EDMONTON, AB – It’s been a frustrating start to the season for Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series race teams. Only two of five scheduled race dates have been run thus far in 2009. Coming off a weekend where back to back races (Edmonton/June 5th and Rimbey/June 6th) were cancelled due to weather, many are beginning to wonder if this is the worst start to a race season ever. “It may seem like a horrible start,” says NPP Series announcer Gord Craig, “but believe it or not, the start of the 2007 season was far worse. But not by much.” The NPP Series has completed two races so far in 2009.

In 2007 it took until the Canada Day long weekend to register two complete race events. “That year we lost one race date in Drumheller due to rain and then we got snowed out in Rimbey. We had our Feature rained out in Edmonton. To top things off, two race days in Drayton Valley were cancelled due to a labor shortage.” After the slow start to the 2007 season, the NPP Late Model Series would lose only one more race date which would be the infamous September Hail Out event at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway.

Despite the extended pitstop to kick off the 2009 race season, many NPP Series drivers remain upbeat:

46 Jason Beaulieu: “It’s not bothering me too much,” indicates the current NPP Series point leader from his home in Campbell River, BC, “but if we get a few more of these (cancellations) people who are back in the standings might become a little more vocal.”

55 Mike Tom: “We are just finishing up our new race shop so in a way this past weekend helped us out a little bit. However I’d rather be racing that watching the rain.” Tom currently sits third in the NPP Series point standings. “The more races we run the better it is for us,” says the Stony Plain, Alberta driver, “we are finally getting some consistent finishes and the more races we run, the better our position will be in the standings.”

81 Dwight Kennedy: “What can you do,” says the two time NPP Series Champion, “you can’t fight mother nature. Hopefully we’ll get this bad streak of weather out of the way so we can go racing again.”

17 Trevor Emond: “We definitely have had a bit of free time to play with haven’t we,” says the Leduc, Alberta driver, “it’s not fun. We have been away from this Series for two straight years. The racing season is too short as it is up in these parts (climate). I wanted to use the first few races to knock some rust off.” Emond sits 8th in the NPP Series point standings.

80 Curtis Moore: “My son MacKenzie has raced more events than I have this year,” says the Sherwood Park, Alberta driver, “its been good family time with the Jr. Sprint car but we are getting a little anxious to go racing again with the big car. It is loaded and waiting for the next event.”

Next race action for the Northern Provincial Pipelines Late Model Series will also be a first for the Series in its nine year history. In one single race weekend, NPP Series race teams will compete in Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta. Friday night June 19th, NPP teams will make a third attempt at racing on their home track of Castrol Raceway in Edmonton. Less than twenty four hours later teams will compete for valuable season points at Rocky Mountain Raceway Park just south of Okotoks.