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Monster trucks; fire-breathing dragon to visit Saratoga

A week after defeating the rain to open the 2017 racing season, Mother Nature got her way Saturday at Saratoga Speedway after the skies opened and forced a cancellation of half the night’s racing featuring the IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf and Bomber cars. The first race of the season for the Modifieds was scheduled to be the Darrell Wardrope Memorial race for the former Modified driver who lost his courageous battle with cancer in February. The race will now be run May 27.
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A week after defeating the rain to open the 2017 racing season, Mother Nature got her way Saturday at Saratoga Speedway after the skies opened and forced a cancellation of half the night’s racing featuring the IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf and Bomber cars. The first race of the season for the Modifieds was scheduled to be the Darrell Wardrope Memorial race for the former Modified driver who lost his courageous battle with cancer in February. The race will now be run May 27.

Saturday saw all three classes qualify along with two heat races for the Dwarf cars and one for the Bomber before the rain began to fall. The Modifieds were on the track set to run their heat race. Race winners were Campbell River’s Stewart Lee in the Dwarf car first heat with Riley Carter winning the second heat. Powell River’s Devon Degraag won the Bomber heat race in his first-ever Bomber race after spending the past two seasons racing in the Road Runner class.

Next up for the Black Creek oval is a double header this weekend with two Monster trucks and a special attraction for the kids is the Robo Dragon — a mechanical creature that blows fire and crushes cars.

The weekend will also feature the Crash to Pass, Mad Max, Hornet and Road Runner cars for their second and third race nights of the season following the opener May 6.

Racing goes rain or shine. Gates open at 5 p.m. Qualifying begins at 6 p.m., with racing and Monster truck action at 7 p.m., both nights.

…Guest talk…..Ryan Jensen was the Hornet A main event winner May 6, not Josh Webster….Fast times on Saturday night had Chris Beaulieu quickest for the Modifieds with a fast 15.14 lap…Stewart Lee was the quickest Dwarf car with a 15.99 and Natt Bonn was the fastest Bomber with a 17.46 lap…This weekend’s visit by the Monster trucks is the first of two this season. The second is Aug. 5 and 6…An announcement was made on Saturday night that much-needed infield paving will take place in two weeks as the speedway will be paving two pit lanes in the infield, making for a major improvement for the infield area.