September 15, 2012. It was a very successful round number eleven of the NASCAR Canadian Tire series for both Martin Roy driver of the #90 Batteries Expert/Veloce/Gamache Truck Centre Dodge and teammateIsabelle Tremblay pilot of the #07 Frank Lyman Design Dodge this past weekend at Riverside International Speedway. Each driver maximized their skills to claim a top ten finish in the 300 lap feature event on Saturday night.
For Isabelle Tremblay this was only her second oval track race of the 2012 campaign and once again she showed poise and battled hard to earn a solid result. “I am very happy to score a tenth place result in this event” stated Tremblay. “The car was very good right from the start and I could battle with the top cars, it really shows the determination and effort of the team. We also had some wonderful local help from 17 year old Amely Meehan who is a local racer and worked as my spotter. I also want to thank Scott Allen another Sportsman racer who along with his crew helps us out tremendously this weekend.
Martin Roy was also looking for another solid result to help secure the rookie of the year title for 2012. Roy would post the fastest lap time during the first practice session and continued to show his strength with a sixth place qualifying result. For the second consecutive race Roy would also take over the race lead staying out front for a dozen laps.
“We had a very fast race car once again” stated Roy. “We were very competitive running up front with the leaders, unfortunately we had a little trouble on a pit stop with a wheel nut and that set us back a bit. But once again the team worked very hard, we were able to run up near the front of the field all night with the leaders and I’m happy to finish in eighth position” he added.
Weekend activities began early for both Isabelle Tremblay and Martin Roy as they visit with local race fans and sponsors for this weekend’s race. “What a special time we’ve had in Antigonish” said Tremblay. “We started with a BBQ Friday afternoon at Eastern Auto and also met fans and partners from Tim’s Service Centre and Highland Home Hardware. We also have to say a big thank you to Lemken and their local dealer Green Diamond Equipment for their great support this weekend.
This was the last race of the 2012 season for Isabelle Tremblay and it was important for her to have a positive result. “This kind of result is very important and a sign of more to come. I would like to thank Mario Gosselin, Phillip Matthews, Francis Landreville, Sebastien Berube, Sylvain Dagenais, Jocelyn Dubois, Dany Lapalme, Daniel & Miguel Laliberte, Martin Roy and his family, Sonia, Sabrina and Norman Roy, Annie and Jean-Claude Fortin. Thank you to all the people who helped me so much, especially Bertrand Godin, Guy Gilain, Daniel Demers, my family and valued sponsors. To all the fans that gave me energy every day and motivate me to push my limits, thank you so much.
Martin Roy will compete in the final NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race this coming Saturday, September 22nd at Kawartha Speedway and looks to lock up the rookie of the year prize. “That has been our goal all season” said Roy. “Our team is going to give everything we have this week to be ready and then compete very hard next weekend” he added.
The race from Riverside International Speedway will air on TSN on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Noon ET, and on RDS2 on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 10 p.m.
Martin Roy also sits ninth in the overall championship point’s battle, only a single point behind eighth spot.
A reminder to race fans that voting is underway for the NCATS most popular driver and Isabelle Tremblay currently leads the voting. You can vote once each day by logging onto the NASCAR Home tracks website, hometracks.nascar.com
Photo: 1. Martin Roy in the #90 Batteries Expert/Veloce/Gamache Truck Centre Dodge. 2. Isabelle Tremblay in the #07 Frank Lyman Design Dodge
