fifteen cars finished on the lead lap.

Tucker started deep in the field in his #52 City Motel and Lobster Hit Monte Carlo as his team struggled to find the right setup in qualifying. However, during the feature he patiently moved up the field to move into the top three by lap 121. Tucker pursued Halifax’s John Flemming in the #97 Roofing Connection entry and Presque Isle’s Kirk Thibeau in the #28 Grower’s Exchange as the two engaged in a great battle at the front of the field as both led the race for different stretches although Flemming was in the top spot for decidedly more laps.

Thibeau eventually fell off the pace and Tucker pitted on lap 186. However, by lap 211 Tucker had worked his way back into third and behind leader Darren Sherwood in the #38 High Tech Powersports Monte Carlo and Flemming in second. Tucker quickly moved past Flemming for second and another great three car battle ensued as the drivers battled for position – Sherwood protecting his lead, Tucker dodging in and out looking for an opening and Flemming pushing Tucker as much as he could. Then on lap 233, Tucker took over the lead for good. Sherwood had to settle for a hard earned second while Flemming was cruising for a third until he ran out of gas on the backstretch, giving Leon Christie third spot in his #9 A.L.Gullison Ford Taurus, rewarding him for an excellent run where he ran as high as second at times and even challenged for the lead.

The victory was Tucker’s first ever Irving Oil 250 win after a pair of top three finishes. He also took home an extra $500 for the QS/1 Hard Charger Challenge Award by advancing 21 positions. Even though he suffered a last lap setback, Flemming had a still walked away with a good pay day by winning the Riverview Ford Lincoln Halfway Challenge Award for an extra $500 and then leading the most laps with 79 in the top spot. NBIS sold laps for $50 a lap, giving Flemming an extra $3,950. Rookie Paul Gahan had the second most laps after an impressive start to the race where he took the lead on lap 32 and proceeded to lead the next 64 laps. Dana Duncan also took home an extra $250 for being the top finishing Pontiac.

In the Coast Tire Street Stock Division, a great run by Saint John’s Rick Cashol in the Street Stock 50 lapper denied Peter Gaddess a $1000 bonus for sweeping both 50 lappers. A win would have given Gaddess four consecutive 50 lapper win. However, Cashol held off a late race charge by Gaddess and Terry Collet, two of the top two cars in the division in a close battle that featured side-by-side racing with mere inches the difference between first and third. After the race, Terry Collet announced that he would donate his winnings to the I.W.K. This is the second time this season that he has donated his winnings.

The 50/50 was $4,800 and fans were also treated to over 15 prizes supplied by Irving Oil, Humpty Dumpty and Coke. The first 1,200 fans through the gate also received free event shirts courtesy of Irving. The stands were jammed packed all tthroughout the speedway, including the new grandstands that were installed in anticipation of a capacity crowd.

Irving Oil 250 - Final Results
Fin	Start	#	Driver	Hometown	Laps	Laps Led	Winnings
1	21	52	Shawn Tucker	Fredericton	250	18	$16,400
2	18	38	Darren Sherwood	Berry Mills	250	27	$6,350
3	6	9	Leon Christie	Temperance Vale	250		$2,500
4	16	35	Brad Mann	Glen Livett	250		$2,000
5	20	72	Scott Robbins	Dixfield, ME	250		$1,500
6	5	28	Kirk Thibeau	Presque Ile, ME	250	17	$2,250
7	23	19	Randy Turner	Freedom, ME	250		$1,300
8	15	8	Hal O’Neal	Aroostock	250		$1,250
9	25	88	Kevin Moore	Fredericton	250		$1,200
10	12	81	Glenn Rasmussen	New Denmark	250		$1,150
11	1	15	Scott Alexander	Dartmouth, NS	250	32	$2,700
12	27	51	Larry Gulliver	Lincoln	250		$1,050
13	17	23	Lonnie Sommerville	Saint John	250		$1,000
14	8	97	John Flemming	Halifax, NS	250	79	$5,425
15	7	5	Ricky Rolfe	Albany Township, ME	250		$950
16	4	99	Phil Barkhouse Jr	Beaverbank, NS	249		$925
17	3	10	Dana Duncan	Saint John	248		$1160
18	26	18	Chris Hughes	PEI	247		$900
19	11	33	Wayne Smith	Timberlea, NS	246		$890
20	24	40	Gary Bellefleur	Stetson, ME	231		$880
21	13	26	Mike Stevens ®	Colpitts Settlement	200		$870
22	2	66	Paul Gahan ®	Lwr.St.Mary’s	193	64	$4,060
23	28	87	Matt Harris	Fredericton Jct	151		$850
24	10	48	Dave O’Blenis	Boundary Creek	146		$840
25	9	20	Scott Chubbock	Wiscasset, ME	121	13	$1,480
26	22	01	Dan Eddy	Enfield, NS	104		$820
27	14	24	Jody Harris ®	St.David Ridge	6		$810
28	19	SFR	Shawn Turple	Enfield, NS	0		$800

The Coast Tire Street Stock Division, a great run by Saint John’s Rick Cashol in the Street Stock 50 lapper denied Peter Gaddess a $1000 bonus for sweeping both 50 lappers. A win would have given Gaddess four consecutive 50 lapper win. However, Cashol held off a late race charge by Gaddess and Terry Collet, two of the top two cars in the division in a close battle that featured side-by-side racing with mere inches the difference between first and third. After the race, Terry Collet announced that he would donate his winnings to the I.W.K. This is the second time this season that he has donated his winnings.

Coast Tire Street Stock 50
	#	Driver	Hometown
1	54	Rick Cashol	Saint John
2	20	Peter Gaddess	Minto
3	48	Terry Collet	Fredericton
4	12	Don Matheson ®	St.Stephen
5	41	Robert Raynes ®	Sommerville
6	37	Matt Banks ®	Fredericton
7	91	Gary Arbour	Fredericton
8	25	Shawn Hyslop	St.Stephen
9	23	Mike Francis	Saint John
10	13	Jack Lane	Geary
11	11	Rodney Ness	Hanwell
12	57	Danny Titus	Three Tree Creek
13	27	Luc Despres	Barnseville
14	28	John Rankin	Fairfield
15	5	Brian Campbell	Quispmasis
16	53	Vance McMillan ®	Lwr. Greenwich
17	9	Ryan Donovan ®	Geary
18	98	Mike Raynes ®	Sommerville
19	1	Heidi Ness ®	Hanwell
20	80	Dan McNeil

Coast Tire Street Stock 50