By Ken Keating
Western Speedway hosted the Demo Cars, Demo Trucks, Figure 8s, and the Bomber Series this evening and the fireworks began in the Trophy Dashes and ended with a big fireworks show put on by Celebration Fireworks. This was designated as Mascot Night and several Mascots joined the festivities including Aaron the Lucky Dog, Grizz from the Victoria Grizzlies, Daisy the Cow and Miss Vicky from Island Farms, Rocky the Raccoon from the Shamrocks, and Marty the Marmot from the new Victoria Royals in the Western Hockey League. All of the Mascots took part in a relay race with several kids from the stands and Marty even took over Rod Tytgat's job and flagged a race. This part of the program was sponsored by Galaxie Motors while Wilson's Transportation sponsored the first ever school bus race held at the Speedway and the fireworks show.
Mike Melin got the fireworks going on the track in his first Bomber Series race as he went to go inside of Tyler Woods and Daniel David for the lead and got into Woods a bit. Woods spun out while the rest of the field carried on with Melin catching David and as he again dove to the inside for the lead spun himself out and just missed taking David with him and this is the first Trophy Dash of the night. David was the winner. Other Dash winners included Tyler Clough in the Demo Car Series, Richard Milne in the Demo Truck Series, and Dan Baluch in the Figure 8 Series. Heat race winners were Richard Milne, Trucks, Ashton Campbell and Chris Romkey, Figure 8 Series; Greg Sagmoen, Demo Cars; while Aaron Camron and Mark Lockhart took the wins in the Bomber Series.
Jacob Burns and Blaine Duperrault shared the front row for forty laps of racing in the Figure 8 Feature event but Sean Welch grabbed the lead on the first lap and held it until Cam Wilkinson went by him on lap four. This race saw a lot of heavy hits and lead changes between Wilkinson and Ashton Campbell over the next several laps. Marie Haywood moved into contention and traded second spot back and forth with Campbell and Wilkinson for several laps as well. On lap ten Wilkinson took sole possesion of first place while Haywood remained in second followed by Campbell in a tight bunch. On lap twenty, Campbell again went by Haywood and took the second spot while Wilkinson remained in the lead. On lap twenty-eight, Campbell passed for the lead dropping Wilkinson back to second. When the dust settled Campbell took the win followed by Wilkinson, Haywood, Kyle Rizok, and Duperrault rounding out the top five.
Tyler Woods and Daniel David led seventeen cars to the green flag in the Bomber Series Feature event scheduled for forty laps. Mark Lockhart, racing for the first time in several years, took the early lead followed quickly by Brandon Carlson driving the #88 car. Meanwhile behind them, Heath Cooper and Brandon Steen were making their way forward in a hurry and took the third and forth spot respectively on lap seven setting up a great four car battle for the next thirty plus laps. Lap after lap these four drivers ran bumper to bumper until Carlson went to the outside in a bid to pass Lockhart on lap twenty-one. He slid a bit to wide and allowed Cooper and Steen to go by for second and third but never gave up staying right on the bumper of Steen's car. Steen then took his turn running side by side with Cooper for several laps trying to take the second spot. On lap twenty-six, Steen finally got by Cooper and Carlson also made the pass and into third as Cooper dropped off the pace and went to the pits on lap twenty-eight. Steen moved to the outside of Lockhart and they ran side by side for several laps with Carlson still in the mix running third. Lapped traffic played a part as Steen had to back off and dropped back to second but still in striking distance. Again Steen moved to the outside of Lockhart and again ran into lapped traffic only this time Steen used the slower car as a pick and got a bit of an advantage on lap thirty-eight but Lockhart stayed with him. When the chequered flag dropped, Steen took the win followed by Lockhart, Carlson, Chris Stone, and Aaron Camron rounding out the top five in one of the better Bomber races of the year so far.
Adam Detlor had the pole for the start of the Demo Truck Feature event with Dustin Dash on the outside. Dash lost an axle on the first lap bringing out the yellow flag. On the restart, Kevin Knight jumped into the lead followed by Richard Milne, looking for the claen sweep. The fast trucks each took a turn at taking out slower traffic as Knight took out Rory Smith driving the #14 truck and George Haywood put a big hit on Detlor. Knight kept the field behind him as he won the Demo Truck Feature for the fourth time followed by Milne and Haywood rounding out the top three after twenty laps of hard hitting action.
Ten cars took the green flag in the Demo Car Series but most didn't last the first lap that included Smokin Joe Liberatore as his car suffered a broken axle, Tyler Clough was also a victim of a crash into the third turn wall. Troy Tarbuck led from lap one until he was overtaken by Greg Sagmoen on lap nine. Sagmoen first had to get by Noel Durand running second and did so three laps earlier. When the chequered flag dropped Sagmoen had the win followed by Tarbuck and Bryce Muir the top three in another hard hitting race.
Four school buses driven by B.J. Veld, Kevin Knight, Andrew Wilson, and George Haywood lined up for racing that was supposed to be a clean race. Wilson got the early lead while Knight was using the outside and coming forward in a hurry. Knight caught the leader and spun him around and took over the lead. Wilson got his bus going in the right direction and put a hit into Knight to retaliate. B.J. and Haywood got into each other as well but Knight went on for the win followed by Haywood, B.J. Veld, and Andrew Wilson. When asked Knight said, "I just left the Demo Truck Feature and I couldn't resist putting a hit on Wilson". All the drivers enjoyed running this event, Haywood was ready to go more laps, and the big crowd enjoyed it as well. Celebration Fireworks closed the event by satging one of the best fireworks show seen at the Speedway much to the delight of the fans.
The next event is scheduled for July 13th with the return of the Steve Copp Construction sponsored Hornet Series racing on the tight inside oval. The next regular racing is two nights of Cast Iron Nationals with the Sprint Car Series, the WilRoc Lites, and the Dwarf Car Series beginning on Friday night, July fifteenth and ending on Saturday July sixteenth with the same Series running.