A week after a full night of car crashing, car jumping and destroyed travel trailers it was back to wheel-to-wheel racing Saturday night at Saratoga Speedway. The Black Creek oval hosted the IMCA Modifieds, Bomber cars and Hornet cars for an action packed night of racing.
The Snap on Tools sponsored race night featured 16 races. Competition was fierce as 15 different drivers took wins in some hotly contested races. The 25 lap Modified main was a brilliant driving display by Chris Beaulieu who started 8th and was in 6th on the 10th lap before passing 6 cars on the outside then taking the race lead on the 22nd lap to capture the win and increase his overall point lead over Travis Stevenson. Courtenay’s Peter Moloin led the race from the first lap. After giving up the lead to Beaulieu he hung to finish 2nd ahead of Jeff Monks, Brad Kotscherofski and Stevenson.
Earlier Modified races saw Mike Dionne pick up his first win in the class when he captured the trophy dash and that was followed by the heat race win by Muloin. Parksville’s Charlie Akerman kept pressure on Boston Larsen and Chad Taks for the overall points lead in the Bomber class after he won the 25 lap main event ahead of Taks and Larsen. The three were separated by only 25 points going into Saturday nights racing with Larsen sitting in first overall and Akerman third. The 25 lap main saw Taks take a early lead but was chased down by Akerman who took over the race lead on the 10th lap then went uncontested to win. The Bomber race night saw Nathen Bonn take the win in the trophy dash while the 10 lap heat race win went to Taks. In Hornet car racing 22 cars took the green flag for the B main it was led by Peter Leonzio for the first eight before Tyson Seggie got by to take a lead that he wouldn’t give up on his way to his first B main win ahead of Taylor Pheaton and current point leader Randi Joyce. Three trophy dashes began the Bs race night and saw wins going to Chevy Carlsen, Stephanie Addison and Nigel Neufeld and they were followed by heat race wins for Peter Leonzio, Kyle Leonzio and James Laidlaw. The Hornet A main saw 11 cars take the green flag with Ashley White grabbing the race lead which she wouldn’t surrender on her way to the 20 lap race win leaving the battle for positions behind her as a group of 7 drivers contested for the top 3 finish. At the checkered flag it was Micheal White edging Luke Dixon for 2nd. The trophy dash saw Neufeld win his 2nd dash of the night after winning one in his B car while Darren Monk would win the heat race for the 2nd week in a row. Next up for the speedway this Saturday night have the Wilroc Lite Sprint cars visiting and they will be joined by the Modifiedes, Bomber cars and a makeup race date for the Road Runners……Guest talk …Modified qualifying saw Jeff May blow his motor ending his night quickly. Mays blown motor was the 12th blown motor this season at the speedway….Brad Purdy was behind the wheel of Jamie Flemming’s #5 Modified and posted 3rd fast time…following this weekend the speedway will be hosting two days of Monster Truck action Aug. 5 and 6 with the biggest show of the season. The weekend will also feature Crash to Pass and Mad Max racing along with the Hornet cars and Road Runners with both days going ahead rain or shine…The Lite cars come to the speedway minus one of their regulars as a horrific crash to weeks ago during a race at in the States has left Jim Miller in Victoria hospital suffering from traumatic head injuries. All thoughts are with him and his family on a speedy recovery.