MERRITT, BC – Team NPP driver Josh Shuflada saw both sides of a racing weekend at Merritt Speedways Bill John Memorial Invitational.  The Edson, Alberta driver grabbed a second place finish in Saturday’s Late Model Feature.  Less than 24-hours later the RCE/Northern Provincial Pipelines #81 Dodge suffered a mechanical failure while leading the Sunday Feature.  “Just nine laps in the spindle broke in corner two and I got sidelined.”  The rookie driver limped his car into the pits and was credited with a ninth place finish.  Despite the disappointment Shuflada was still happy with his weekend.

“Time-ins were good (both days).  Finished second in the trophy dash and second in my Heat race.  If the car would have held (on Sunday), I’m pretty sure I would have taken first.”  Although a few teams were absent from the Thanksgiving long weekend lineup, the Late Model class still had a pretty decent car count.  “There were nine cars here.  Some good competition too.”  A familiar name to Late Model racing at Merritt Speedway was the weekend winner.  “My buddy Billy Kearns took the win.”  Kearns and Schuflada have become good friends since meeting earlier this year at Central Alberta Raceways.  The Powell River, British Columbia driver was also the big winner in Rimbey, Alberta back in August.

NOTE:  The last time the Northern Provincial Pipelines #81 Dodge competed at Merritt Speedway was the 2012 August long weekend.  Dwight Kennedy drove the Team NPP car to a 2nd place finish on Saturday and a 12th place finish on Sunday.