Carnivore capped off a Marc Campbell driving triple to propel the Island reinsman to victory in Saturday night’s Atlantic Regional Driving Championship, presented by RDMD Refrigeration, at Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway.

Campbell scored a 1:55.1 win with Carnivore in the final race of the nine leg competition for trainer Marvyn Webster and owner Valleygrove Farm of Kensington, P.E.I. Campbell finished the competition with 71 points to send him to the National Driving Championship on August 26 at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

“I’m feeling really good,” Campbell said after the victory. “I had a good line up and the horses raced good. It’s always close these kind of things and that’s what makes it really exciting.”

Pictonian Press finished second to put Nova Scotia driver Ryan Ellis into the other spot for the NDC with 65 points, while PC Shockwave finished third to give Darren Crowe 55 points, finishing third in the competition.

“It started out good and I just had good horses I guess,” Ellis said. “After looking at the card I thought I had a shot and the horses came through.”

Jason Hughes finished fourth in the competition with 50 points, while Gilles Barrieau was fifth with 49 points, followed by Todd Trites (41), Brodie MacPhee (31), Ryan Campbell (31) and Kevin Dillon (27).

Hughes opened up the competition in race two with a 2:01.1 victory aboard Miracleonthehudson to give him the early lead over Silverhill Princess (Todd Trites) and Diagram Hanover (Ellis). Lyndale Royal captured race three in a 10-length 1:56.4 score for Ellis over Ok Chivas (Marc Campbell) and Rivervues Legacy (Crowe), giving Ellis the points lead. Ultimate Labamba captured race four in 1:58 giving the top spot to Marc Campbell with second going to Just Coastin Along (Hughes) and Whitesand Artist (Gilles Barrieau) third. Rash B Havior delivered as the post time favourite in race five to widen the lead for driver Marc Campbell with Bad Date (Crowe) second and The Warden (Brodie MacPhee) third. Dance Hanover captured race six to propel Trites into third place with second in that race going to Blu Meadow Willie (MacPhee) and Joachim (Ryan Campbell) third. Race sneve had Darren Crowe bring himself into contention with a 1:57 victory aboard Barrett Jackson ahead of In Cahoots (Barrieau) and Smackwaterjack (Ellis). Its Handsome Hank captured race eight in 1:59.1 to put Ellis into second-place behind Marc Campbell with Roccos Cavallo (Kevin Dillon) second and River Paradise (Hughes) third. Marc Campbell sat out race 10 to see Barrieau score with Keystone Nobility over Tyber Champ (Darren Crowe) with Onehotvett (Ryan Ellis) third.

Marc Campbell and Ellis will join Jody Jamieson, Billy Davis Jr., Brandon Campbell, Jim Marino, Guy Gagnon and Sylvain Lacaille in the National Driving Championship.

The Summerside card also featured two divisions of the Atlantic Aged Mares Pacing Series with Bunny Mach capturing the first division in 1:56.2 for trainer/driver Hughes and owners Donald and Steven MacRae of Vernon Bridge, P.E.I. Veronicavermillion (Brian MacPhee) was second with Prynne Hanover (Mike McGuigan) third. The second division went to General Luckypercy and Barrieau in 1:56.1 for trainer Jackie Matheson and owners Jack Brown and Jodilynn Matheson of Charlottetown. Andro Madi (Dale Spence) was second with Dirt Track Momma (Marc Campbell) third.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Summerside Raceway.

(Red Shores)