HALDIMAND — The highly anticipated racing event hosted by the Jukasa Motor Speedway invited late model fans to enjoy the Canadian Short Track Nationals to witness the race for a whopping $50,000 first place prize.
The unsanctioned 200 lap event attracted thousands of race fans and race entries from its home province as well as Quebec, Atlantic Canada and northeastern, southeastern and midwestern areas of the USA.
General Manager and Promoter at Jukasa Motor Speedway Alex Nagy previously explained that race fans couldn’t go anywhere else in North America to see an event of this caliber crammed into two days.
“It was our first annual [event] where we wanted to develop one of the biggest oval track races in the country,” said Nagy. “We’re looking forward to continuing to build on it.”
As preparation for he event might go unnoticed to visitors, Nagy noted on just how much hard work he and his team put forth to ensure the weekend was a success.
“We have a great team of folks that help put it together and pull everything off, for sure, “ he said. “There’s a lot of moving parts.”
Nagy also explained that the event held some of the top Canadian and American contenders, including Jason Hathaway, Brandon Watson, and Bubba Pollard. As the perennial Southeastern Contender, Pollard from the USA was among the most prolific, as the third-generation star’s list of achievements are lengthy.
Pollard later took home the $50,000 purse by the end of Sunday night.
But that wasn’t the only memorable piece of the weekend, as Nagy explained his own high light.
“Saturday had two big races, which was great, and then Sunday we had the head line event. But I think it’s just when the lights come on and they’re all lined up for the big fifty-thousand-to-win race, and standing up on the race track and looking out into the crowd and seeing how good of a time everyone was having just kind of summarizes the weekend for us.”
“It’s like ‘yes, we’ve got it done, there’s only one more race to go,’ and that we’ve accomplished all of our goals so we want to finish up strong.”
Pro-late Model finalists were Pollard, who took first place with car No. 26, Carson Hocevar, who took second place with car No. 14, and Brian Campbell, who took third place with car No. 47.
Saugeen Shores Transmission Super Stock 50 finalists were Andy Kamrath with first place, Kris Lawrence with second place and Brandon Passer with third place.
Out-law Super Late Model finalists were Tyler Roahrig, who took first place with car No. 24, Brandon Watson, who took second place with car No. 9, and Phil Bozell, who took third place with car No. 8..
The event, as Nagy said, is hoped to be built upon in coming years.
