Terry Guest
Special to the Record
Saturday night at Saratoga Speedway marked the first appearance of the I.M.C.A Modifieds, Dwarf cars and the motorcycles this season.
Sunny conditions made for some great racing in the Modified division, with fast time of 15.797 going to #53 Kevin Noble. The first dash of the season for the Modifieds went to #8 Brad Purdy, who travelled from Port McNeill to race.
The first of two heats saw Purdy take an early lead and go on to win. The reverse heat saw rookie driver #32 Dano Bryant battle with Purdy for the whole race, but Bryant would eventually take the win. The 15-lap main saw Purdy lead for nine laps until mechanical issues caused him to withdraw from the race, giving the lead and eventual win to #53 Kevin Noble. Second went to Bryant and thirrd to Purdy.
#68 Bruce Moran dominated the motorcycle class, setting fast time of 23.362. Since Moran was so much faster than the rest of the field, he started on the top of the hill for the dash, bottom of the hill for the heat, and on the backstretch for the main. Moran proved his dominance, winning every race despite his huge disadvantage. The other two bikes, #1 Manno, and #2 Andre, swapped finishing second and third all night.
Eleven Dwarf cars filled the pits. Local driver #11 Mike Meeres set fast time of 15.826. The B dash went to #9 Tyler Peters and the A to Meeres. The first of two heats saw #24 Jim Pridge get out to an early lead and hold it for the 10-lap win.
The reverse heat saw #95 Jeremy Stevens, who took a year off last year, grab the lead on lap three and never look back. Nine cars took to the track for the 20-lap main; Pridge took the lead on lap two and spread his lead so far that no one could catch him. Stevens finished second with third going to #8 Mike Schott.
Our largest field of 33 Hornet cars took to the track. Fast time of 18.218 went to #01 Kevin Lawrenuk. The D dash went #40 Dave Erdman, C to #66 Justin Mchale, B to #23 Marlin Gait, and the A to #33 Tristin Gait.
The D heat saw Erdman take the lead on the final lap and hold on for the win. The C heat was dominated by #59 Ted Dimitrov, who held on for the win. The B heat saw #09 Cameron Phillips work his way from the very back to take the win.
The A heat saw #08 Daryn Cahill take the lead on lap seven and battle his way to the win. The 25-lap B feature saw #91 Carl Behan lead for five laps until Erdman took away the lead on the front stretch and eventually took the win. Second went to Behan and third to #17 Brad Dimitrov.
The 35-lap A feature saw 4 lead changes; #22 Jennifer Lawrenuk led for the first six laps until #99 Chris Perkins took over. Perkins’ lead was short-lived due to #08 Daryn Cahill taking away the lead on lap eight. Daryn led up until lap 23 when his brother Daryl Cahill took the lead and never looked back. Second went to #01 Kevin Lawrenuk, and thirrd to Daryn Cahill.
EXTRA LAPS Next week marks the second appearance of the Bomber cars accompanied by the Crash to Pass cars, Hornets, and Roadrunners … June 25 will be our first showing of the Wilroc Sprint and the Wilroc Lites … the following weekend (July 2) is our first-ever “Eve of Destruction” which includes the jet dragster car, a huge limo jump and fireworks; I.M.C.A Modifieds, Dwarf cars and Bomber cars will complete the racing card …
