Terry Guest
Special to the Record
After a two-day battle with the weather, the ASA BC Late Models finally ran their 150-lap main event on Sunday afternoon, marking the first time in 15 years that Saratoga Speedway has raced on a Sunday afternoon. This event was sponsored by Thrifty Foods, who supplied a shopping cart full of great groceries to the 50/50 winners.
The night started strongly with six Late Models qualifying under the previous track record. The best time went to #14 Brandon Carlson who set a track record of 14.980.
The B dash was won by #76 Tyler Clough (Victoria) and the A went to #33 Dave Hemrich (Ladner). Hemrich carried his winning ways into the B heat, fighting his way from the back to take the win. Local driver #20 Bart Smith fought off the field in the A heat to take his only win of the evening.
The 150-lap main event started at 3:05 p.m. and lasted 45 minutes. Car #16 Rory Smith led for the first 45 laps. Car #52 Geoff Morris along with his brother Brent, Carlson and Hemrich all made their way to the front on lap 46, sending Smith into fifth. From there Morris spread his lead for 118 laps of green flag racing, which is a record at Saratoga Speedway.
A caution on lap 132 diminished Morris’ huge lead over the field. Lap 145 saw some drama unfold; #2 John Ross, who has been a lap car for the whole race, slowed down on the back stretch right in front of the leader Morris. Carlson, who was running second, snuck by on the inside to take the lead and never looked back. Second went to Geoff Morris, who led 110 laps of the race, third to #25 Brent Morris, fourth to Hemrich and fifth to #16 Rory Smith.
The Island stock cars and Bomber cars also raced. The Bomber dash went to #24 Charlie Ackerman, and the Stock car dash went to #32 Aaron Wilkie. The two classes combined for the heat and main, with #98 Brian Clutchey winning both.
Approaching the halfway point of the Saratoga racing season, the points races are heating up. Car #01 Kevin Lawrenuk leads the Hornet division with 1,454 points. Second is #02 Daryl Cahill with 1,228 points followed by #21 Gord Fraser with 1,221 points, #08 Daryn Cahill with 1,059 and #07 Brandon Phillips with 830 points.
Car #17 Brad Dimitrov leads the Hornet B division with 530 points. In the Crash to Pass division, #72 Travis Stevenson holds a 145-point lead over Dan Kemp. Third place is held by #01 Jeff May with 783 points, fourth is #40 Cam Edward with 751 points, and fifth is #37 David Cates with 727 points.
Car #28 Andrew Buchanan leads the Roadrunner division by 211 points over #25 Andrea Cannon. Next is #53 Kevin Noble with a comfortable 129-point lead over #8 Brad Purdy. Car #32 Dano Bryant rounds out the top three with 463 points.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend’s racing will feature the first appearance of the Island Mini Stocks ... the Dwarfs cars, IMCA Modifieds, Bomber cars and motorcycles will also be on the card ... the ASA BC Late Models next race event will take place on July 30-31 at Penticton Speedway.