Terry Guest
Special to the Record
Season-high in car counts in both the drifting and drag racing divisions highlighted racing at Saratoga Speedway on Saturday night.
Three new drifters joined the program, with a six-car field taking to the track. A Smoke Show competition was added to the card, with former Hornet car racer #21 Gord Fraser burning the most rubber on his '69 Chev to take home the win.
Eleven drag racers took to the strip, ranging from '69 Fords to '06 Chargers. All vehicles went through a double elimination bracket to narrow the field down early. After the double elimination, #420 Matt Armstrong in his 680-horsepower '05 Mustang GT and #385 Bill Lavoie in his 500-horsepower '06 Charger advanced to the finals, with Armstrong's advantage in horsepower proving to be the deciding factor. #63 James Wilson in his '76 F250 finished third.
After putting all six drift cars through a double elimination bracket, #26 Alex Davidson and #4 Andrew Otteson found themselves in the final for the fourth straight round. Due to mechanical issues (no power steering), Davidson had to bow out, giving the win to Otteson after three straight second place-finishes.
Second and third place was fought between #14 Kyle Fallowfield and rookie #6 Dustin Taylor. After some tight drifting and a bit of a fender bender, Fallowfield was declared the second place winner, with third going to Taylor and fourth to Davidson.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend marks the first appearance of the Wilroc Sprint cars at Saratoga … these are the fastest cars you will see on Vancouver Island, ranging in times of 13-15 seconds a lap … last year we saw car counts of 12-15 cars, with this year looking to be no different if not better … accompanying the Sprint cars will the I.M.C.A. Modifieds, Bomber cars, with he Dwarf cars making their first appearance of the year …
– Saratoga Speedway