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Last laps of 2014 season at Saratoga

Submitted

Some of the most exciting racing of the year took place at Saratoga on our last race night of the year, with a record 78 cars filling the pits.

Six championships were also crowned on Saturday, with most of them coming down to the very last race, with it all being sponsored by Napa Auto Parts.

A season-high 34 Hornet cars arrived to put on one last show at Saratoga on Saturday. Going into racing, Nigel Neufeld held a very slim 17-point lead over Raymond Fortier in the A’s, and in the B’s, Boston Larson held a 87-point lead over Luke Dixon. Four heats were awarded to the Hornets, with the D going to Chris Hlac – his first ever win in his first ever race; the C to Taylor Pheaton, B to Luke Dixon and the A to Daryl Cahill.

Going into the 20 lap A main,  Raymond Fortier had a slim 19 -point lead over Neufeld. However the race belonged to Cahill and Kevin Lawrenuk, who battled bumper-to-bumper, with Cahill emerging victorious.

After everyone went through tech, Fortier would be declared the 2014 Hornet A champion, beating Neufeld by 129 points.

Going into the 25 lap B main, Larson held a 91-point lead over Dixon.

Lots of early cautions mixed up the field, with Blaire Mangles grabbing the lead late and holding on from there, taking home his second main event win of the year.

The 2014 Hornet B championship went to Boston Larson, beating out Mangles who jumped from fifth in points to second.

In the Roadrunner division, Nick Leavitt, who had a co-driver racing on Saturday, held a 95-point lead over Ryan Guest. Their one heat saw Trace Stevenson take an early lead and hold off Sheldon Hopp for the win.

Going into their 20-lap main event, Leavitt/Hopp held a 139 point lead over Guest; 20 laps were given to their main event in which Stevenson held off Hopp to take his fifth main event win of the year. Leavitt was declared the 2014 Roadrunner champion, beating Guest by 175 points.

The points championship in the Crash to Pass field had already been won going into the night. Hopp had a commanding 470 point lead going into the night, and could not be caught.

In the IMCA Division, Chris Beaulieu also had the division wrapped up going into the night, with a 351-point lead over Travis Stevenson, for his fourth championship at Saratoga.

Despite the championship already being won, 13 cars showed up to put on some great racing on Saturday.

Two heats were given to the Modifieds with the B going to points champion Beaulieu and the A to Brad Kotscherofski.

A 35-lap main event had Gregg Sagmoen hold the lead for the first 17 laps,  before Beaulieu took over for good, holding on to take the last main event of the evening and the 2014 IMCA championship.

The Bomber car class came down to a battle between two brothers. Darren Larson came into the night holding a 256-point lead over his brother Darrel. Their one-heat race saw Darrel go wire-to-wire for the 10-lap win.

Fifteen laps were given for their feature race which saw Martin Beaulieu, who was filling in for his son Justin, grab the lead early and never relinquish it, to take his first main event win of the year.

Darren Larson would take home his first ever Bomber championship.

Extra laps...With the 2014 race season now officially over, everyone from Saratoga would like to thank all of the fans and drivers who attended Saratoga this year, and of course all of the many sponsors who helped support racing this year, without all of you none of this would be possible. As we always say at Saratoga, enjoy your off season and we will see you all next year!