TEAM NPP WEEKEND WRAP
A successful long holiday weekend on both sides of the border for Team Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd. Lane Zerbin, Jason Frost and Wade Fleming were competing at three different race tracks. Each driver grabbed the checkered flag at least once at the track they were competing at. This is the first time in company history that three NPP sponsored race cars were competing on the same race weekend.
> LANE ZERBIN – #81 Modified
ELMA, WASHINGTON – Lane Zerbin swept the Sunday night show at Grays Harbor Raceway in his NPP/C-Force Marine #81 Modified. Zerbin began his night in Washington State with a Heat race win. “We had some luck on our side,” admits Zerbin, “we had a good pill draw which gave us a good starting position in the Heat.” Zerbin started third in the Feature. By the time the race was five laps in Zerbin had taken over the race lead. He out powered track favorite Tom Sweatman and fellow BC driver Graham Cook and drove on for the victory. “Both Graham and Tom were putting the pressure on me near the end of the race. These guys are outstanding drivers.” Cook finished second. “It was a one/two finish for Alien Race Cars. My dad was pretty happy.” Ted Zerbin owns Alien Race Cars in Victoria, BC. “We wanted to end the season on a high note. I think we did it.” This was Zerbins first Feature win of the 2018 season. In his previous two appearances at GHR, Zerbin had back to back 6th place finishes. The race in Elma was originally planned as the final race of season for Zerbin. The weekend win may have changed that. “There are a couple of races left in Elma and Yakima. We’ll have to see what happens.” In his seven starts in 2018 (all at Grays Harbor Raceway) Zerbin has a win, a second and a third and has an average Feature finish of 6.5.
>> SUNDAY, September 2nd, 2018 // Heat – WIN // Feature – WIN (started 3rd)
>JASON FROST – #81 Late Model
VICTORIA, BC – Over twenty Late Model teams were in the pits at Western Speedway for the Reg Midgley memorial/Shockwave Marine Seating Canada 200 race weekend. Saturday night, Frost qualified the Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd./Keg Steakhouse #81 Dodge in the number two position. The Victoria, BC driver then went out and won his Saturday night Heat race. Victoria BC’s Brandon Carlson qualified number one and also won his heat race. Carlson is also a Team NPP driver but was driving his own race car on the weekend. “Brandon out qualified us by 6/100 of a second,” says Frost, “he has the sister car to the NPP car. We shared a lot of stuff over the weekend.” The Canada 200 race was run in two 100 lap sessions on Sunday night. “We were running fifth at the break,” says Frost, “we were really doing well.” Nearing the end of the Canada 200 there was an on-track incident. “We got into some racing stuff,” sighs Frost, “an altercation if you want to call it that. We got sent to the back for the final 35 laps.” Frost charged hard to regain positions lost. “We ran out of laps at the end but still finished seventh. Everyone knew we were there. We were one of the cars to beat.” Carlson finished third in the Canada 200 race. Frost will now be helping out driver Darrell Midgley and the Team NPP #81 Super Late Model this fall and winter at select races in the United States.
>>SATURDAY, September 1st, 2018 // Qualified – 2nd (16.799seconds / -0.016) // Heat – WIN
>>SUNDAY, September 2nd, 2018 // Canada 200 – Finished 7th
> WADE FLEMING – # 7 Sprint Car
GREAT FALLS, MONTANA – Electric City Speedway wrapped up its 2018 race season with the 25th annual Montana Sprint Car Shootout. Twenty-five sprint car teams were in the pits for this three-day open wheel spectacular. For Wade Fleming this was his first race in the United States in 10 years. “It was nice to go back and see some of the folks I raced against years ago,” says Fleming, “we had a really good three days of racing. We ran strong.” The Ardrossan, Alberta driver returned to the sport of open wheel racing in 2018 after leaving in 2009 to spend more time with his family. “We ran strong the first night,” explains Fleming, “started at the back in the Heat race passed a couple of cars. The Feature was ok. The main thing is we put the car on the trailer in one piece.” Night two in Great Falls started off spectacular for the driver of the Northern Provincial Pipelines/Boychuck Ventures #7 Sprint Car. “I won the Heat race (Saturday night). The car was super fast. I ran the cushion wide open.” There was one little issue that complicated matters after the win. “I was disqualified for not immediately reporting to the scale (after the Heat). I had to run the ‘B’ Feature because of this.” Fleming won the ‘B’ Feature which automatically transferred him to the ‘A’ Feature. “Near the midway point of the Feature two cars spun in front of me. I thought I could make it through but I clipped one of the cars and bent the front axle. Pulled into the pits and was done.” Despite this setback, Fleming and his team remained focused on the final night of the race weekend. “We were so pumped from how we ran Saturday night. We kicked off the night (Sunday) with a Heat race win. That gave us a good starting position in the Feature (5th).” For the first 15 laps of the Sunday night Feature, Fleming hovered between his original starting position and eighth. “We were running in the top 10 but everyone was trying to run on the bottom so I decided to go to the top to try to pass someone.” It didn’t work. “I had four cars pass me almost immediately.” Fleming was then out of the top 10. “By the time I tried to move back down I was running probably 12th or 13th.” Then the big one near the end of the race. Fleming and another driver came together. “I was sliding up and he was coming down and we met in the middle.” The crash was spectacular. “I flipped the car over several times and landed on one of the concrete retaining wall blocks. Dented the cage by my head.” Fleming was uninjured in the wild wreck. Despite not being able to roll the car onto the trailer at the end of the race weekend Fleming was happy with the weekend. “We ran hard. The car can be repaired.”
>>FRIDAY, August 31st, 2018 // Heat – 6th // Feature – 14th (started 14th)
>>SATURDAY, September 1st, 2018 //Heat – WIN ( DQ’d after not reporting to scale credited with 7th)
‘B’ Feature – WIN // ‘A’ Feature – 17th (started 17th)
>>SUNDAY, September 2nd, 2018 // Heat – WIN // Feature – 18th (started 5th)