The Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour rolls up the highway to Riverside International Speedway on Friday for Round Seven on the 2019 season. The Passione Flooring & Interiors 50 is a part of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series Bumper to Bumper 300 weekend at the James River, Nova Scotia oval and is the first of two stops to Riverside International Speedway for the Four Cylinder Honda Tour in the next month. Racing begins at Riverside International Speedway on Friday, August 16th at 7 pm.
Riverside International Speedway will once again play a pivotal role in the championship. Two of the last three rounds of the season are contested at the high banked oval, including the Season Finale on September 7th. In three previous stops at Riverside International Speedway, two drivers have etched their names into the history books as Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour winners. Tim Webster (Beaver Bank, NS) won the inaugural Tour race at Riverside on this weekend two years ago and won this race last season. Cody Byrne (Orwell Cove, PE) won a thriller in the 2018 season finale at Riverside last September.
Dave Matthews (Kennetcook, NS) leads the championship standings with a more than comfortable margin over Jesse Deveau (Greenwood, NS). The resume for Matthews in a Mini Stock car is stacked but the one thing he is missing is a victory at the famed Riverside International Speedway. Matthews came within a car length last year, coming second to Byrne in the 2018 finale. With the track celebrating 50 years in 2019, it would only be fitting for Matthews to grab at least one checkered flag here before the curtain drops on the year.
Deveau is arguably one of the hottest drivers in Atlantic Canada right now. He has won the last two Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour races and has moved back to second in the standings. While Deveau had a stumble in the second race at Sydney Speedway at the end of July, he is making up for lost time, grabbing every single championship point he can to try and make this a fight for the title. Deveau has three top-six feature finishes here in as many starts at Riverside.
While Deveau has a 74 point hole to make up on Matthews for the lead, his cushion back to fifth in the standings is less than half that. You only have to drop back 31 points to find the likes of Neil Miousse (Kentville, NS), Byrne and Drew MacEachern (Dartmouth, NS). The trio is seasoned beyond their years with the Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour and are sure to give the No. 51 a fight for the runner-up spot in the standings.
The Rookie of the Year Award swung in the way of Stephan Somerset (Nictaux, NS) after 50-laps at Scotia Speedworld last Saturday. Somerset enjoys a 27 point cushion on Darrell Hulme (Sydney, NS) with Shay MacPhee (Yarmouth, NS) third in the freshman standings after six of nine events on the season.
Several drivers will look to score their first victories at Riverside International Speedway with the Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour. Among those big names looking to take away a checkered flag on Friday evening include former NAPA Sportsman Series driver Dave Timmons (Inverness, NS), Prince Edward Island point leader Matt Watson (Miscouche, PE), reigning Scotia Speedworld track champion Darren Flemming (Shubenacadie, NS), A-Pak Drywall and Acoustical 50 winner Andrew Warren (White’s Lake, NS), 2018 East Coast Mini Stock Tour Rookie of the Year Taylor McLean (New Glasgow, NS) and former feature winner at Sydney Speedway winner Brandon MacMillan (Glace Bay, NS). With the re-opening of Sydney Speedway, expect some of their regulars to make the haul across the Canso Causeway to join the Tour at Riverside on Friday evening.
Jerome Tracey (Port Hawkesbury, NS) competed in the first racing event at Riverside International Speedway and 50 seasons later he continues to make laps around the region with the Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour. Tracey has had these two events at Riverside International Speedway circled on his calendar since the schedule was released. The team made its 2019 debut at Sydney Speedway in July with Art McNamara (Cleveland, NS) making the start in the No. 33 for Mr. Tracey.
The driver who qualifies on the pole position on Friday evening will be the first driver offered the Giles Auto World Pole Challenge. The first driver to accept the challenge will fall to the back of the field and pick up cash bonuses based off where they finish the event. The EIT Race Radios Hard Charger and RockAuto.com Hard Luck Awards will also be offered during every event on the Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour.
The Passione Flooring & Interiors East Coast Mini Stock Tour 50 will hit the track prior to the third round of the Napa Sportsman Series on Friday evening with the Henry’s AUTOPRO 100. Grandstand gates open on Friday at 4 pm with racing beginning at 7 pm.
Saturday at Riverside International Speedway is jam-packed with the inaugural Rev it Up at Riverside Show & Shine, the Maritime League of Legends, and the NASCAR Pinty’s Series only stop on the east coast in the Bumper to Bumper 300. The grandstand gates open and NASCAR practice starts at 12:30 p.m., the Show & Shine starts at 1 p.m. (in the grassy area of the parking lot near the main entrance of the grandstand), Legends practice is at 2 p.m., NASCAR qualifying at 3 p.m., Legends heat races at 4 p.m., NASCAR autograph session at 5:10 p.m., Legends feature at 6:15 p.m., opening ceremony at 7:05 p.m., and the Bumper to Bumper 300 at 7:35 p.m.
About Passione Flooring and Interiors:
Passione Flooring and Interiors offers the highest quality of products from the Quality Sterling Group. Whether it is tile, carpet, hardwood, laminate or the world-class service and installation, they can do it all! Their new state of the art location is now open at 64 Burbridge Avenue in Dartmouth’s Burnside Industrial Park. Visit them today or call (902) 832-9091 for expert advice on your next flooring and interior project! The Quality Sterling Group line of products and services can be found online at PassioneFlooring.com.
 About the East Coast Mini Stock Tour:
The East Coast Mini Stock Tour was formed in December 2016 to give Mini Stock racing in the Maritime Provinces a unified home. Featuring four-cylinder Honda models, the series will host events at six oval race tracks throughout Atlantic Canada in their nine-race season. For complete information on the East Coast Mini Stock Tour, please visit EastCoastMiniStockTour.com
 About Riverside International Speedway:
For 50 years, Riverside International Speedway has been recognized as a premiere stock racing facility in Canada. The 1/3-mile high-banked asphalt oval roars to action several times a year for special events. It is the home of the IWK 250 – widely known as the best stock-car race in Canada, and of the Bumper to Bumper 300 – eastern Canada’s only NASCAR event. Located in James River, between New Glasgow and Antigonish, the facility is easily accessible at exit 30 on Trans Canada Highway 104. For more information please visit www.riversidespeedway.ca.
