Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Each day of the week, the column will highlight a division, highlighting five drivers and mentioning things that you should know going into the next week of racing.
While the Graham Landscape Mini Stocks are known as the quickest four cylinders and normally the focus, the Signs of Innovation Mighty Minis should not be left out of the discussion. This is a division that is made up of some of the most talented younger drivers that are getting their start, growing with each weekend and will be the stars of the sport down the road. It’s also a division made up of a couple veterans to help teach the young children the way around.
On Saturday night, they put on another solid 20-lap feature that showcased battles for the lead throughout the event with a couple of different drivers. Nic Montanari would come out on top at the end of the night, scoring his second feature victory of the season.
The second generation driver, son of NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Crew Chief Rino Montanari, has started his season off on a high note, posting a fourth and two wins in the first three events. As a result, he’s one of three drivers to post a top-five finish in each of the three features. He also won a Dash for Cash, heat qualifier and is one of three to post a top-five in each of his heat races. Needless to say, this is a dream start.
The Mighty Mini division is set to grow drivers to the point where they become competitive and move up to the Mini Stock division and race against the top guys with continued success. Given his statistics so far and this being his sophomore season of competition, he could be moving up in the near future.
On the contrast, Mike Robinson Jr. is a veteran of the division, having raced Mini Stocks for a couple of years. He didn’t start off this year as he would’ve hoped, with his new car failing to bring him a top-15 finish in the first two nights. However, with night three in the books, it appears that he has worked the bugs out. Robinson Jr. led laps and ran up front all feature long en route to a third place finish. If he keeps things going smoothly, he could pick up a victory in the next couple of weeks.
Randi Seguin has experience in the division, but that experience has all come at Barrie Speedway. With Barrie Speedway’s closure, she has made the transition to Sunset Speedway. The learning curve has presented a challenge, but she has improved with each passing week. In week two of competition, she posted her first career Sunset Speedway heat victory before finishing eighth in the feature. Last weekend, she ran strong in her heats before posting a solid fifth place finish in the feature. As she continues to get better with each passing week, she’ll be one to watch at the front before season’s end.
Glenn Lloyd also joined Seguin in making the transition from Barrie to Sunset, making his first start of the season last weekend. He ran strong, posting a top-five finish in his heat. However, the motor would blow up in the feature, resulting in a DNF. With a new power plant under the hood, he should be one to watch at the front of the field.
Stefan Semeraro has been one to watch early in his career, posting a third and ninth in his first two features of competition. Last weekend, though, things wouldn’t go smoothly. Contact during the heat would result in heavy, heavy contact with the backstretch wall at Sunset Speedway, resulting in heavy front end damage to his mustang. Hopefully, the young man can get his car repaired and return to the track this weekend and have continued success.
