Lockdown Showdown season opener limited to 60 race teams
358 Modified drivers from as far as Manitoba, Quebec coming to Port Colborne for $2,000-to-win feature
There will be full-throttle action on the track but no fans in the stands when racing returns to New Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne.
Lockdown Showdown, set to take place Saturday, June 13, weather permitting, will feature a 50-lap $2,000-to-win 358 Modified main event and a 25-lap $1,000-to-win battle for bragging rights in Thunder Stocks, the track’s eight-cylinder class.
Race teams, including drivers and up to four crew members each, will need to follow physical distancing protocols in the pit area as a further precaution to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“The speedway is continuing to follow all the recommendations established by the Ontario Ministry of Health to keep everyone safe,” said Dave Bitner Jr., the speedway’s owner.
Health and safety considerations drove the decision to limit each division to 30 race teams.
“We still have to follow all the COVID-19 rules: six feet (about two metres) apart, trailers have to be parked one trailer width away from another one,” he said. “The way that it’s laid out right now, with 60 teams, we’ll be able to fit everybody in our pit area and safely monitor it. We kept it to the two classes because we wanted to make sure we could handle the number of people we have out there.”
Only track staff essential to putting on a program will be out on race night.
“We are going to limit our staff to the bare minimum,” Bitner said. “Between a couple of race directors and a couple of people out in the pit and medical staff, that’s pretty much all that is going to be there.”
A program set to begin with heat races at 7 p.m. can be viewed live on REV TV Canada, formerly MATV Canada, and is available for free on a live stream at GForceTV.net.
Greg Calnan and Adam Ross will be calling the action in the booth with Clinton Geoffrey working the race as the trackside announcer. Steven Petty, who has announced races at both Humberstone and Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, is expected to provide commentary remotely from his home in western New York.
Each field will be limited to 30 cars, with 24 advancing to the feature. Thunder Stock is already fully booked and preregistration is “more than three-quarters there” for 358 Modified.
Registration is $250 per team but, given each driver who advances to a final will go home with a minimum $150 payout, Humberstone is running the event “at cost.”
“If you start doing the math on it, the actual dollars and cents that is coming from the drivers, that $250 per entry, that still doesn’t even cover the purse,” Bitner said.
Making up the difference for the livestreamed event is support from “some great sponsors.”
“That’s the only reason I can do something like this,” he said. “The sponsors stepped up even before this started, saying, ‘If you put a race on, I’ll give you some sponsorship money to put this on.’ ”
Traditionally, Sunday is race night at Humberstone, but Lockdown Showdown is running one day earlier to accommodate race teams, some who are coming to Port Colborne from as far as Manitoba and Quebec.
“Modifieds and Thunders is what the sponsors wanted. The only night to make 358 Modified work in this area is Saturday,” he said. “We’re getting guys from Quebec, Manitoba, all over the place.
“For a Saturday night, they still have Sunday to travel.”
In addition to being the best night for live TV on racing networks, Saturday allows the track to make the next day a rain date, if necessary.
One driver from Quebec told Bitner the trip to Port Colborne would be up to 11 hours one way
“We’ve got guys coming from everywhere,” Bitner said. To underscore the Lockdown theme, the 358 Modified feature will be run in two segments of 25 laps each. Drivers who don’t visit the pits during the first segment will keep their positions for the final 25 laps.
Racers who didn’t “lock down” will line up behind the front-runners in the staging lane to round out the field.
Only race teams that fail to advance after qualifying heats will go home empty-handed.
“No matter what happens, as long as you start the A-Main in the Modifieds, you’ll get $200,” said Bitner, adding the minimum drops down to $150 in Thunder Stocks.
It’s too early to say whether Lockdown Showdown is a one-off or the first in a series.
“It depends on how the government mandates come out. For right now, this is just the only one,” the track owner said. “I wanted to do something as a thank you to our fans for sticking around, thank you for our drivers.”
TRACK TALK: New Humberstone held a practice Sunday night. … A test-and-tune session Saturday night at Merrittville, the Thorold track’s second practice in as many weeks, was postponed due to wet grounds. … COVID-19 has already resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 motorcycle-racing season at Welland County Speedway in Welland.
“The way that it’s laid out right now with 60 teams, we’ll be able to fit everybody in our pit area and safely monitor it.” DAVE BITNER JR. NEW HUMBERSTONE SPEEDWAY OWNER