MacDonald Buick GMC 400
Waterfield Racing debuted the new number 23 car for "The MacDonald Buick GMC 400" race weekend at the CENTRE for Speed in Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada. This is the first stop for Shawn and the team outside of Nova Scotia in the 2010 race season. The gates opened at 9:00am, Shawn and his number 23 car were through the tech booth in a mere 45 minutes; and Shawn hit the track for practice.
Trying his luck on another track with his new sportsman car, the practice laps were going very well until losing his transmission on his final practice attempt. Back in the pits, Jerry Hayes (number 6 car) also from Sydney, loaned Waterfield Racing his spare transmission to get Shawn back in the game. Next step: remove bad transmission and install new one ... no problem, right? Most people would have thrown in the towel and put the car back on the trailer but not Waterfield Racing. Ronnie and Dave worked at a feverish pace and got the number 23 car back on the track for a qualifying race. Shawn started in the 10th position and ran hard lines around the speedway, pushing the car as hard as he could. In doing so, he finished in 6th place which earned him the 11th spot start for the feature.
Rolling out on to the speedway with 22 other cars, Shawn sat mid field as the green flag waved in the feature race. An action packed first 26 laps were complete then what seemed like issues after issues plagued the field. Caution after caution that occupied 60 minutes of a 2 hour race duration.
Racing resumed and for the next 36 laps, Shawn was maintaining a top 10 spot, then disaster struck. Shawn and the number 23 car, were involved in an accident. Sitting behind the wheel, Shawn assumed his night was over, back in the pits, Ronnie and Dave were at it again. With the help of Jerry Haye's (number 6 car) pit crew, Shawn was back out on the track, in 11th position.
The car was feeling ok, but not right; then another caution flag around lap 90. As Shawn paced around the track, the car wasn't handling the best, so into the pits. The cause - a low tire. Ronnie and Dave made a quick change and Shawn was back on the race track with only a few laps remaining. Fighting hard in those critical few last laps, Shawn finished in 8th place.
Highland Home Hardware 100
Waterfield Racing was back at Riverside International Speedway to compete in the Highland Home Hardware 100. The pits of the raceway were quickly filling up as 36 cars were registered for this years event. Practice began around 1 pm on Saturday, July 17th, 2010 and a focused Shawn was strapped into his number 23 car with one purpose ... he needed to have a good qualifying race to lock in his position for the feature race. With 36 cars registered for the 100 lap event and only 26 spots available, Waterfield Racing didn't travel this far to spend the evening in the stands. Once practice was over, Shawn and the team waited anxiously for the qualifying heat lineup. Shawn and his number 23 car were to start on the front row of heat number 3.
As the third qualifying heat began, Shawn jumped out to an early lead and held the first place position for three laps. However, the lead was short lived as Ross Lewis (number 88 car) of Sydney, Nova Scotia and Marc Gautreau (number 99 car) of Moncton, New Brunswick passed the number 23 car, pushing Shawn into third place, which he remained for the rest of the race. A huge sigh of relief ran through Waterfield Racing as Shawn qualified for the 100 lap feature, just outside the top ten, in the 11th position.
The feature started out a little rocky for some of the racers. Their were several cautions before lap 30, which would make for a long evening of racing for everyone involved. Racing pick back up on the high banks of Riverside, with a stream of flowing cars, all jockeying for position. Racing hard and holding his own, Shanw was running in the top ten, switching between seventh and eighth place. Suddenly, around lap 52, the number 23 car's power steering belt had enough and decided it was time to retire; but that wouldn't stop Shawn. He battled not only the car, but the track and 25 other drivers for 48 more laps. Shawn and his wounded number 23 car finished the race in the number 12 spot.
Not a bad finished to a great day of racing. Shawn and the team held their heads high as they left Riverside International Speedway that night. Waterfield Racing was already in motion to get the number 23 car back to full strength for the next event in August of 2010.
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