For the first time in close to 10 years, Saratoga Speedway was graced with beautiful blue skies to welcome in the new racing season. First Insurance sponsored an action-packed night of racing featuring the Hornet cars, Roadrunners, Crash to Pass cars and the I.M.C.A Modifieds, all capped off with yet another amazing fireworks show.
Over 50 cars filled the pits, with close to 10 rookie drivers taking to the track. Heat race action on Saturday saw wins go to #92 Dano Bryant in the Modified class, #88 Ryan Guest in the Roadrunner class, #33x Jacob Webster, #31 Clancey Beamish, #22 Karl Kurpiela, and #13 Jason Fraiser in the Hornet class, and #73 Sheldon Hopp in the Crash to Pass class.
The first main event of the evening saw eight extremely fast I.M.C.A Modifieds take to the track for 30 laps. Bryant, who had won the first two races of the night, was looking to make it a clean sweep, and after the first 13 laps it looked as if he would do so.
But #72 Travis Stevenson had other thoughts. He grabbed the lead on lap 14 and held off #91 Chris Beaulieu (who made a hard charge at the end) to take the win.
Twenty laps were awarded to a six-car Roadrunner field for their main event which saw #88 Ryan Guest continue his dominance over the field, grabbing the lead on lap two and not looking back.
Twenty-five cars took to the track for a 25-lap Hornet B main event. #60 Evin McLuckie pulled out to an early lead, leading the first 12 laps before being overtaken by #11 Trevor Vogel, who pulled away from there in what was one of the most entertaining Hornet main events you will see.
The 25-lap Hornet A main saw all 10 cars battle bumper-to-bumper throughout the entire race, with the advantage going to #13 Jason Fraiser who returned to the speedway after a three-year hiatus He held off the pack to take home the win. The Crash to Pass class capped off the list of main events for the evening. #73 Sheldon Hopp once again dominated the pack, leading all 10 laps to take home the win.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend Saratoga Speedway welcomes the drifters and drag racers to the 2016 season … last year many different cars entered the drag racing program, ranging from old pick-up trucks to high-powered drag bikes …the new Time Attack class will also be on the card: all cars are welcome, whether race car or a street car, as this event is based on your lap time on a closed race course … in the drifting class last year many four-cylinder cars ripped up the track, many being Nissan 240sx’s…so if you’re in the mood to do some legal drifting, the speedway is the place to be this weekend, with all the action sponsored by Kal Tire…
