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Canada still Can-Am demo derby champs

Defending champs stage amazing comeback to overtake Americans

 

 

 

Terry Guest

Contributor

After Mother Nature washed away the previous weekend's night of racing, nothing was stopping this past weekend's annual Canadian American Demolition Derby from happening with over 70 cars filling the pits over the weekend – a Saratoga Speedway record.

On Saturday night, team USA took a 208-192 point lead from qualifying into the tire changing competition, which team USA also won, beating team Canada by 13.998 seconds to extend their lead to 228-192 going into the backwards race.

Team USA once again edged out team Canada, extending their points lead to 253-192 going into the 20-minute derby. An action-packed event saw dead cars everywhere with extreme hits on every lap, but once again team USA edged out Canada, beating us by 12 points and extending their points lead to 327-254 going into Sunday.

Only the demolition derby was scheduled for Sunday, and going into it Canada was at a 73-point disadvantage. After about 10 minuets of demolition, team Canada was declared the winner of the demolition, and after all the points were added up, team Canada made an amazing comeback to win by 32 points, re-claiming the title of Canadian American Demolition Derby champions

A full field of 26 Hornet cars took to the track over the long weekend. Three heats were given with the C going to #76 Blaire Mark, which was his first heat race win of the year, the B to #81 Jeremy Stormo, and an exciting A heat to #14 Kyle Fallowfield.

Twenty-five laps were given to the B main; #24 Karl Kurpeila found his way to the front early and managed to hold a hard charging 17-car field to take his first main event win of the year, snapping #81 Jeremy Stormo’s seven main event winning streak.

Twenty-five laps were also given to an exciting A main event that saw #14 Kyle Fallowfield and #01 Kevin Lawrenuk battle for all 25 laps, with Lawrenuk finally emerging as the leader on lap 18 and not looking back from there.

Three heats were also given to the Hornets on Sunday which saw #74 Andy Mayo take the C heat, #53 Rowland Westra take the B, and #01 Kevin Lawrenuk take the A heat. #24 Karl Kurpeila once again found his way to the front of the B main, taking the lead on lap four and not looking back from there, winning his second main event in as many nights.

Twenty-five laps were once again given to the A main which saw Lawrenuk once again battle all 25 laps, but this time with #02 Daryl Cahill who also could not beat Lawrenuk, giving Lawrenuk his second straight main event win.

A season-high eight Roadrunners qualified on Saturday. #99 Dennis Leavitt won his first heat race in his new car, holding off his son Nick to take the win. A 20-lap main saw Leavitt once again jump out to an early lead, but points leader #17 Dan Kemp found his way around Leavitt to take home the win.

#66 Nick Leavitt managed to out-do his dad Dennis on Sunday taking home the heat race win. Out-of-towner #59 Mike Rutty found his way to the front of the 20-lap main event early, and he wouldn't look back from there, taking home his first ever Roadrunner main event win.

#12 Jocelyn Popowich had her best night this year in the Figure 8 class, winning both the heat and the 15-lap main event to take a clean sweep. After winning the heat, Popowich had her winning streak snapped at three as #15 Cindy Kennedy managed to win the 10-lap main event.

A season high 20 Crash to Pass cars filled the pits on Sunday night. #86 Jake Matthews took the B heat, with the A heat going to #89 Gregg Sagmoen. Twenty laps were given to an action-packed main which saw Sagmoen once again dominate the field, jumping into the lead on lap two and not looking back.

EXTRA LAPS Sept. 7 will mark the final appearance of the Drifting Competition at Saratoga Speedway .. this will be the fifth round, with the Champion being crowned after a night of amazing drifting … heads-up drag racing will also be making its last appearance of the year on Saturday, which pleased the fans on its first appearance…due to Aug. 24's rain out, the Motorcycles have been added on to the racing card on the weekend, which will be their double points championship night … the I.M.C.A Modifieds and the Bomber cars will round out the night of racing …

 

– Saratoga Speedway