Terry Guest
Special to the Record
Some of the nicest looking cars on Vancouver Island graced Saratoga Speedway on Saturday when the Old Time Modified Stock cars made their first appearance of the year. They were accompanied by the I.M.C.A Modifieds, Dwarf cars, Bomber cars and the Motorcycles, who also made their first appearance of the year.
A great field of 10 Old Timers arrived on Saturday, one of their best fields in a few years. #66 Natalie Garrett won the dash. #42 Roger Beck led all 10 laps of their first heat, with the reverse going to #1 James Campbell.
Nine cars took the green flag for the 20-lap main. Beck jumped into an early lead and held it for the first 11 laps before Campbell got around him and held off a hard-charging pack to win his first main event of the year.
Yet another strong field of 11 I.M.C.A Modifieds qualified on Saturday. The B heat winner was #89 Gregg Sagmoen and the A heat went to #8 Brad Kotscherofski, which was his first-ever Modified win. #92 Dano Bryant won the B reverse, with the A reverse going to #91 Kevin Noble, who was filling in for Chris Beaulieu.
The 30-lap feature race saw #45 Aaron Wilkie, who was driving a borrowed car, pull into the lead early and never look back, holding off #01 Jeff May to win his first-ever I.M.C.A Modified main event.
The Dwarf cars made their second appearance of the year, bringing out eight cars. #11 Mike Meeres won a caution-filled 10-lap heat, with the reverse going to #48 Stewart Lee, who led all eight laps. The 18-lap main event saw Meeres and Lee pull away from the pack, with Meeres beating Lee by a nose to take the win.
Six Bomber cars hit the track. #5 Darren “Bam Bam” Larson led all 10 laps of the first heat, with the eight-lap reverse going #33 Brian Baltis, who took the lead on the last lap. In the 15-lap feature race, Larson jumped to an early lead and held off a hard-charging field to win his second race of the night.
The battle in the Motorcycle division was between #5 Ben Duperron and #11 Eric Flynn. Duperron won the first heat, but Flynn took over from there, winning the reverse heat and the six-lap main, edging out Duperron.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend marks the return of the Big Rig Highway Thunder … the Crash to Pass cars, Hornets, Roadrunners and Figure 8s will accompany them, all capped off by an amazing car rollover stunt … local favourite Jason Beaulieu has just finished the Dakota Classic in North Dakota; he was one of only a few Canadians to take part in the full tour … Beaulieu raced at six different tracks over the six-day circuit, with every track being new to him … Beaulieu finished strong in all the B mains he entered … Beaulieu didn't win the whole tour, but was a very strong contender despite racing against professionals who race at these track every weekend … "Despite not making any A mains this tour, we learned a lot and had a lot of fun," Jason said … look for Beaulieu on Aug. 9 when he will be running his I.M.C.A Modified at Saratoga …
– Saratoga Speedway