Terry Guest
Special to the Record
After two days of great demolition racing, Team USA left Saratoga Speedway victorious in our annual Canadian American Demolition weekend. The American team would edge out the Canadian team by a 1,134 to 902 point differential over the weekend, after competing in such events as the Cat and Mouse race, Cone race, 20-minute Crash to Pass style race and of course the full Demolition Derby.
Thirty-two Hornet cars took to the track over the weekend. Four heats were given to them on Saturday with the D going to #59 Dana Ackerman, C to #66 T.J Halliday, B to #88 Andy Tims and the A to #01 Kevin Lawrenuk.
Thirty-five laps were given to a 27-car field for their main event. A ton of early cautions made for a very interesting race, mixing the cars up early. After all was said and done, #01 Kevin Lawrenuk would find himself in first and would hold on to take the win in the A main.
The B main would see a flurry of lead changes throughout the race, with the last lead change going to #86 Luke Dixon on lap 25 and would hold on to win his first B main event win of the year, with second going to #31 Liam Inglis and third to #87 Boston Larson.
Thirty-two Hornets entered the fun on Sunday night. Four heats were once again given to the Hornets on Sunday with the D heat going to #62 Shawn Allen, C to #88 Andy Tims, B to #86 Luke Dixon and the A to #01 Kevin Lawrenuk.
Thirty laps were given to the B main which saw #53 Rowland Westra jump out to an early lead and would hold it for the first 18 laps, but Dixon would find his away around Westra and would manage to hold on for his second straight main event win. Twenty-five laps were given to the A main which saw Lawrenuk dominate the field, grabbing the lead on lap 11 and not looking back from there, holding on to win his second straight main event win.
A full field of eight Roadrunners took to the track over the long weekend. #8 Ryan Guest would take home the 12 lap heat on Saturday, with their 25-lap main event going to #77 Trace Stevenson who grabbed the lead early and pulled away from there, with second going to #73 MacLaren Inglis and third to #66 Nick Leavitt.
Sunday night saw the field drop to six Roadrunners, but the action was as good as ever. Points leader #66 Nick Leavitt would take home their 10 lap heat, and would lead all but four laps of their 20-lap main event.
The Crash to Pass style event would see an even 6-on-6 field of Americans and Canadians. Some very hard hits throughout the race would see cars go in and out of the pits, with the final lap count going in favour of the Americans, beating out the Canadians by a total of 143-128 laps.
Sunday night's Canadian American challenge saw a Cat and Mouse race and the full Demolition Derby. The Cat and Mouse race saw team Canada dominate team USA, grabbing an extra 50 points, bringing the total to 629 to 549 for team USA going into the full Demolition Derby. The full Demolition Derby would see team USA dominate the Canadians, managing to outlast the Canadians by three cars.
The Crash to Pass cars added into the action on Sunday, bringing out 11 cars. One heat race saw points leader #73 Sheldon Hopp grab the lead late and hold on to take the 10-lap heat. Twenty laps were given to their main which saw #40 Cam Edward lead all 20 laps, holding off Hopp to take his second main event win of the year.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend marks the championship night for the Drifting competition and the drag racing competition … Alex Davidson in his 440-horsepower Nissan 240sx has a commanding lead going into the weekend, having won 3-of-4 rounds so far this year … for the Drag racers, the championship is up for grabs among quite a few drivers, making this weekend one you won't want to miss …
– Saratoga Speedway