Wade Purchase Hopes To Carry Last Year’s Momentum Into 2018

Story By: JIM CLARKE / WADE PURCHASE RACING – DEMORESTVILLE, ONT – They say a weekly short track racer is only as good as the finish in their last event. For Wade Purchase, the 2017 season was filled with great runs and with the new campaign at Brighton Speedway set for a Saturday, April 28th green flag, the 22-year-old from Demorestville, Ontario is looking to keep things moving in the same direction.

In the first year as a hired-gun – wheeling a new version of his familiar #53 machine for car owner Mario Baptiste – the talented second-generation speedster finished in 4th in the final point standings at his Saturday night home track. The car was great right off the trailer on opening night and all through the season. Purchase says the Thunder Stock division at Brighton is always very competitive, so he was happy to get off to a good start.

“To put it quite simply, we won a lot last year and winning races always makes a car owner happy,” Wade Purchase said. “Over the year, I made 3 feature event starts at Brockville and won them all; including the Northeast Fall Nationals. There were great shows at Brighton, with a checkered flag in the 50th anniversary 50 lapper. Along the way, there were appearances at 7 different tracks throughout the year, with stops at Cornwall, Merrittville, Humberstone, Ohsweken and South Buxton. We struggled at some places but that helped me learn and learning makes me a better driver wherever we run.”

Wade Purchase will be back at the local 3rd of a mile clay oval for the 2018, with his sights set on a first career track championship. In addition to chasing the point crown, he says he’ll follow the Duel in the Dirt trail events and also do some barnstorming to a variety of other tracks, looking to add some additional checkered flags to his resume. The hard-charging young speedster from Prince Edward County says he’s already counting the days ‘til the start of the new season.

“The crew – including Mat Purchase and Frank Hall – has been working hard putting the car back together after the winter re-build,” said the driver, who works as a millwright apprentice at Ironwrights. “I’m confident that we’ll have a strong piece again this year and take another step toward the overall title.”