CFSpr5

Lonnie Sommerville dominates the Pro Stock Invitational at Shediac's Centre For Speed

Sunday, June 6, 2004

SHEDIAC, NEW BRUNSWICK- Saint John's Lonnie Sommerville (#23) was dominant in capturing the Salisbury Discount Muffler & Brake 100 lap Pro Stock Invitational stock car event on Sunday afternoon at the Centre for Speed in Barachois, N.B. Sommerville started the feature on pole and led 96 of the 100 laps aboard his Modern Electric Monte Carlo to capture the lion's share of the Pro Stock purse. Meanwhile, his brother Billy Sommerille also enjoyed a good afternoon in Sportsman action, claiming second spot in the 25 lap feature.

The Saint John driver set an early pace ahead of veteran driver George Koszkulics (#6) of New Glasgow and briefly lost the lead to Koszkulics after a yellow flag restart on lap 49. However, he regained the lead with a great outside pass only to see Koszkulics retire to the pit area a few laps later with engine problems. His next challenge came from Boundary Creek's Dave O'Blenis (#48) who unfortunately saw his afternoon come to an end with mechanical problems on lap 66.

Sommerville's final challenge came from Ian Mollins (#25) of Berry Mills who took a few runs at the lead but ultimately had to settle for second spot with Shawn Tucker (#54) of Fredericton taking third and Darren Sherwood (#38) of Berry Mills in fourth. Tucker had earlier captured the semi final with Sherwood winning the first heat and Dan MacKay (#71) of Halifax taking the trip to victory lane in the second heat.

Meanwhile, in Super Sportsman action, Andre Boudreau (#71) of Shediac picked up the win in the 25 lap feature to go along with his earlier semi final win, crossing the finish line ahead of Billy Sommerville of Saint John and Dan Bourque (#15) of Grande Digue. Memramcook's Luc Bourgeois took home the checkered in the heat just ahead of Boudreau and Bourque. Last year's champ and runner up, Laurie Cormier (#53) of Shediac and Josh Jaillet (#52) of Ste. Phillippe, had difficult afternoons as they were involved in a few collisions which will translate into a number of hours of work on the racecars during the upcoming week.

The 2004 season opening event for the crash and bang Street Stock division lived up to its advance billing with collisions, black flags and fender to fender racing. The 20 lap feature saw four cars involved in two separate collisions on the same lap as Gerard Doiron (#15) of Cap Pele and Gerald Leblanc (#93) of Barachois sustained significant damage while rookie Shawn Cormier (#18) of Shediac was disqualified for rough driving. When all the dust had settled, Claude Gaudet (#22) of Barachois took home the first place hardware while Marc Gautreau (#99) of Grand Barachois had to settle for second place after having dominated the two earlier races with wins in both the heat and semi final. Norm Richard (#38) of Grand Barachois was third in the feature