By: Ashley McCubbin/AM Marketing
July 15 2016

All the hard work this year is starting to pay off for Robert Toope as he’d pick up his first checkered flag on Saturday night at Sunset Speedway. Toope put together a great heat qualifying race, scoring the win by 0.034 seconds ahead of Doug Wilman in a dramatic finish.

“It feels amazing to get my first win,” Toope said. “We have put a lot of hard work into the car and it’s finally heading in the right direction. It was a great race, and a close one at that. Everyone was so excited.”

For Toope, it marks a solid run after fighting fuel pick-up issues during the first couple weeks of the season. Lately, he has been at the front each week, posting four straight top-eight feature finishes with a best finish of fifth.

“We are getting better every race,” Toope added. “It’s a tough class. A lot of good drivers, anyone of them can win – it’s that close.”

On top of his own efforts, Toope recently teamed up with Cameron McGlashan and Bryan Walt. Walt helped lead McGlashan to a NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division IV Track Championship at Sunset Speedway last season.

“Bryan has a lot of experience with his background in racing,” Toope said. “He is working close with Cameron and I, which benefits both teams.”

Following the heat victory, Toope finished runner-up in the Fast Qualifer’s Dash. He did not get the chance to run the feature on Saturday as the features were rained out. As a result, he is set to run double features this coming Saturday, July 16.

Toope is proud to be supported by The Beach Bar and Grill, Trade Mark Signs, Rikota Mechanical, CCL Landscape Design, Auto Trim Barrie, The Tree Guys, Jimmy Sign (Adcon Enterprize), Revolution Tires, Highway 400 Transmission, The Stump King (Jim Herrington), Atkins Appliance, and South Bound Roofing in memory of Lloyd Robbins.