Terry Guest
Special to The Record
The first true summer night of 2016 hit Saratoga Speedway on Saturday, making for some awesome track conditions for the I.M.C.A Modifieds, Bomber cars, Hornet cars and the Galaxy Motors Mad Max cars to rip up the track, with Brian McLean Tyee Chevrolet sponsoring the night of fun.
With track conditions being at their best, the racing was closer than ever for the night’s heat races which saw wins go to #00 Saje Kurpiela, #09 Randi Joyce, #43 Wesley Pheaton, #45 Darren Monk, #36 Ryan Jensen, #90 Johnny Zanetti, #90 Damon Dunn, and #00 Rory Smith.
The first of three Hornet main events saw 11 cars enter into the C main; #69 Dwight Bakken and Joyce would jump out front early and would battle bumper to bumper for the lead, but it would be Bakken holding off Joyce to take his first ever Hornet main event win.
Eleven cars would also enter into the 25-lap B main which would see #60 Evin McLuckie take advantage off his pole start as he would pull away from the pack early. The fight for second and third would be the closest as #20 Keegan McCosh and #88 Chris Hleck would battle their way through the pack, barely getting their way through the top group of cars to take the positions.
As the group battled, McLuckie would continue to pull away from the field and he would not be touched on his way to the win, taking home his first ever main event win. McCosh would take home second and Hleck in third.
Fourteen cars would take to the track for the A main; once again the pole car would pole away from the pack as #05 Luke Dixon pulled away early as the pack battled behind him.
Jensen, who had won the heat earlier in the night, had other thoughts as he managed to push his way through the pack and into second, and would finally catch up to Dixon on the white flag lap and make his move around Dixon to take the lead, and he would not look from there to take home his third straight main event win.
Twenty laps were awarded to the Bomber cars for their main event; The Larson combo of Boston and Darrel would pull into the top two early and would battle along with Zanetti for the lead, but it would be Darrel who found a hole and took advantage of it to propel himself into the lead and he would hold off his nephew Boston to take home the win.
The best race of the night would come in the 35-lap Modified main event: #72 Travis Stevenson would find himself in the lead early and he would pull away from the pack and he would not be challenged from there, leaving the rest of the pack to battle for the top two positions.
#92 Dano Bryant, #91 Chris Beaulieu and Smith would battle nose to nose for those positions; Smith and Bryant would battle, pull away from Beaulieu and battle bumper to bumper for close to 20 laps, but Bryant would not give Smith anything, fighting off all of Smith’s attempts to pass him to hold onto second, with third going to Smith.
The final main event of the night would see the Galaxy Motors Mad Max cars battle for 20 laps; lots of early bumping and hitting would separate the field early, opening the door for #95 Karl Kurpiela who would glide his way through the pack and into the lead early and he would not be contested from there, holding on to take his first-ever main event win in the Mad Max class.
EXTRA LAPS This weekend, Saratoga Speedway welcomes back Wild Flower and Time Flys to the speedway … these two high-flying trucks were here two months ago and put on one of the most exciting shows we have seen at the track, hitting some absolutely insane air time on the huge jumps set up around the track … Rosalee Ramer, the driver of Wild Flower, is the youngest female monster truck driver in the world at the age of only 17 and just recently took home rookie of the year honours in the Monster Jam circuit…these two trucks come to us from California and are guaranteed to put a smile on your face…the Crash to Pass cars, Hornet cars, Galaxy Motors Mad Max cars, and the Roadrunners, who were added on for rain dates, will also be accompanying the trucks over the two-day show, with Columbia Fuels and the Coast Credit Union sponsoring the weekend …
