Terry Guest
Special to the Record
Duane Zeinstra in car #11 dominated a competitive 25-lap feature race for the Old Timers at Saratoga Speedway on Saturday.
Zeinstra won three out of five races but did not set fast time in qualifying. That honour went to #1 James Campbell with a lap of 16.555 seconds. Car #12 Ron Simpson won the B dash, with the A dash going to Zeinstra. Zeinstra carried his winning ways into the heat, coming from the very back to take the checkers.
Car #22 Larry Joyce held off Zeinstra and Campbell to take the reverse heat win. Zeinstra found himself in first place on lap five of the 25-lap main event and held off Campbell to take the win. Car #09 Joe Dardengo finished third.
It was the final appearance of the 2011 season for both the Old Timers and Dwarf cars, and #11 Mike Meeres finished his Saratoga season off strong, also winning three out of five races and setting fast time 15.668.
Car #55 Don Banansky won the B dash, with the A dash going to Meeres. Car #24 Dave Emmerson dominated to win the heat. Meeres had a poor finish in the first heat, which gave him great positioning to start the reverse heat and he used that to his advantage, leading all 10 laps.
Car #4 Sean Sanger held the lead in the 25-lap feature for the first 14 laps but soon Meeres was on his bumper and grabbed the lead on lap 15 and never looked back.
Car #8 Brad Kotscherofski won his first-ever Bomber main event on Saturday. Car #99 Gilles Cyr set fast time of 17.727 in qualifying. Car #72 Travis Stevenson won the B dash, and #24 Charlie Ackerman won the A. Ackerman found himself in the lead on lap three of the 12-lap heat and never looked back.
Car #99 Gilles Cyr led the 30-lap feature from lap nine until lap 25 when he had to withdraw from the race after blowing out his back end. Car #8 Brad Kotscherofski inherited the lead and went on to win his first-ever main event. Car #72 Travis Stevenson finished second with third going to #11 Justin Beaulieu.
The I.M.C.A Modifieds made their penultimate appearance of the season Saturday. Car #44 Tim Openshaw set fast time of 15.566 in qualifying. Car #53 Kevin Noble won the only dash on the night. Car #8 Brad Purdy won the only heat.
Several cautions shortened the Modified main event to 19 laps. Purdy held the lead for the first 11 laps, with the lead going to Openshaw on lap 14. After a huge oil leak on lap 19, and 20-plus minutes of racing, the race was called and the win was given to Openshaw. Car #32 Dano Bryant finished second with third going to Noble.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend features the Canadian-American demolition derby ... the two-night event includes a great demolition race Saturday and a full demolition derby Sunday ... the Canadian team is the defending champions so the American team will be looking for redemption ... the Crash to Pass cars, Hornets, Roadrunners and Figure 8s will fill out the schedule ...