EDMONTON, AB (June 2) – Twenty two race teams made their way to Castrol Raceway Saturday, only to be short changed by mother nature-again. “This is getting a little ridiculous,” exclaims NPP Series announcer Gord Craig, “we have had three complete race cancellations already this season. Two events that we managed to get cars on the track were also affected by the weather. Even the race we did complete (Drumheller) had a rain delay at the start.” NPP Series drivers were very optimistic that Saturday night’s race at Castol Raceway was going to be free of any precipitation. Temperatures hovered near 30 Celsius all day at the track. Then by late afternoon the clouds rolled in. Rain began falling just before the opening heat race. Track officials called a rain delay which lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. After the delay, NPP drivers hit the track for their session of heat races. Current point leader Jason Beaulieu (Campbell River, BC) and Tim Beausoliel (18th in points) won their first heat races of the year Saturday night. “The extra points could come in handy at the end of the season,” says Beaulieu, “now we prepare for the two-day show on the Canada Day long weekend.” After some bad breaks in Drumheller two weekends ago, veteran race car driver Tim Beausoliel got into the win column for the first time since 2005. “Car felt good tonight, a heat race win was a long time coming. It would have been interesting to see how the Feature would have gone.” Bruce Broughton meanwhile has now won two heat races in a row. “Won down in Drumheller and now here in Edmonton,” says the Spruce Grove, Alberta driver, “we’ll try to turn the heat wins into feature wins at the next race.” The timing of the victory couldn’t have been better. The Broughton Brothers race team had close to 300 guests in the stands of two of their major sponsors (MDM Foundation/Fraser Bros. Roofing). “It’s too bad they couldn’t see the Feature,” says Broughton, “all they got was a sneak peak at what should have been a full night of racing.” Another storm system, even bigger than the first, moved into the area around 10:30pm. The major downpour washed out the Northern Provincial Pipelines Series Feature event. All NPP Series competitors will be awarded points based on their heat race finishes.

NEXT NPP LATE MODEL SERIES EVENT
Canada Day Long Weekend
2007 OILMENS INVITATIONAL
Sat/Sun – June 30/July 1 at Castrol Raceway