First Wins, First Laps: 2025 Maritime Season Gains Steam After/Amidst Rain Delays
#2 and #83 Ashton Tucker & Cory Hall of New Brunswick have won all 4 races to start the 2025 regional season
July 22nd, 2025
A soggy spring forced multiple postponements for both the Super Late Model Series and the FGI Pro Stock Tour, but when the green flag has finally dropped, the region delivered four crowd-pleasers. Three checkered flags belong to Cory Hall, and one to Ashton Tucker. It seems that their domination of SLMS last year has extended to the PST, as well. Here’s how the Maritime Late Model world has shaken out in the season’s first month.
Events Run: 4 (2 FGI PST · 2 SLMS)
Unique Winners: 2 – #83 Cory Hall (3 wins), #2 Ashton Tucker (1)
May–June: Four Races, Four Emerging Narratives:
Scotia Speedworld — Hall Takes Over, Doesn’t Look Back
Kenny U-Pull 150 · FGI PST · May 25
Opening night finally arrived at the 3/10-mile Halifax D-Oval after consecutive wash-outs. #25g Gage Gilby, last year’s rookie of the year, controlled the first 46 laps from pole before defending series champ #54 Jarrett Butcher lined him up for a pass, using a lapped car in front of Gilby as a pick. Gilby made a bold dive in-between the cars, 3-wide to maintain the lead. But very shortly after, Butcher slipped past, taking the lead away. A Lap-64 restart changed the complexion for the rest of the race, with sixth-place starter, and last year’s SLMS runner-up to Tucker via tiebreaker Cory Hall rolling the outside, grabbing clean air in the front, and owning the final 87 circuits despite a late charge from Tucker.
Just after the half-way mark #26 Braden Langille in his return to the PST made an impressive 3-wide pass on the inside to maintain 6th place, as he made a charge closer to the front. 112 laps in Tucker took 2nd place from Butcher, around the same time that Gilby’s alternator failed and relegated the early dominator to 12th. With a timely caution, perhaps Tucker may have posed a challenge for Hall, but with a several second lead cushion built up, Hall comfortably sailed past the finish line for the final circuit of the night. While they did not lead any laps, #13 Austin MacDonald and #11v Jordan Veinotte spent the whole race towards the middle of the top-10.
Top 10: 1) Hall, 2) Tucker, 3) MacDonald, 4) #54 Jarrett Butcher, 5) Veinotte, 6) Langille, 7) #0 Sam Rogers, 8) #11 Marty Prevost, 9) #32 Chris Hughes, 10) #88 Russel Smith Jr.
Petty International — Tucker’s Tour de Force
LV Auto Parts & Repair 150 · SLMS · June 8
(lap numbers are approximate)
#41 Mike Rodgers and Braden Langille shared the front row, with #01 Tanton Woolridge starting third, Ashton Tucker fifth, and first-season champion #16 Dylan Gosbee seventh. Rodgers led the opening few laps, but Langille soon took control, settling into a rhythmic 40 or so lap stint at the front; Woolridge remained close behind. Tucker drove past Langille for the lead, while #1 Ryan Messer methodically climbed through the field from 8th, reaching the top five about one-third of the way into the race, as Woolridge continued to hold a solid third. At the halfway mark, #23 Lonnie Sommerville began a charge from around 10th. With roughly 25 laps remaining, Gosbee moved up to fourth while Messer passed Langille for second. Woolridge and Gosbee then battled for position, with Sommerville closing in on the pair. Tucker would hang as Messer tried to chase him down over the closing laps.
Top 10: 1) Tucker, 2) Messer, 3) Langille, 4) Woolridge, 5) Sommerville, 6) Gosbee, 7) Rodgers, 8) #48 Dave O’Blenis, 9) #08 Nicholas Naugle, 10) #20 Greg Fahey
Oyster Bed Speedway — Island Invader
Universal Truck & Trailer 150 · SLMS · June 15
Pole to checker: Cory Hall under SLMS sanctioning has Oyster Bed figured out, he led all 150 laps for the 2nd year in a row, for his 3rd straight victory there. The victory was not without pressure - besides needing to win 5 restarts: Tanton Woolridge shadowed Hall through the first two-thirds of the race, holding second until a late restart allowed 2023 winner Dylan Gosbee to grab the runner-up position with 32 laps remaining. Woolridge regrouped to secure third, then spent the closing stint fending off a charge from Greg Fahey, who settled for a career-best fourth. Home-track favourite #18 Darren MacKinnon completed the top five. #40 Robbie MacEwen maintained his series-leading top-10 finishes in all SLMS races, with a caveat. In the Petty race the week prior, he finished 11th, but it was not in his familiar #40 that he competed in all other SLMS races in.
Top 10: 1) Hall, 2) Gosbee, 3) Woolridge, 4) Fahey, 5) MacKinnon, 6) MacEwen, 7) Messer, 8) #8 Kent Vincent, 9) Sommerville, 10) O’Blenis
Scotia Speedworld — Hall’s 3rd 2025 Maritime Victory Amid Late Drama
Nova Truck Centres 150 · FGI PST · June 21
As a previous winner on this year’s PST, Hall started 11th, as he could not start in the top-10. He wasted no time carving a path forward, forcing the issue three-wide on lap 7, darting under #53 Cole Butcher while Russell Smith Jr. hung to the outside. He cleared the pair before jumping up to the preferred outside groove.
Early shuffle:
#30 Stevie Lively paced the opening 11 laps from pole the.
Gilby powered past on Lap 12 and led the next 25 circuits.
By Lap 20 the running order read: Gilby, Veinotte, MacDonald.
Hall reached fourth by Lap 33; Ashton Tucker trailed in sixth.
A nudge from Veinotte on Lap 37 opened Gilby’s inside lane—Veinotte slipped through for the lead, Hall grabbed third, and a Lap-40 caution restacked the deck. On the Lap-52 restart Hall launched from the high side, swept around Veinotte, and never looked back.
Middle & late race notes
Lap 51 top-five: Veinotte, Hall, MacDonald, J. Butcher, Gilby.
J. Butcher used the outside groove to take second on Lap 83.
At Lap 100, hard-chargers Ryan VanOirschot (from 15th) and Braden Langille (from 17th) ran seventh and ninth respectively.
Hall mastered five restarts after Lap 52, to maintain his lead. With 2 laps to go, C. Butcher who ran many laps in the top-10 lost power and came to a stop on the front-stretch, to the frustration of multi-second gap leader Hall, but one final restart sealed Hall’s third victory in four Maritime starts. Coming through turn 4 on the final lap, Gilby passed Veinotte for 4th, and Langille passed VanOirschot for what must have been a few mere thousandths of a second to beat him at the line for 7th.
Top 5: 1) Hall, 2) J. Butcher, 3) Tucker, 4) Gilby, 5) Veinotte, 6) MacDonald, 7) Langille, 8) VanOirschot, 9) #44 Caden Tufts, 10) Naugle
First 4 Events:
| # | Date | Track / Length | Series | Winner | Laps-Led Breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 25 | Scotia Speedworld (0.300 mi) | FGI PST | Cory Hall | Gilby 46 · J Butcher 17 · Hall 87 |
| 2 | Jun 08 | Petty Int’l Raceway (0.250 mi) | SLMS | Ashton Tucker | approx. Rodgers 3 · Langille 42 · Tucker 105 |
| 3 | Jun 15 | Oyster Bed Speedway (0.333 mi) | SLMS | Cory Hall | Hall 150 (flag-to-flag) |
| 4 | Jun 21 | Scotia Speedworld (0.300 mi) | FGI PST | Cory Hall | Lively 11 · Gilby 25 · Veinotte 15 · Hall 99 |
What’s Next:
| Date | Track | Series | Top Storyline |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 28 | Riverside Speedway – Wajax 150 | FGI PST | Hall hunts PST three-peat |
| July 5 | Speedway 660 – ReCar 200 | SLMS Rnd 3 | First 200-lap test of 2025 |
Cory Hall’s 2025 Early Maritime Season by the Numbers:
| Metric | Total |
|---|---|
| Races entered | 3 (Scotia PST × 2 | Oyster Bed SLMS × 1) |
| Wins | 3 |
| Laps run | 450 (150 × 3) |
| Laps led |
336
|
| % of laps led | 74.7 % (336 ÷ 450) |
In short: three starts, three trophies, and he’s led roughly three-quarters of every lap he’s completed.
SLMS – Top 5 Standings:
| Pos | # | Driver | Pts | Starts | Top-5s | Top-10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Dylan Gosbee | 188 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | Ryan Messer | 185 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 01 | Tanton Woolridge | 185 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 26 | Braden Langille | 174 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 23 | Lonnie Sommerville | 173 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
(FGI PST points will be inserted once officials release scores.)
